Hitler wine is a £4,000 fake, say historians

The red "FÅhrerwein' attracted bids from around the world when it was sold at auction eight days ago.

It was billed as a rare piece of wartime memorabilia - a fascinating relic of the Third Reich which reflected a previously unknown side of Hitler's character.

And with its portrait of the Nazi leader on the label, the Schwarzer Tafelwein certainly looked authentic.

It was allegedly discovered in a garage in France and sold to an anonymous buyer in Ivybridge, Devon, who then decided to sell it on.

Few expected it to fetch more than £500 when it went under the hammer at the auction in Plymouth, so there was some surprise when it went for £3,400 - or £3,995 including the buyer's premium.

The purchaser, who bid by telephone, was a collector who did not want to be identified.

But now it turns out he may have made an expensive misjudgment.

Sir Ian Kershaw, Professor of Modern History at Sheffield University and author of an award-winning two-volume biography of Hitler, said he had been 'immediately sceptical' when reading reports of the sale.

"For one thing, a Tafelwein, a low-class table wine, was, even in 1943, not a particularly dignified present, even allowing for Hitler's scant knowledge of wines," he said.

"Beyond this, an earlier wine bottle carrying a picture of Hitler - or at least a Nazi emblem - had been banned as kitsch.

"I doubt that Hitler, with his strong sense of prestige, would have wanted his mugshot on a wine bottle. In any case, whoever paid £4,000 for this must be mad."

Historian Felix Pryor, who catalogues historical manuscripts for major auction houses, said: "The idea that Hitler went around giving soldiers bottles of wine is utterly farcical.

"He wasn't teetotal - he liked to sip the occasional glass of champagne with his mistress Eva Braun - but he hardly ever drank."

Another specialist, Frank Litz, who has studied Nazi memorabilia, said: "On his 54th birthday in 1943 Hitler was trying to come to terms with the catastrophic loss of the 6th Army at Stalingrad, the bombing war on Germany and the rout of the Afrika Korps.

"Handing out carpetings was more the order of the day than handing out wine."