Antikoeper,
Thanks much for posting that, and particularly helpful was including the original German. A similar issue with Christa Schroeder's book (question how rooms were translated into english) is avoided here.
What you quote is very interesting, and some remarks.
"date of move-in : 1st October 1929"
= Not a major difference, but "Hitler & Geli" by Ronald Hayman gave the date as "Hitler taking possession" of the flat on 10 September 1929. This may be simply the difference between the first "rent due date" which would be Oct 1.
"- nine rooms with secondary rooms, a whole floor"
= this agrees with what we keep reading, but its interesting to wonder what are considered "rooms" on the plan, rather than say, alcoves or foyers.
"- the Bruckmanns choosed the flat, organized the move-in, and payed for the furniture"
= This brings to mind the very interesting desk for sale posted earlier, stating a delivery date of November 1929.
"- the furniture was designed by Paul Ludwig Troost(I thought it was his wife?) and manufactured
by the "Vereinigte Münchener Werkstätte""
= Paul Troost died on Jan 21, 1934, having as his last act successfully drawn up plans to renovate the Reickskanzlerpalais (Old Radziwill Palace) on the day after New Year's, 1934. Gerdy Troost, in conjunction with Speer and Gall, accomplished the renovation along Paul Troost's plan. My theory, only that, is the discrepancy you point out is best explained by a Gerdy Troost further renovation planned in March 1935 and carried out that April. Sigmund's book would neatly fit this, for it would imply Paul Troost had a hand in the original 1929 move-in's design. My guess is, since the later, better-known and historic scenes of the later 30's took place after 1935, Gerdy Troost's name "stuck" better to the record, for it was indeed she that did the lasting and final makeover of the flat and maybe even the furniture changed. Make sense?
"- romantic copper engravings by Piranesi and Palladio in the entrance hall"
I wonder if these are photographed, this is new.
"Geli got the most beautiful corner room and was allowed to furnish it, how she wanted:
antique rustique furniture(painted cases, a linen bin, and a commode, lightgreen wallpaper,
an old desk and the water colour Hitler had painted during World War I. "
= Doesn't that remind of the quote from Winter's 1948 interview, via Infield? Except the corner room part. (Though I guess you could call # 3 a "corner" in one sense).
"As often as I´ve read the suggestion, that their bedrooms lay close together, I´ve read the one, that says, that they were far away from each other. But this doesn´t fit in any way to the plans we have here."
I know, interesting, isn't it? Hayman's book, positing the Geli Raubal death like a crime scene, also seems to imply some distance away. Not buying it -- maybe the housekeepers said that for propriety's sake.
"An austrian author who wrote a fictional book about Geli and her uncle ( I would recommend, not to read it - biggest mispurchase of my life - more pornographic than anything else), visited the flat with Lothar Machtan (you may know him for his famous believe in Hitlers homosexuality and the book about it), and he writes about the arrangement of the flat in the epilog."
It sounds like that novel's greatest value lies in the epilogue. Is that something you could quote? (If says any more than what you paraphrased next, that is)
"He says, how surprised he was, of the close way they lived together: just some footsteps lay between their bedrooms, and they shared a bathroom together. So, this is, what most of the books are telling us, and actually what the plans do. I would lay more trust in them."
I agree with you. So far, every one who has visited the flat in modern times, Geli, Oberhessin, and now we can add the Austrian author with Machtan, avers the bedrooms are close together, and share a bathroom. (Which the Lee Miller photo matches in layout). A further indicator is apparently the American soldiers billeting there in May 1945 had the bedroom's identified, and since Hitler kept Geli Raubal's room "frozen in time" it may be possible to match the photo of some items with the text descriptions in Sigmund's book. On a related note, I might cite a supporting analogy: Hitler and Eva shared a very similar adjoining bathroom and bed arrangement after Troost refurbished the Old Reich Chancellery. Its also found at the Berghof. It is not unlikely it was a pattern preferred by Hitler. (Incidentally, does Sigmund's book discuss Chancellery visits in any detail?).
- palaisfan
