Adolf Hitler.. In living color

Time Magazine has released never before seen color pictures of Adolf Hitler.

Adjectives like "chilling" and "astonishingly frightening" have have been accompanying these photos.

I have reviewed them and found the "interesting" but not "frightening" or "chilling" as advertised. Frankly, somewhat boring since these were taken 60 or 70 years ago.

The photographer of these images was Hugo Jaeger. Photographs courtesy Time & Life Pictures/Getty Images


Between 1936 and 1945, German photographer Hugo Jaeger was granted unprecedented access to Adolf Hitler, traveling and chronicling, in color, the Fuhrer and his confidants at small gatherings, public events, and, quite often, in private moments. Here, and in several other galleries on LIFE, we now present never-before-published photographs from Jaeger's astonishing -- and chilling -- collection.


Hugo Jaeger: Photographer to Hitler
Hugo Jaeger, one of Hitler's personal photographers, in 1970. Jaeger's story -- and the story of how LIFE came to own his photographs of Hitler -- is nothing short of astonishing. In 1945, when the Allies were making their final push toward Munich, Jaeger found himself face to face with six American soldiers in a small town west of the city. During a search of the house where Jaeger was staying, the Americans found a leather suitcase in which Jaeger had hidden thousands of color photo transparencies. He knew he would be arrested (or worse) if the Americans discovered his film and his close connection to Hitler. He could never have imagined what happened next.


Hitler Reviews the Troops, 1938
The American soldiers threw open the suitcase that held the Hitler images. Inside, they found a bottle of cognac that Jaeger had placed atop the transparencies. Elated, the soldiers proceeded to share the bottle with Jaeger and the owner of the house. The suitcase was forgotten. (Pictured: Tens of thousands of Nazi troops parade before Hitler in 1938, Nuremberg.)


A Nazi Christmas Party, 1941
After the Americans left, Jaeger packed the transparencies into 12 glass jars and buried them on the outskirts of town. In the years following the war, Jaeger occasionally returned to his multiple caches, digging them up, repacking, and reburying them. He finally retrieved the collection for good in 1955 -- 2,000 transparencies, all of them, amazingly, still in good shape -- stored them in a bank vault, and in 1965 sold them to LIFE. To date, only a fraction of the Jaeger collection has been published. (Pictured: Adolf Hitler and other Nazi officials attend a Christmas Party in 1941, at the height of the second World War.)


Hitler's Extravagant Birthday Gifts
In the late '30s, very few photographers were using color. Hugo Jaeger was an early adopter and Hitler liked what he saw. "The future," Hitler once said to Jaeger, "belongs to color photography." (Pictured: A hand-worked castle inlaid with precious stones, given to Hitler for his 50th birthday, April 20, 1939.)


Hitler and the Totalitarian State
Hitler observes military maneuvers in St. Polten, Austria, in the spring of 1939. "The great strength of the totalitarian state," Hitler once said, "is that it forces those who fear it to imitate it."



Commemorating the Beer Hall Putsch, 1938
Hitler speaks in Munich on the 15th anniversary of the 1923 Beer Hall Putsch, in which Hitler and other Nazi party members attempted to overthrow the German government. Hitler, jailed for a year for his part in the coup attempt, was a master at swaying large crowds. "The leader of genius must have the ability to make different opponents appear as if they belong to one category," he said.



A Dark Day in Munich: 'Peace in Our Time'
British Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain (front row, second right) walks past a Nazi honor guard on the way to a meeting with Adolf Hitler in 1938. After the meeting, Chamberlain famously declared that the agreement he had struck with the German Fuhrer meant "peace in our time" -- but subsequent events showed that he had merely whetted Hitler's appetite by handing over a strategically critical part of Czechoslovakia during their negotiations. See the room where the Munich Agreement was signed, and other public and personal places central to the Reich, in Hitler's Private World.

Hitler Among the Cars, 1939
Adolf Hitler tours the 1939 International Auto Exhibition in Berlin. Three years before, at another Berlin auto show, Hitler announced that Porsche would design the "People's Car," or Volkswagen, an affordable, practical vehicle for the working German family.



Hitler Talks Cars
Hitler was enthusiastic about cars, but didn't like to drive. For years, he had his chaffeur race down German roads at 80 mph. But once the war started, he became increasingly paranoid about his own safety, and forbade his driver to exceed 35 mph.




Hitler's Aide, Julius Schaub
Julius Schaub, Hitler's personal aide and adjutant, observes those around him at a party. After the 1944 bomb attempt on Hitler's life, Schaub is said to have falsely claimed to have been injured in the blast so he would be awarded a special badge by the Fuhrer. Schaub had actually been in another building at the time of the explosion.



Beauty Amid the Beasts
German film actress Hannelore Schroth sits in a chair at a reception for German artists held in the Berlin Chancellery in 1940. "[Hitler] often remarked that he didn't want witty or intelligent women around him, not aware how offensive such remarks must be to the ladies who were present," the chief Nazi architect Albert Speer once wrote.



Young, Beautiful.... Doomed
German actress Marieluise Claudius leans back in a chair in the Chancellery during an artists reception in Berlin, 1940. A prolific film actress during the 1930s, she died of heart failure in 1941, at the young age of 29.



Street of Fire: Munich, 1938
Nighttime Munich is lit with torches and festooned with swastikas in celebration of the 15th anniversary of the 1923 Beer Hall Putsch, Hitler's aborted attempt to use military might to take the government. Once he gained power in the late '30s, Hitler memorialized the putsch as a milestone on his own path to glory. The 1938 anniversary also witnessed the infamous Kristallnacht, or Night of Broken Glass -- a nationwide attack on Jews.

Hitler Salutes the Troops, Nuremberg, 1938
Hitler salutes German troops in Adolf Hitler Platz in 1938. "The very first essential for success," Hitler once said, "is a perpetually constant and regular employment of violence." See more of Hitler's ability to sway crowds in the service of violence and hatred in the gallery Among the Crowds.



Hitler on a Cruise, 1939
Adolf Hitler chats with several young women on a promenade of the German cruise ship Robert Ley (named after a prominant Nazi labor leader) on its maiden voyage in April, 1939.



Hitler Waves Bon Voyage
Hitler waves goodbye from aboard the Robert Ley. Six years later, on April 30, 1945, Hitler and his mistress (and, reportedly, as of April 29, his wife) Eva Braun committed suicide in a bunker beneath Berlin as the Allies crushed his army and took control of Europe. Many historians put the number of deaths attributed directly to World War II at about 70 million. Most of those killed were civilians.


I have no problems with the release of the photographs, I feel they do hold real historical value, BUT I have to question the timing of the release, with the D-Day anniversary, could there not have been a better time to release them? why not a few weeks later, or an issue or 2 later? why right now? I think its a little distasteful to choose this very moment to release them (feel free to disagree with me) but I see no valid reason to release them at this very moment.. TIME really does know how to sell magazines.

Agree? Disagree? Thoughts?

role as anti Hitler plotter fulfilled childhood fantasy: Tom Cruise

Tom Cruise says playing an anti-Hitler plotter in his latest movie “Valkyrie” fulfilled a childhood fantasy.

In real life, the American actor says he harbours feelings similar to his German character, who led a failed plot to assassinate the Nazi leader.

Cruise told reporters in the South Korean capital Sunday that he “always wanted to kill Hitler.”
He says that as a child he “used to wonder why someone didn't stand up and kill him.”

Cruise adds that he has come to greatly admiring the character he played in the film, Col. Claus von Stauffenberg.

Cruise made his comments this past Sunday during a visit to Seoul, where “Valkyrie” opens Thursday, marking a rare promotional stop by Hollywood to South Korea, which traditionally focuses it's attention on neighboring Japan as the industry's main Asian market.

“Valkyrie” director Bryan Singer said South Korea was picked as the first Asian country for the movie's release because it's “an extraordinary rising market” for both local and international films.

“Although the story takes place during the World War II, I found the story ageless,” Cruise said. Making the movie “was a powerful experience that I will never forget.”

Despite early skepticism toward “Valkyrie,” the movie had a solid $21.5-million opening weekend in North America in December and has made a total $77.6 domestically since then, according to the box office tracking website Box Office Mojo.

South Korean movies, until recently the pride of Asian cinema for their ability to fend off American competition, are struggling even at home.

Box-office results for Seoul up to November 2008 place local films in the top two spots, but Hollywood films accounted for six of the top 10.

WWII Hero dies, 68 years after 'posthumous' honour

A Second World War hero who fought valiantly in North Africa despite severe wounds has died 68 years after he was "posthumously" awarded Britain's highest combat honour by officials who thought he had been killed.

Eric Wilson, who had been the oldest living holder of the Victoria Cross, died at age 96, according to obituaries published Tuesday in the Times and the Daily Telegraph. Jenny Hunt, a warden of St. Mary Magdelene church in Stowell, where Wilson lived, said he died Dec. 23.

Wilson had been reported killed in North Africa in 1940, but was later found alive and trying to tunnel his way out of a prison camp. He went on to further service in Africa and Burma.

His family was notified in August 1940 that he was killed while staying with his machine-gun, though wounded and ill, in a futile effort to repel a larger Italian force. The Victoria Cross was awarded two months later.

Wilson was commanding a company of the Somaliland Camel Corps when Italian forces attacked their position in what was then British Somaliland. Italy had declared war only the day before.

"The enemy attacked Observation Hill on 11th August 1940," the citation read. "Capt. Wilson and Somali gunners under his command beat off the attack and opened fire on the enemy troops attacking Mill Hill, another post within his range."

"He inflicted such heavy casualties that the enemy, determined to put his guns out of action, brought up a pack battery (artillery) to within 700 yards, and scored two direct hits through the loopholes of his defences which, bursting within the post, wounded Capt. Wilson severely in the right shoulder and in the left eye, several of his team also being wounded. His guns were blown off their stands but he repaired and replaced them and, regardless of his wounds, carried on, while his Somali sergeant was killed beside him.

"On 12th and 14th August, the enemy again concentrated field artillery fire on Capt. Wilson's guns, but he continued, with his wounds untended, to man them. On 15th August two of his machine-gun posts were blown to pieces, yet Capt. Wilson, now suffering from malaria in addition to his wounds, still kept his own post in action. The enemy finally overran the post at 5 p.m. on the 15th August when Capt. Wilson, fighting to the last, was killed."

In April 1941, however, he was found alive in a prisoner of war camp in Eritrea. Wilson and his fellow prisoners had nearly finished digging an escape tunnel when the Italian soldiers fled the camp ahead of the arrival of British troops.

Wilson later served in North Africa as adjutant of the Long Range Desert Group, a motorized force that harassed Italian positions; he also served in Burma as second-in-command of the 11th King's African Rifles.

Two years ago, Wilson commented: "What is bravery? I don't know. You just did what you had to do."

Retiring from the army in 1949 with the rank of lieutenant colonel, Wilson became a colonial officer in Tanganyika (now part of Tanzania), which became independent in 1961.

On returning to London, he was deputy warden and then warden of London House, a residence for foreign students. He was honorary secretary of the Anglo-Somali Society from 1972 to 1977 and helped organize relief for Somalia when it was hit by famine in 1975.

He is survived by his wife and three sons.