Introduction
In the Summer of 2004 I realized how little I knew about WWII, a war my father had fought in but never talked about. My only evidence that he was actually there was the fine charcoal portrait a German war prisoner had drawn of him. The mute image ornamented a wall in our home my entire youth and now it graces one of my walls. My mother, so effected by the conflict, wouldn't buy German products. For some unexplainable reason I felt I had to learn about the war and Adolf Hitler.
I decided to read Mein Kampf. Well before the war, Hitler was very clear about what he would do if he came to power. To understand the Nazi era I turned to William Shirer's, The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich, a book so captivating as to evaporate time. At this very moment, I received a call from Mr. Joe Brunson, Curator of the WWII Victory Museum in Auburn, Indiana. Joe asked if I would be willing to help the museum in the restoration of a portrait of Adolf Hitler.
A man so despised in my parent's home was now venturing into my home, but conservators don't get to choose the paintings that come to them. I have always felt that a certain Hippocratic Oath was part of my field. One painting is not preserved over another. There aren't two lines. History can not be sanitized. I have researched the painting to understand the impact of the Third Reich on this artist and on art in general. I ask the reader to adopt this historical perspective.
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	Table of Contents
	Page 1: Biographical History
		Adolf Hitler
		Heinrich Knirr
	Page 2: Examination
		Stretcher
		Gesso
		Canvas
		Description
		Paint
		Surface Film
	Page 3: Treatment
		Consolidation
		Cleaning
		Edge-Lining
		Filling
		Varnishing
		Retouching
		Completion
	Page 4: Art Historical Considerations
		Hitler and Art
		Heinrich Hoffmann
		The Große Deutsche Kunstausstellung
		Artistic Environment
	Page 5: Knirr Portraits of Hitler
		1935-1936
		1937
	Page 6: Knirr Portraits of Hitler
		1938-A Re-examination
		Stretcher
		Medals/Tie Pin
		Flower
		Signature
		Underdrawing
		Overview
	Page 7: Knirr Portraits of Hitler
		1938
		1939
		Breakthrough
		In Conclusion
	Page 8: Final Considerations
		Other Knirr Portraits of Hitler
		Goering's "Portrait of Hitler"
		1940
	Page 9: Acknowledgments
		To the Reader
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