Red Phone Used By Hitler Up For Auction
- 7 years ago
A red phone used by Adolf Hitler to order the mass killings of Jews is being sold at auction.
A red phone used by Adolf Hitler to order the mass killings of Jews is being sold, reports CNN.
Alexander Historical Auctions, the Maryland-based company handling the sale, has listed the item on its site as “ARGUABLY THE MOST DESTRUCTIVE ‘WEAPON’ OF ALL TIME, WHICH SENT MILLIONS TO THEIR DEATHS AROUND THE WORLD.”
According to the online description, the rotary phone with chipped red paint features an inscription with Hitler’s name, a Nazi eagle, and a swastika.
It also comes with a leather carrying case which had belonged to British officer Brigadier Sir Ralph Rayner who acquired the phone at Hitler’s Berlin quarters in the days following Germany’s surrender.
However, he reportedly had to smuggle the phone back into the U.K. to avoid allegations of looting.
Rayner had the phone until his death in 1977, and it was passed on to his son Ranulf who has said he would like the phone to be purchased by a museum.
The 82-year-old told CNN, “I want them to remind the world of the horrors of war.”
The auction house estimates the phone could fetch between $200,000 and $300,000.
A red phone used by Adolf Hitler to order the mass killings of Jews is being sold, reports CNN.
Alexander Historical Auctions, the Maryland-based company handling the sale, has listed the item on its site as “ARGUABLY THE MOST DESTRUCTIVE ‘WEAPON’ OF ALL TIME, WHICH SENT MILLIONS TO THEIR DEATHS AROUND THE WORLD.”
According to the online description, the rotary phone with chipped red paint features an inscription with Hitler’s name, a Nazi eagle, and a swastika.
It also comes with a leather carrying case which had belonged to British officer Brigadier Sir Ralph Rayner who acquired the phone at Hitler’s Berlin quarters in the days following Germany’s surrender.
However, he reportedly had to smuggle the phone back into the U.K. to avoid allegations of looting.
Rayner had the phone until his death in 1977, and it was passed on to his son Ranulf who has said he would like the phone to be purchased by a museum.
The 82-year-old told CNN, “I want them to remind the world of the horrors of war.”
The auction house estimates the phone could fetch between $200,000 and $300,000.