Otto Vollbehr
Otto Heinrich Friedrich Vollbehr (b. 24 April 1869 in Kiel, Province of Schleswig-Holstein, Kingdom of Prussia, German Confederation; d. 18 May 1946 in Frankfurt-Höchst, Allied-occupied Germany) was a German industrial chemist, rare book dealer and National Socialist propagandist.
Contents
Life
In 1926, Vollbehr arrived in the United States with his collection of 3,000 incunabula to be exhibited at the Eucharistic Congress in Chicago. In 1930 Dr. Vollbehr with the assistance of Colonel Edwin Emerson sold his collection of rare fifteenth century printed works including one of four remaining perfect vellum paper copies of the Gutenberg Bible to the Library of Congress for $1.5 million. The famous Bible--bounded in three volumes and at the time valued at $600,000--had belonged to the St. Blasius monastery in Austria for over 400 years. Dr. Vollbehr claimed to have purchased the Bible for a sum equivalent to more than $350,000.
While in America Vollbehr was a promoter of National Socialist Germany. From October 1931 to April 1936 Dr. Vollbehr issued "memoranda"--which others would label propaganda--on the situation in Germany and the rise of National Socialism. He was investigated by the House Special Committee on Nazi Propaganda and testified before the committee on November 30, 1934.[1]
He was instrumental in arranging Reverend Gerald Winrod's visit to Germany in January 1935.[2]
Works
- The Destroyers of International Goodwill Unmasked (1933)
- Is Pacifism Possible? (1934) 11 pages
- A Statement of Principals (1934)
- Message from Appomattox: Let’s Have Peace! (1936)
See also
References
- ↑ Historical Dictionary of American Propaganda, by Martin J. Manning, Herbert Romerstein, page 311
- ↑ Cross-Currents, by Arnold Forster and Benjamin R. Epstein, page 35
