Rare WWII Nazi Porcelains: Found in the "Give Away" Box!

I was in Hood River, Oregon working a few weeks ago, with a client who had inherited a whole houseful of sterling, cut glass, linens and fine porcelains and much more from an elderly relative. Her goal and mission was to sort out the junk and she needed values so she could fairly distribute things to other family. We had a great day and I made a new friend as we worked together, sorting and evaluating her things.

 

Near the end of the inventory, she had put what she thought was ugly junk to give to the Goodwill. I had to agree with most of it, however, there were 5 porcelain figurines which were very well made and marked mysteriously. After telling her that I thought they were what you decorated your guest room with when your mother in law was visiting, I also told her they were good, but I didn’t know how good until I could research further. She let me bring the back to my office to study and eventually sell for her.

 

The mark impressed under the porcelains.

 

The mysterious mark is from the Allach Porcelain factory, Germany. This was a factory, started in 1935 and was owned and controlled by Heinrich Himmler, the leader of the notorious Nazi SS .  They are all marked with the Nazi SS mark impressed underbase. This factory was one of Himmler’s pet projects through out WWII. It was connected to the Dachau prison camp and, although it was denied at Nuremburg, it is most probable that slave labor was used for the heavy work there. For more detailed info on the company, go to:

Allach Porcelains   and  Allach, Concentration Camp

 

Here are three of the figurines:

 

My next question was “who are these people?” and "what is up with the bear?"  After exhausting research, I found a museum in Munich with Allach porcelains and learned the 3 people are peasants or farmers in traditional dress from their regions, the 4the guy in the legless pants is a historic figure whose name translates as “citizen hero with flag”; (I guess I need to know more German history to understand).

 

The bear was the real mystery, pretty grotesque, huh? He is the “Finnish Bear” and was commissioned as a commemorative in 1941 by Himmler to celebrate the (forced) alliance of Finland with Germany earlier that year!

 

The Finns had been attacked by the Soviet Union in the Winter of 1940, but were pushed back by the Finns in a stunning and politically embarrassing defeat. Ultimately, the Finns lost the “Winter War” because they ran out of bullets, so they called for help from the UK, US and Sweden. Since we were already allied with Russia, we could do nothing, so we declared war on Finland, pushing them to an alliance with Hitler. (war sucks)

 

Never the less, here we are. The Allach factories were never reopened after the war, so these figurines are very scarce and valuable. And let that be a lesson, never toss things out until you get  a second opinion and don’t declare war on Finland.

-Gary

Comments

[the Crow baby]

Cheez Whiz! A fascinating story and a handy history lesson to boot. Once they are sold you should post an update so we can ooh and ahh at the final price.

P.S. they really aren't that terribly ugly- I wouldn't have 'em in MY house or anything, just sayin'...

[Chuck Palmer]

Very nice and interesting pieces .. thanks for the heads up to check them out.

[Ron]

Very interesting, I knew Himmler had started several industries but didn't know what they were.

The SS runes are the give away, nice find, and glad they didn't go to goodwill.

[Ed Kitson]

Great research Gary! Thanks for sharing the tale too.

[Peter]

Is the bear available for sale?