Deutsche Presse-Agentur
WASHINGTON — The personal travel phone that once belonged to Adolf Hitler and which was taken from his Berlin bunker just days after the German capital fell in 1945 is currently up for sale at a U.S. auction house.
The phone was given to a British soldier by Russian officers during a visit to the Fuehrer’s bunker shortly after the Soviets took Berlin at the end of World War II, according to Alexander Historical Auctions, based in Chesapeake City, Maryland.
The soldier’s son is now putting the phone up for sale.
The auction ends Sunday, and the star offering has a opening price of $100,000.
The auction catalog provides numerous photos of the phone, built by Siemens in Berlin, with Hitler’s name engraved on it. The Bakelite device, which was originally black, is now painted red.
The phone apparently suffered fire damage at some point, but appears fully intact. Research and photographs prove its provenance and authenticity, according to the auction house.
The auction description says that British brigadier and signals officer Ralph Rayner took possession of the telephone on May 5, 1945, in Hitler’s private quarters, and then took it with him to England.
The device is far from a simple desk telephone, according to the catalogue, but rather was used by the Nazi leader in his so-called Wolf’s Lair on the Eastern Front as well as on trips and on trains.
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