Description:

Ernest Hemingway
New York, Dec. 18, 1946
Hemingway, Says "Farewell to Arms... was banned and burned" - He Details His Entire WWII Career!
TDS
A fantastic content typed document signed, two pages, 8" x 12.5", New York, Dec. 18, 1946, a notarized legal statement by Hemingway made in the effort to clear the name of his wife Pauline's cousin, Leohnard M. Kluftinger, a former member of the NSDAP now prosecuted by the Americans during the de-Nazification efforts following World War II. Staple holes to top left and a blind paperclip impression thereat, otherwise boldly signed and fine.

In part: "…Ernest Hemingway, being first duly sworn, deposes and says…that this affidavit is voluntarily offered by deponent, to be used in the defense of Leonhard M. Kluftinger, whom deponent has known for about seventeen years, and who is now involved in the denazification of Germany. That deponent is the author, among others, of the book 'For Whom the Bell Tolls,' which has been translated and published into German, and 'A Farewell to Arms,' which book was banned and burned by the Germans in their original burning of books. That deponent served as a War Correspondent for the American Army, has conducted reconnaissance with the French Maquis units in advance of the Fourth and Fifth Infantry Divisions of the United States Army, and in advance of the second Armored Division of the French Army, and was with the first American troops to enter Germany on the 14th of September 1944…also with American troops at the Schnee Eifel, Heurtgen Forest and the Battle of the Bulge. That deponent's son was a parachutist with the United States Army, with the rank of Captain…

That in the Fall of 1929 at #6 Rue Ferou, where deponent was living at the time, he heard Mr. Kluftinger speak strongly against Hitler. Mr. Kluftinger told him at that time that he was one of first members of the original Nazi organization in Munich; that he had left it because he could not agree with Hitler, or his policies, and felt they would lead Germany into chaos. The again in November of 1929, at the Adlon Hotel in Berlin, Germany, Mr. Kluftinger reiterated these statements and criticized the methods and procedures of the Party. Deponent again say [sic, saw] Mr. Kluftinger in New York City at the Hotel Barclay, in the year 1937, at which time they had a long political discussion involving the policies of the National Socialist regime. During the course of all these discussions, Mr. Kluftinger expressed strong opposition to Hitler, to his political and economic viewpoints and projects, and told deponent of the resistance which he was putting up against them in the Nazis' endeavors to interfere with the business which he was managing, and of the disadvantages which he was suffering because of his opposition…".

Leonhard Marcus Kluftinger (1899-1954) was the nephew of his second wife Pauline Pfeiffer Hemingway's beloved and wealthy uncle Gustavus A. Pfeiffer. "Uncle Gus" was head of the patent medical company Gustavus A. Pfeiffer & Company in St. Louis, which was acquired in 1930 by the William R. Warner pharmaceutical company (now Warner-Lambert). His nephew Leonhard was the head of Gödecke & Co. Chemische Fabrik AG, also owned by Warner. Gödecke AG subsequently also took over the management of other companies belonging to the Warner group such as the Gustav Lohse AG perfume and soap factory and the Substantia companies. Not much more is known of Kluftinger, save that his death in 1954 was unexpected.

The Pfeiffer family, and particularly Gustavus Pfeiffer, had a great impact on Hemingway's writing and career. There is a persistent story that Hemingway wrote part of "A Farewell To Arms" while he and his wife, Pauline, lived with Uncle Gus in Easton, Connecticut. Pfeiffer tried to persuade the newlyweds to build a home in Bridgeport, Connecticut, but when they declined he gave them money to purchase their now-famous house in Key West. He also provided generous financial support to Hemingway, and financed the couple's first safari which inspired Hemingway's work "Green Hills of Africa." Hemingway shared his gratitude to Pfeiffer publicly, naming him one of the three dedicatees of "A Farewell to Arms," along with Pauline and his friend Gerald Murphy. It stands to reason, then, that Hemingway would go to great lengths to defend Uncle Gus' nephew.

It is probable that the notorious anti-Semite Hemingway may have been correct in attempting to exonerate the anti-Hitler Kluftinger, and our research has not tied Kluftinger to the Nazi party or the use of slave labor in his companies' products. This cannot be said for other companies under the Godecke umbrella: the Lohse Company was the early "training ground" of Karl Blumenreuter (1881-1969), Himmler's chief pharmacist and medical supply quartermaster of the SS. Blumentreuter was a departmental director at Lohse until 1927. He left to open his own firm and joined the NSDAP in 1931. However, this anecdote does not confirm that Kluftinger had any knowledge or approval of Blumenreuter's actions, either while he was with Lohse or during the Holocaust.


This item comes with a Certificate from John Reznikoff, a premier authenticator for both major 3rd party authentication services, PSA and JSA (James Spence Authentications), as well as numerous auction houses.

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    Dimensions:
  • 8" x 10.5"
  • Artist Name:
  • Ernest Hemingway
  • Medium:
  • TDS

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