Hitler bunker carpet fragment found in forgotten archives
NEW light is being shed on Adolf Hitler’s taste in interior design by a chance discovery in the archives of one of the region’s museums.
A fragment of the carpet from Hitler’s bunker has been found in the archives of the Green Howards Regimental Museum, in Richmond, North Yorkshire. As part of the regular cycle of refurbishment at the museum, the rooms where the archives are stored have been emptied.
And one of the items to turn up as staff moved cabinets and boxes was an envelope containing a small piece cut from the bunker carpet.
While Hollywood usually portrays the bunker as an austere military-style building, with thick grey walls and minimum comfort, the fragment proves the interior was anything but drab.
It showed that even Hitler liked his home comforts – the carpet carries a floral pattern with yellow flowers and blue leaves on a fawn background.
Museum director Lynda Powell said: “This was one of the unexpected finds as we moved items for the redecoration in the archive.
“We don’t know exactly which Green Howard ‘liberated’ it from Berlin in 1945, but it is likely to have been a member of the 1st Battalion, which was in the city in 1945.”
Read entire article at The Northern Echo (UK)
A fragment of the carpet from Hitler’s bunker has been found in the archives of the Green Howards Regimental Museum, in Richmond, North Yorkshire. As part of the regular cycle of refurbishment at the museum, the rooms where the archives are stored have been emptied.
And one of the items to turn up as staff moved cabinets and boxes was an envelope containing a small piece cut from the bunker carpet.
While Hollywood usually portrays the bunker as an austere military-style building, with thick grey walls and minimum comfort, the fragment proves the interior was anything but drab.
It showed that even Hitler liked his home comforts – the carpet carries a floral pattern with yellow flowers and blue leaves on a fawn background.
Museum director Lynda Powell said: “This was one of the unexpected finds as we moved items for the redecoration in the archive.
“We don’t know exactly which Green Howard ‘liberated’ it from Berlin in 1945, but it is likely to have been a member of the 1st Battalion, which was in the city in 1945.”
She added: “We were given it in 1985 by a lady who had worked for the Women’s Voluntary Service.
“We were surprised at how domestic the carpet’s pattern is – certainly a contrast to the images we have of the bunker.”
The fragment from Hitler’s carpet will be on display in the museum, in the centre of Richmond, when it reopens for the new season today.
The museum will then be open from 10am to 4.30pm, Monday to Saturday each week, until December 1. It is closed on Sundays.