The sketches of Hitler's official artist who erased his name from files in shame after WWII

The sketches of Hitler's official artist who erased his name from files in shame after WWII - Works by one of Adolf Hitler's official artists - who erased his own name from the records after the war - have finally been revealed by his family.

Austrian artist Roman Zenzinger's works portray German soldiers, but he was never a Nazi and was ashamed of his role in the regime.

After hostilities ended he locked up all his sketches, drawings and oil paintings and tried to remove all references of himself from the files.

Official artist: Roman Zenzinger depicted the lives of ordinary German soldiers stationed in northern Italy and Austria during WWII

Day to day: Zenzinger tried to capture the humdrum existence of soldiers who probably opposed the fighting as much as any Allied conscript

His works have since remained concealed by his family in Vienna; but now they are to sell some of them at a British auction house in a bid to restore their relative's reputation.

Richard Westwood-Brookes, from Shropshire-based Mullock's auction house, where the paintings are to be sold, said: 'In the latter stages of the war, with Germany lying in ruins, Zenzinger turned his personal hatred on the Nazis.'

'He showed in stark reality what the Nazis had achieved - millions dead, destroyed cities and decimated people.'

After the war ended Zenzinger continued to work as a commercial artist; no one ever knew about his wartime past apart from his immediate family.

He had been attached to a police unit based in northern Italy and Austria and had first-hand contact with the German soldiers he drew and painted.

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But Zenzinger's work was not Nazi propaganda of the type he might have been expected to produce. He tried to obscure Nazi symbolism in his pictures, and give truthful accounts of the lives of the soldiers whose lives he chronicled.

'Rather than paint an idealised Aryan super race who were conquering the world under Hitler's evil doctrines, Zenzinger portrayed the ordinary soldiers,' said Mr Westwood-Brookes.

'He showed them going about their tasks under orders in much the same way as any soldier from allied nations - and probably hating the war just as much.'

Sixty-five years on, three of Zenzinger's pencil drawings are now on auction and are expected to sell for £3,000 each.

They show a soldier in the act of throwing a grenade, a soldier mending his motorcycle side-car and a soldier wearing all his army kit.

Mr Westwood-Brookes said: 'In the hope that his [Zenzinger's] achievements as a war artist will finally be recognised and the wartime record put straight, his surviving family have agreed to allow us to offer the first of what we hope will be many examples of his wartime art.'

He added: 'Zenzinger's pictures certainly stand as historical documents from a different perspective to those we are used to.

'This sale will provide a unique opportunity to obtain work by a hitherto unknown artist whose importance will doubtless grow as more information emerges about him. ( dailymail.co.uk )