The Hotel Wittelsbach, located in Oberammergau in the Bavarian Alps, had a number of prominent guests in the 1930s. Many of the guests were high profile and were handed a special guest book for their signatures. A book the Hotel maintained for a number of years from 1930 through 1940. The Guest Book has 375 signatures on 41 pages of the 100 page book.

There are a number of prominent names in the Guest Book; like that of Adolf Hitler with a photo of him on the hotel balcony in 1934. This photo appears to have been pasted in by the Hotel, as it is clearly the front of the hotel and they acknowledge in the included letter, that information had been passed down to them that Hitler was indeed a hotel guest on 13 August, 1934. As do public statements like those in the next paragraph.

Oberammergau is home to a world-famous Passion Play which  has been faithfully performed each decade for hundreds of years. In 1930, the play was performed on schedule, when a special young man came to see it:

   "At a show in August a man with a pale face, brown-reddish hair and a small moustache on the furrow of the upper lip sat in the passion theatre. He carried a trench coat and was accompanied by some men. After the play his friend Helene Bechstein brought him in the publishing house Lang where he was introduced and invited for tea...The man was Adolf Hitler.”

The above excerpt is from an Oberammergau website, and reinforces the well-known detail that Adolf Hitler attended the play in 1930, and again a jubilee performance held in 1934. Much of the play focused on Jesus' hostile encounters with Jewish leaders, their animosity augmented for dramatic purposes—all of which led Adolf Hitler to call the 300th anniversary performance in

1934 "a convincing portrayal of the menace of Jewry."

To most, Hitler is undoubtedly the most notorious of the names appearing in the guest book, but there are many others who are people of interest. Guests with varying degree of notoriety are signers in the guest book. Film maker Leni Reifenstahl and Viktor Lutze (signed three times), Dr. Fritz Todt, Martin Bormann, Leo Weinmantel, Ludwig Siebert, Heinrich Hofmann, Herman Esser, and many more.

This is to be expected, because once again, this play continues to this day and is a world famous event. It is attended by people from around the world: Actors, actresses, sports figures,  captains of industry, authors, governors, ambassadors, senators, and royalty make up a list of 375 total names in this book.

Though many remain unidentified, many stand out boldly in a beautiful cursive that was fitting their title of Prince or Princessa, There is no mistaking William Randolph Hearst with Marion Davies, or Maxi Herber and Ernst Baier, Max Schmeling and the Canadian Olympic Hockey Team known as the “Edmonton Superiors” signed the book on their world tour after winning 34 of 38 games.

Names of people from around the world appear in this book, from the USA, Canada, China, South America and Europe, as well as Africa and Russia.

It should be noted that many of the individuals appearing in this book have a history intertwined with Hitler, like Swester Pia who adds her own patriotic inscription, while others held their own notoriety. For example on page 8, Harry Ford Sinclair of Sinclair Oil visiting soon after his release from prison relating to the historic Teapot Dome Scandal in the United States.

The Hotel Wittelsbach hosted and apparently used this book primarily for dignitaries. They reveal this through the number of years the book covers (9 years) on such few pages, with a high rate of identifiable names.

Following the link below, you will have access to each page. Click on them to see higher resolution pages, click on the face of a page for it to open in full size in a new window. If you see a name you can recognize, please, send us an email from the bid form.

Thank you and Enjoy!