Seinen Bergen

Friday was another quiet day in what was a mostly slow week. I biked around 4 to 5 hours and the only things of note that I found were in this pile a few streets east of St Michel. The trash had the smell of mildew but there was a suitcase which contained some decent stuff.

Inside was a functional camera tripod – the fourth I found this summer. This one, a Whitehall Travelite, is the oldest (1960s) of the bunch I’ve found thus far. I have to decide whether I’d rather keep this one or the other, more modern one I found a while back. This one is pretty sturdy, that’s for sure, but the other one is lighter. Either way I can probably sell one for the other for around 15-20$.

There was also this little slide projector. I tested it out and it works fine, even the bulb is good. It gets super hot but I’m think that’s normal. I have another slide projector so I might just sell this one at a yard sale.

Last but not least was this brass vase featuring some nice decorative stones. Nothing too crazy, but maybe worth 2$ at a yard sale.

Here’s the last piece of ephemera I wanted to show you from my trip to TMR…

It doesn’t really match the rest of what I found. I knew something was up when I saw the name of Alfred Rosenberg on the stamp at the top of the page. It’s an old 1938 Nazi publication entitled “Hitler in Seinen Bergen,” which translates to “Hitler in his Mountains.” It’s 1938 date mean it came out not long before the beginning of the Second World War. It’s unfortunately missing the front cover and as a result is likely worth only around 15-20$ or so.

Still, this is a very interesting thing to look at. There’s a few pages of writing at the beginning but otherwise this book is mostly captioned pictures of Hitler. The photos are pretty casual shots, not dissimilar to the ones that we see in political “photo ops” today: Hitler playing with children, looking fun, looking thoughtful and decisive, looking fit, and so on.

My friend put it well when she talked about the conflict that seeing these photos caused within her. Her normal reaction to old black of white photos of this kind is nostalgia, but the knowledge that the subject is one of history’s greatest monsters understandably complexifies that feeling. While the photographs are obviously staged on the most part, they also show Hitler as being just another human, a charming one at that. That doesn’t change what he did, but this book and its pictures offers a very interesting look at one of the most destructive figures of the 20th century while providing insights as to the ways politicians go about creating their “image.”

Given that the weather is so beautiful I’m planning on having a yard sale tomorrow. I’m not exactly sure where yet but it’ll be somewhere in the Mile End. If you’re interested in coming send me an email at thingsifindinthegarbage@gmail.com and I’ll let you know the location!