Kentish Gazette Canterbury & District
Astonishing images found in Hitler’s bunker auctioned
Photograph album belonged to Eva Braun
Previously unseen pictures of Adolf Hitler relaxing at home and posing with crowds went under the hammer at an auction house yesterday (Wednesday).
The collection, believed to belong to the Nazi dictator’s mistress Eva Braun, was discovered in her bedroom in the Berlin bunker by the British photographer Edward “Dixie” Dean in 1945.
He sold the images to a private collector in the 1980s and now, 72 years after the end of the war, they were put up for sale at a Kent auction house.
The collection of 73 images shows a jolly Hitler posing with children who are giving the Nazi salute, and an image of him relaxing at his Berghof mountain retreat near Salzburg.
Another striking image is of him appearing to do a Charlie Chaplin-style salute to the camera, a world away from the brutality and atrocities being committed under his rule.
The pictures also show leading Nazis such as Luftwaffe chief Hermann Göring climbing into a car, and propaganda minister Joseph Goebbels being saluted by crowds. There is also a chilling picture of the fanatical SS chief Heinrich Himmler smirking. He was the man who oversaw the mass murder of millions during the Holocaust.
Mr Dean said the bedside cabinet of Eva Braun had to be prised open by a Russian soldier with his bayonet. Inside was perfume, underwear and the collection. It is believed she took the pictures, as she does not feature in any of them, and the album is said to still bear the scent of her perfume.
The collection also features newspaper cuttings which speculate Braun had an affair with one of Hitler’s bodyguards, who she had photographed. There is also an obituary to Mr Dean, a photographer for both the Daily Mail and the Daily Mirror.
Tim Harper of C&T Auctions in Kenardington, Ashford, which is handling the sale, put a pre-sale estimate of £18,500 on the collection.