Adolf Hitler's personal phone has been sold to an anonymous bidder for $243,000.
An auction catalog describes it as 'arguably the most destructive weapon of all time, which sent millions to their deaths.'
The Russians offered Rayner a telephone that belonged to Eva Braun, Hitler's bride, but he joked that he preferred red.
“His Russian hosts were pleased to hand him a red telephone,” the auction house said in the catalog. “The telephone offered here.”
Rayner told CNN that his father brought the phone and a dog figurine, which was made by slave laborers at Dachau concentration camp, back to their home in Devon.
"My father didn't see it as a relic of Hitler's glory days, more a battered remnant of his defeat, a sort of war trophy," Rayner told CNN. "He never thought it would become an important artifact."
The dog figurine sold for $24,300.
Rayner told CNN he hoped the objects would be purchased by a museum.
"I don't want them to be hidden again," he said. "I want them to remind the world of the horrors of war."
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereLast Updated:
Report this comment Cancel