An Early Period Photograph of the Beer Hall Putsch

Photo of Hitler, Göring, and others retracing march route of “Beer Hall Putsch”, 16.2 x 11.1 cm; Date of items: 1934; A photo of Hitler and other high ranking Nazi officials retracing the march route of the “Beer Hall Putsch”. Starting from the Nazis’ rise to power in 1933, this was an annual event to remember those that had died on Nov 9th, 1923. That day Hitler and the Nazi Party had tried to seize power in the city of Munich with a march of 2,000 men to the Bavarian Defence Ministry with the intent of occupying it, then Munich, then organizing a seize of the rest of Germany. The coup failed, 4 police officers and 16 Nazi party members died, leading to Hitler being arrested and imprisoned.

The picture, in all probability, was taken in 1934. It shows, from left to right: Theodor Kuhn (?), Dr. Friedrich Weber (1892–1955), Commander-in-Chief of the Luftwaffe Hermann Göring (1893–1946), the Führer, Adolf Hitler (1889–1945), Colonel and Emissary Hermann Kriebel (1876–1941), founding member of the SA and SS-Brigadeführer Ulrich Graf (1878–1950), and broadcasting director and SS-Hauptsturmführer Richard Kolb (1891–1945). All these men were among those of the original march during the failed coup attempt in 1923. Ulrich Graf actually received several bullet wounds while shielding Hitler with his body, saving his life.