circa 1935. Silver-plated flatware from the canteen service for the staff of the Old Reich Chancellery. Fruit knife, with relief national eagle on the handle and surrounding decorative border. Reverse stamped “Bruckmann” and “90” for the fine silver plating, length 16.5 cm. Minor signs of use, condition 2.
This silverware was in use in the Old Reich Chancellery as well as in German embassies abroad.

We were able to acquire a small remaining stock from U.S. war booty.

The canteen of the Reich Chancellery was under the direction of Arthur Kannenberg (born February 23, 1896 in Charlottenburg; died January 26, 1963 in Düsseldorf). Kannenberg was Adolf Hitler's house steward.
Kannenberg graduated from the Werdersche Oberrealschule in Berlin with a secondary school certificate and began an apprenticeship in 1912 in his father Oskar Kannenberg's restaurant business. From 1915 he served in Telegraph Battalion I and was discharged as a Gefreiter in 1918. From 1924 he managed his father's establishments, the Restaurant Kannenberg, Hotel Stadt Berlin, and the excursion restaurant Onkel Toms Hütte located in Grunewald, which went bankrupt in 1930.

As manager of Pfuhl's wine and beer taverns, where well-known Nazi figures such as Joseph Goebbels and Hermann Göring also frequented, he met Hitler, who offered him the management of the casino at the party headquarters Braunes Haus in Munich. He took up this position in 1931. Subsequently, he was also assigned management of the canteen at the NSDAP Reich Leadership School on Schwanthalerstraße.

After Hitler became Reich Chancellor in 1933, Kannenberg became house steward in the Reich Chancellery. In this capacity he organized the operation of the Führer's household. This included in particular the hiring of personnel, procurement of food and beverages, and preparation of menus, as well as organizing catering for state receptions both in the Reich Chancellery and occasionally at the Berghof; during the war he was active at the Führer Headquarters in the Wolfsschanze and finally in the bunker of the Reich Chancellery in Berlin.

In May 1945 he was interned by the Americans and released on July 25, 1946.
Many pieces from the Reich Chancellery were popular souvenirs of the occupation troops after the war's end, but many Berliners also restocked their often bombed-out households with the remains of the Reich Chancellery.

443945

€ 750,00

Third Reich Adolf Hitler: Fruit Knife from the Canteen Flatware of the Old Reich Chancellery

This fruit knife from the canteen cutlery of the Old Reich Chancellery represents a significant testament to the material culture of the Third Reich and the administrative infrastructure of the National Socialist regime. Manufactured around 1935 by the renowned Bruckmann company, this silver-plated piece of cutlery was part of the equipment for the employee canteen of the Old Reich Chancellery in Berlin.

The Old Reich Chancellery was located at Wilhelmstraße 77 in Berlin and served as the official seat of German chancellors from 1875 to 1939. After Adolf Hitler's seizure of power in 1933, the building became the center of National Socialist governmental authority. The Reich Chancellery canteen was not merely a functional space for employee meals, but also a venue where the regime's representational ambitions found expression.

The Bruckmann company from Heilbronn was among the leading manufacturers of table silver and silver-plated objects in the German Reich. Founded in 1805, the company had already supplied the Imperial court and established customers during the German Empire. In the Third Reich, Bruckmann received numerous contracts for furnishing state institutions. This fruit knife bears the characteristic stamp “Bruckmann” as well as the marking “90,” indicating a fine silver plating of 90 grams per square meter – a quality mark for high-grade silver-plated goods.

The knife is distinguished by its relief eagle emblem on the handle, the central symbol of the National Socialist state. The eagle with outstretched wings, clutching a swastika in its talons, became the official state emblem of the German Reich from 1935. The decorative border running around the handle underscores the representational character of the cutlery, even though it was intended for everyday use in the employee canteen.

Administration of the canteen fell under Arthur Kannenberg (1896-1963), who played a significant role as Adolf Hitler's house steward in organizing the Führer's household. Kannenberg, who came from a Berlin gastronomy family, began his career in the National Socialist apparatus in 1931, when Hitler entrusted him with managing the casino in the Brown House in Munich. After Hitler's appointment as Reich Chancellor in 1933, Kannenberg was named house steward of the Reich Chancellery.

In this capacity, Kannenberg was responsible for all household administration, including staff recruitment, food supply, menu creation, and organizing state receptions. His jurisdiction extended not only to the Berlin Reich Chancellery, but also to the Berghof on the Obersalzberg, the Wolfsschanze Führer Headquarters in East Prussia during the war, and finally the Führer bunker in Berlin during the final days of the war. The procurement and use of high-quality table silver such as this fruit knife fell under his direct responsibility.

The silver-plated cutlery of the Reich Chancellery was not used exclusively in Berlin. As contemporary sources document, identical or similar cutlery sets were also deployed in German embassies abroad to ensure a uniform representative appearance of the German Reich at diplomatic receptions and official occasions. This practice corresponded to international diplomatic conventions and was intended to demonstrate the power and prosperity of the National Socialist state.

After the end of World War II in May 1945, the Reich Chancellery was occupied by Soviet and later also by Allied troops. The Battle of Berlin had severely damaged the building, but many movable objects survived. In the chaotic postwar days, numerous objects from the Reich Chancellery became coveted war trophies for Allied soldiers. American, British, French, and Soviet troops took cutlery, porcelain, documents, and other items as souvenirs.

Simultaneously, many Berlin civilians seized the opportunity to restock their households destroyed by bombing raids. The Reich Chancellery and other government buildings were systematically looted, with practical items such as cutlery, dishes, and furniture being particularly sought after. This dual distribution – as war booty by Allied soldiers and as looted goods by the civilian population – explains why objects from the Reich Chancellery can still be found scattered worldwide in private ownership today.

Arthur Kannenberg himself was interned by American troops in May 1945 and released on July 25, 1946. He died in Düsseldorf in 1963. His role as house steward, though administrative rather than political-ideological, made him a witness to the final years of the National Socialist regime.

Today, such objects occupy an ambivalent status. On one hand, they are authentic historical artifacts that provide insight into the material culture and representational claims of the Third Reich. On the other hand, they raise questions about the appropriate handling of relics from a criminal regime. Museums and collectors are challenged to contextualize these objects historically and combine their presentation with critical education.