I agree, Jon. The high leadership of the NSDAP were responded to like rock stars today, and they encouraged it. We've all seen numbers of photos of Hitler, Goebbels and many others signing autographs at Nuremberg Party Congresses, at the Berlin Olympics, at the Obersalzberg when hundreds of young and not-so-young people would spend hours "walking to the Führer" and waiting for him to come out of Haus Wachenfeld or the Berghof and give them a word of welcome...and sign a bunch of autographs, too...in short, at any opportunity people had to get close enough to their Gauleiter or a Reichsleiter or any of the Party notables to ask them for their autograph! We also know that people like Heinrich Hoffmann made a very good living by selling portrait post cards of many of the senior Nazis. These cards were sold at kiosks and local shops in every city and town and especially around every location where there was a rally or public appearance scheduled -- and permanently at such places as outside the FHH, the Berghof, the HDK, etc. -- all just waiting to sell photo post cards of the persons who were scheduled to be there that day. "Public Relations ÜBER ALLES!"
I realize that the response to an autographed post card is often "fake" or "phony," and I don't doubt that there are many who have forged such signatures time and time again. But the real ones are definitely out there...no doubt about it! We have the photos to prove that these people signed such cards in real time! It makes me sad to think that we've fallen to the level of distrust that the presence of forgery in our midst forces us to respond to.
Br. James
I realize that the response to an autographed post card is often "fake" or "phony," and I don't doubt that there are many who have forged such signatures time and time again. But the real ones are definitely out there...no doubt about it! We have the photos to prove that these people signed such cards in real time! It makes me sad to think that we've fallen to the level of distrust that the presence of forgery in our midst forces us to respond to.
Br. James
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