Hitler's paintings to go on sale

A collection of art by the Nazi leader could fetch more than $240,000 when it goes on sale later this month.

The paintings depict pastoral scenes of farmland and village life, and were painted by Adolf Hitler in 1908 when he was trying to make a living as an artist. They were discovered in a cupboard on a farm estate in Austria. Their amateurish quality provides insight into why the would-be dictator was twice rejected by a Vienna art school. His rejection has often been cited as a major turning point in his life, and historians speculate that had he been accepted he might never have pursued politics. Many European auction houses are Jewish-owned and refuse to deal in property relating to Hitler or the Nazis. In France and Austria it is illegal to sell Nazi art.