Inheriting a house is a pretty exciting deal. You have this property that you can do anything you want with. If the property needs a lot of work, a lot of people will just turn around and sell it right away. Other people will feel a sentimental attachment to it and do their best to try to fix it up and make use of the property again. Well when a man in Germany inherited a property from his mother’s aunt, he had to make a choice of what to do with the property. Before that could happen though, he needed to go through the house and take an inventory of everything to decide if it should be kept or thrown away. While going through the contents of his inheritance, he came across a very old and heavy safe just sitting in the pantry of the house. As anyone would do, he immediately felt the urge to crack it open and check out what was inside. What he found in this old family safe was absolutely incredible!
Here is the safe in question. You can tell just by glancing at this thing that it is extremely heavy and old.
This thing definitely looks like it has seen its share of wear and tear. The woman who owned the house before the man who inherited it was born in East Prussia in 1921. At some point in the 40’s, she fled from the Russians and settled in Hamburg. You have to wonder if the safe was with her the entire time.
He was able to find the key in a giant pile of other keys. He had a sneaking suspicion this would be the one. I mean, this really just has the look of a key used for a giant chest filled with treasure right?
He’s in. This thing is definitely heavy-duty. It even has another lid inside to keep out the most nosey of people.
Finally! Although there doesn’t appear to be gold and riches inside this old family safe. That’s not to say that what is contained in the chest won’t have considerable value. It’s just always hard when the dream of finding actual treasure is crushed.
While there may not have been treasure that is going to make him rich, there is definitely quite a bit of unknowns to sift through here. There were three books in the safe, along with many photos and letters and cards sent home from various battlefields during the two World Wars. The oldest things are dated 1914, while the most recent are dated 1944.
The three books contained in the safe were a copy of Rob Roy by W. Scott, Mein Kampf by Adolf Hitler, and a German version of Lady And The Tramp.
The inside of Mein Kampf, unfortunately the signature is simply printed on. Adolf Hitler was a mad man and a mass murderer, but having an autographed copy of his book would be something extremely rare and valuable.
This is an original 1943 copy of Mein Kampf however, which could still mean it is pretty valuable.
The famous novel Rob Roy by W. Scott.
This book is from 1846. This book was printed before the Civil War. That is pretty crazy when you think about it.
Who could forget this iconic image of Lady And The Tramp.
This book was printed in 1953. You have to wonder how long it’s been since any of this stuff was touched after being put into this old family safe.
A find like this wouldn’t be complete without an old family portrait. The finder’s grandmother said she believes the little girl in the picture is her grandmother! That would make these people the inheritor’s great grandparents! It’s not often you get to see what these people actually looked like. Although the mother and daughter look absolutely miserable. The photo was taken around 1900!
This picture is much newer. It is the finder’s grandpa, with the photo being taken around 1950.
While this isn’t for certain, these appear to be two boys from the group “Hitler’s Youth.” Imagine the Boy Scouts…but with just a more frightening message.
A postcard from 1916. This thing is older than many of our grandparents!
This is a postcard from 1941. This one clearly passed through Nazi hands as evidenced by the golden eagle and swastika which served as the Nazi regimes symbol.
Another post card, this one from 1916 during World War I.
The caption at the bottom of this photo says, “A house destroyed by the enemy.”
This is a photo of the Kaiser’s heir during World War I.
I had no idea that Nivea was around that far back! All the tins were empty though, and probably for the best.
While there wasn’t anything that clearly jumps out at you as having monetary value, there is so much history contained with this old family safe. Many of these items have to deal with the finders family, which can make them even more special than something with a high dollar value. These are things that can be passed down with the family, so more and more people can enjoy them and feel a closer connection with their ancestors.