Hitler & Lenin fought it out on a chess board
London: Adolf Hitler playing chess with Vladimir Lenin! It may appear to be an odd move but an etching showing the two leaders across the board some 100 years ago in the house of a Jewish family in Vienna has surfaced.The image is said to have been created by Hitler’s art teacher, Emma Lowenstramm, in Vienna in 1909, and is signed on the reverse by the two dictators, the Daily Telegraph reported.
In fact, when the etching was made, Hitler was 20 and Lenin was twice his age and the house was where politicos went to discuss things in that city. The image is titled, ‘A Chess Game: Lenin with Hitler — Vienna 1909’.
Hitler was then a jobbing artist while Lenin was in exile, and the house where they played chess belonged to a prominent Jewish family which fled in the runup to the World War II, giving the etching and board to their housekeeper.
Now, their housekeeper’s g r e a t - g r e a t grandson is selling the image and the chess set at auction. Both items have a presale estimate of £40,000 and they are to be sold at Mullock’s auction house in Shropshire on October 1.
Richard Westwood-Brookes, of Mullock’s auction house which is selling the items, said: “This sounds too good to be true, but the vendor’s father spent a lifetime proving it. He compiled a 300 page document and spent a great deal of money engaging experts to examine the etching. “The signatures in pencil on the reverse are said to have an 80% chance of being genuine, and there is proof that Emma Lowenstramm did exist.
“The circumstantial evidence is very good on top of the paper having been tested. Hitler was a painter in 1909 and his Jewish teacher Emma Lowenstramm was the person who made the etching.
“Lenin at the time was moving around Europe in exile. His movements are hazy and it is known that he did play chess and later he certainly wore wigs as a disguise. Its also known that Lenin was a German agent and the house was where people went to exchange political views.
“The chess set is clearly the same chess set as that in the etching. It is a box chess set that folds out and the pieces are identifiable, particularly the kings and bishops.” PTI
