An oil painting of Kitty Schmidt, the notorious owner of the legendary Nazi-era brothel Salon Kitty, has mysteriously resurfaced after being lost for decades. The portrait, which once hung in Schmidt's infamous establishment, was unknowingly purchased by a Berlin woman at a flea market in Spandau several years ago, only to be identified recently through modern technology.
Kitty Schmidt was one of Berlin's most well-known brothel operators during the Nazi period, running the legendary Salon Kitty that the Nazis allegedly used for espionage purposes. The establishment has become the subject of numerous myths and legends, with stories of high-ranking Nazi officials, politicians, and diplomats being secretly monitored through bugged rooms, microphones hidden under pillows, and spies stationed in adjacent chambers.
The brothel gained international notoriety when Italian filmmaker Tinto Brass created a cinematic monument to the establishment located at Giesebrechtstraße 11 with his film of the same name. In the movie, actor Helmut Berger portrayed SS officer Helmut Wallenberg, who conducted surveillance operations on high-ranking Nazi functionaries within Salon Kitty.
The remarkable discovery of the oil portrait occurred through an unusual chain of events involving modern technology. The Berlin woman who had purchased the painting years earlier at a Spandau flea market had no idea of the historical significance of her acquisition. When a friend visited her home and inquired about the identity of the woman depicted in the oil painting, they decided to use an image recognition app to solve the mystery. Their digital investigation eventually led them to establish a connection to Kitty Schmidt, ultimately directing them to the website of two authors who had written a book about Salon Kitty.
Authors Urs Brunner and Julia Schrammel had been searching unsuccessfully for years to locate this legendary oil painting of Kitty Schmidt. According to author Schrammel, finding the portrait holds tremendous significance for their research, as only a handful of photographs of Kitty exist, and those are exclusively in black and white. During her extensive search for the painting, Schrammel had contacted nearly every auction house and antique dealer in Berlin, making this unexpected discovery all the more remarkable.
The original Salon Kitty opened its doors in 1939 at Giesebrechtstraße 11 in the Charlottenburg district of Berlin. The establishment operated until 1943, when the building was struck during an Allied bombing raid, forcing the salon to relocate its operations to the ground floor. After the end of World War II, Kitty Schmidt continued running her business under the new name "Pension Schmidt." Schmidt passed away in 1954, and her grandson later converted the former brothel into a boarding house for asylum seekers, marking the end of an era for one of Berlin's most infamous wartime establishments.
