The gentle image was a lie the regime worked hard to sell. Nazi propaganda liked to present Hitler as a kindly animal lover — vegetarian, fond of children, devoted to his dogs — a soft, humanizing mask over the man directing a war and a genocide. His German Shepherd Blondi, a gift from Martin Bormann in 1941, was part of that picture, appearing in photographs of the "private" Führer at ease. The reality showed itself at the very end: on 29 April 1945, in the Berlin bunker, doubting whether his cyanide capsules would work, Hitler had his doctor test one on Blondi to be sure. The dog died; he took his own life the next day. Whatever affection was real, the tender image built around it was always propaganda.

K&C's set shows Hitler in the brown Party tunic and peaked cap with Blondi at his side, staged — as the copy notes — as a stroll near his Alpine retreat at the Berghof, the kind of relaxed "private" scene the propaganda machine loved. It sits with the collection's other portrait of him, the saluting Adolf Hitler, and with the man who manufactured that gentle image, propaganda minister Joseph Goebbels, alongside the wider leadership like Hermann Göring. As a historical piece it is a useful reminder that even a genocidal dictator was packaged and sold — the dog included.

Model: LAH253 / King & Country / 1/30 (60mm) scale / matte finish / 2 piece set (Hitler and dog)