Paintings thought to be by Adolf Hitler fail to sell at controversial auction

 Five paintings attributed to Adolf Hitler have failed to sell at a controversial auction in the southern German city of Nuremberg after questions surfaced about whether they were genuine.

High starting prices of between €19,000 and €45,000 (£16,600 and £43,800) and lingering suspicions about the authenticity of the artworks were suspected to have frightened away potential buyers at Saturday’s auction.

Sales of alleged artworks by Hitler – whose campaign of extermination led to the mass murder of six million Jews during the Second World War – frequently spark outrage that collectors are eager to fork out high prices for Nazi memorabilia.

A picture taken on February 8, 2019 shows the watercolour entitled 'Buschgruppe' (bush group) signed 'A. Hitler', which is on display at the Weidler auction house in Nuremberg in the southern city of Nuremberg. - A German auction house scrapped the planned sale of 26 artworks attributed to Adolf Hitler, after doubts emerged about their authenticity just days before they were due to go under the hammer. Five paintings signed 'A. Hitler', all of them watercolours, will be auctioned off on February 9, 2019 as scheduled, according to the Weidler auction house.

 The auction was criticised by several of the city’s politicians and citizens. The watercolours were said to have been painted by the Nazi dictator during his early days as a struggling artist.

A picture taken on February 8, 2019 shows the watercolour entitled 'Gebirgslandschaft mit Bergkirche' (Mountain landscape with mountain church) signed 'A. Hitler', which is on display at the Weidler auction house in Nuremberg in the southern city of Nuremberg. - A German auction house scrapped the planned sale of 26 artworks attributed to Adolf Hitler, after doubts emerged about their authenticity just days before they were due to go under the hammer. Five paintings signed 'A. Hitler', all of them watercolours, will be auctioned off on February 9, 2019 as scheduled, according to the Weidler auction house.

The Weidler auction house chose not to comment on why the paintings had not sold but said they could be sold at a later date.

Nuremberg’s mayor, Ulrich Maly, previously condemned the sale as being “in bad taste”.

A picture taken on February 8, 2019 shows the signature 'AHitler' on a watercolour entitled 'Im Wald' (In the forest) displayed at the Weidler auction house in the southern city of Nuremberg. - A German auction house scrapped the planned sale of 26 artworks attributed to Adolf Hitler, after doubts emerged about their authenticity just days before they were due to go under the hammer. Five paintings signed 'A. Hitler', all of them watercolours, will be auctioned off on February 9, 2019 as scheduled, according to the Weidler auction house.

A mountain lake view and a painting of a wicker armchair with a swastika symbol reputed to have belonged to the late Nazi dictator were among the items that failed to sell.

The Weidler auction house held the “special sale” in Nuremberg – a German city that was the site of major Nazi rallies and then the place Nazi war criminals were tried in 1945.

Three days before Saturday’s auction, prosecutors seized 63 other paintings attributed to Hitler from the auction house to investigate allegations they were fakes.

A picture taken on February 8, 2019 at the Weidler auction house in the southern German city of Nuremberg shows a vase which is presumed to have belonged to late Nazi dictator Adolf Hitler. - A German auction house scrapped the planned sale of 26 artworks attributed to Adolf Hitler, after doubts emerged about their authenticity just days before they were due to go under the hammer. Five paintings signed 'A. Hitler', all of them watercolours, will be auctioned off on February 9, 2019 as scheduled, according to the Weidler auction house

In Berlin last month, prosecutors seized three other Hitler watercolours after getting a complaint questioning their authenticity.

Hitler is thought to have painted some 2,000 pictures as a young man as he unsuccessfully tried to make it as an artist in Vienna before the First World War.

A picture taken on February 8, 2019 shows the watercolour entitled 'Ortschaft an Vorgebirgssee', a scene of a village near a mountain lake, signed 'A. Hitler', which is on display at the Weidler auction house in Nuremberg in the southern city of Nuremberg. - A German auction house scrapped the planned sale of 26 artworks attributed to Adolf Hitler, after doubts emerged about their authenticity just days before they were due to go under the hammer. Five paintings signed 'A. Hitler', all of them watercolours, will be auctioned off on February 9, 2019 as scheduled, according to the Weidler auction house.

Antje Gabriels-Gorsolke, spokesperson for the Nuremberg-Fuerth prosecution department, said they had opened an investigation into certain individuals “on suspicion falsifying documents and attempted fraud.”

“If they turn out to be fakes, we will then try to determine who knew what in the chain of ownership,” she said.