This drawing, which dates back to 1909, caused a real scandal 100 years after its creation. Could the young Hitler meet with Lenin, and did such a chess game actually take place? While art critics and historians do not stop controversy on this topic, the etching by Emma Loewenshtamm was put up for sale. Experts from the auction house Mullock's claim that this is a genuine drawing, especially since there are three signatures on the back of the sheet - the artist and the two people depicted on it.
Historians and bibliographers deny that Lenin and Hitler ever met. There are no documents or memoirs of contemporaries in this regard, and it is not entirely clear whether this engraving can be considered proof of such a fact. However, according to the version of the artist's heirs, this chess match really took place in 1909 in Vienna. In theory, such a meeting could happen, because life is full of accidents.
Emma Loewenshtamm, The Game of Chess: Lenin vs. Hitler - Vienna, 1909 "(" A Chess Game: Lenin with Hitler - Vienna 1909 ").
In 1909, Adolf Hitler was a young and not very successful artist. At that time he was 20 years old, and he twice failed the exams at the Vienna Academy of Arts. He actually lived for several years in Vienna and moonlighting making copies of postcards and engravings depicting historic buildings - such pictures sold well. The author of the etching Emma Loewenshtamm - an accomplished, albeit little-known artist, allegedly gave the future dictator private lessons in painting. Lenin was in exile at that time. True, Paris was considered the official place of his stay, but his appearance in Vienna cannot be ruled out. In 1909, he had just completed his main philosophical work, Materialism and Empirio-Criticism, and in the process of his work Vladimir Ilyich traveled more than once across Europe - at least to Geneva and to the British Museum in London. So what to saythat such a meeting was impossible in principle, historians cannot. In addition, there is evidence that both historical figures really loved this noble game:
“When Hitler was twenty-one, he had no concrete plans for the future, and he had not yet decided to devote himself entirely to politics. Young Adolf then lived in Vienna, led a wandering lifestyle and was an avid visitor to chess cafes, sitting in them until late at night. The game captivated him so much that he began to fear that chess would suck him completely. So one day Hitler decided to end chess once and for all. " (Chess composer, theoretician and journalist Herbert Grasemann, "Schach ohne Partner für Könner")
Lenin's love for chess was even quite professional. He not only played chess, but also solved chess problems and studies, was actively interested in the events of chess life in Russia and beyond its borders, met with well-known chess players of his time. For example, he wrote to his brother on February 17, 1910:
Bogdanov, Gorky and Lenin are playing chess, photograph of 1908.
The controversial print depicts two chess players. Pondering over the party, Adolf Hitler sits at the window and plays with white figures. On the contrary, Lenin is making a move. The dimensions of the painting are approximately 50/40 cm. On the back side there are signatures of Lenin, Hitler, Emma Loewenshtamm and the inscription “Vienna, 1909”. It is said that a total of five impressions were made, but the fate of the other four is unknown. The same copy, along with a set of those same chess pieces, was inherited by the grandson of the housekeeper of the Loewenshtamm family, Felix Ednhofer. Before the outbreak of World War II, Emma left the country, leaving most of her property in the care of a housekeeper. For many years this engraving was not known until the new owners decided to sell it in the 1990s. Since its authenticity was questioned by experts,Felix Ednhofer himself prepared a selection of documents (about 300 pages). This dossier contains reports from forensic experts and art historians, as well as testimony proving that Emma Loewenstamm did indeed work in Vienna and was the mentor of Adolf Hitler.
Promotional video:
Emma Loewenstamm, circa 1909.
Despite such a solid collection of evidence, scientists still have doubts about the fact of such a chess game. Everyone considering etching immediately raises several questions: firstly, Adolf Hitler in this image looks much older than 20 years, and secondly, the rich hair of Vladimir Ilyich is surprising - as you know, he was only “small” “with curly head”, the historian Helen Rappaport, for example, spoke out on this score even more frankly, claiming that Lenin was“bald as a bat since 1894, and he had hair only on the sides of his head”. Although this discrepancy is explained by a possible conspiracy - it is known that Lenin often wore a wig. And finally, the move made by comrade Ulyanov with his left hand can be explained only from the point of view of a successful artistic composition, since he was undoubtedly right-handed. Besides,a number of historians find many small contradictory details in the etching: Hitler's costume was too good, which at that moment clearly needed, the signature "Lenin" instead of other names used by him in emigration, even the friendly communication of these two people, who later became the main "chess figures" on the political map, it is doubtful - their views were too different already at that time.
Vladimir Ulyanov in 1910 and Adolf Hitler in the 1920s.
However, despite many doubts, the etching along with the historical chess set was put up for sale at a rather high initial price of 40,000 pounds sterling (64,000 US dollars), and its further fate is unknown. Presumably, it is now in a private collection, and the secret of the party itself remains the subject of controversy among experts.