Two Chairs from the Haus Wachenfeld
Here are two chairs that War-Den have owned since 2019, both are from Haus Wachenfeld which later became The Berghof Adolf Hitlers home on the Obersalzburg, Berchtesgaden.
The Berghof began as a much smaller chalet called Haus Wachenfeld, a holiday home built in 1916 (or 1917) by Kommerzienrat Otto Winter, a businessman from Buxtehude. This was located near the former Pension Moritz where Hitler had stayed in 1922–23. By 1926, the family running the pension had left, and Hitler did not like the new owner. He moved first to the Marineheim and then to a hotel in Berchtesgaden, the Deutsch’s Haus, where he dictated the second volume of Mein Kampf in the summer of 1926. Hitler met his girlfriend at that time, Maria Reiter, who worked in a shop on the ground floor of the hotel during another visit in autumn 1926. In 1928, Winter’s widow rented Haus Wachenfeld to Hitler, and his half-sister Angela came to live there as housekeeper, although she left soon after her daughter Geli’s 1931 death in Hitler’s Munich apartment.
By 1933, Hitler had purchased Haus Wachenfeld with funds he received from the sale of his political manifesto Mein Kampf. The small chalet-style building was refurbished and much expanded by architect Alois Degano during 1935–36, when it was renamed The Berghof (English: “Mountain Court”).
The chairs come with a letter from Robert Brandner who was a local historian and lived all his life in Berchtesgaden. It’s in the German language and has the impressed Berchtesgaden Castle mark along with the wax seal. The English translation is listed below:
I Robert Brandner hereby confirm that these chairs come from the house Wachenfeld owned by Adolf Hitler, according to the last owners the chairs. During the first conversion the workers involved were allowed to take the chairs. The now relatives of the workers had also received a table which was destroyed in the 1980s. They also received a peasant table and two chairs which were sold to an American collector and went to the USA. The property Manager of the Berghof Mr. Dohring knew of 3 different styles of the peasant chairs that were almost identical. The colour of the chairs and design is untouched on these chairs.
Herbert Döhring was an SS member and from 1935 to 1943 was Hitlers caretaker at the Berghof. Döhring was appointed to Obersalzberg, where he first worked as a telephone operator and guard post in the old Wachenfeld house.
The chairs have their original green paint and hand-painted floral pattern, typically Bavarian. The legs are nicely turned, and the quality is very high with all fittings being wooden, not a single screw or nail has been used, very typical German/Austrian country craftsmanship of the 20s and 30s. Chairs are heavy and sit very even on the floor. In the detailed photos there is a photo of Hitler sitting in the Wachenfeld house, there are similar peasant chairs close by him.
The chairs are in the found condition. Restoration would have to be performed by a skilled craftsman as all the floral design would need to be hand-painted.
Two historic chairs that survived WW2 by circumstance. The letter from Mr. Brandner offers high assurance of their origins. War-Den firmly believes these chairs are from the Wachenfeld house.
SOLD
