Goering’s pants fetch thousands in grisly auction

AHUGETROVEof Nazirelicscollected by the late American doctor John K Lattimer brought in 1.1 million euros in a five-hour auction in Munich last weekend, smashing early estimates.

The controversial sale on June 17 was shrouded in secrecy, since it is illegal in Germany to glorify the Nazi era. But some details have emerged.

Among the items sold, mostly to one buyer, were Hitler’s last Wehrmacht uniform (275,000 euros), Hermann Goering’s silk nightshirt and extra-large underwear (3,000 euros), a pair of Hitler’s socks, two dresses of Eva Braun, and even pieces of the rope used to hang condemned Nazi war criminal Julius Streicher at Nuremberg.

Early estimates had the items bringing in only 170,000. But interest — and competition — was obviously greater than expected.

The Central Council of Jews in Germany called the sale “disgusting”, and joined with Munich Mayor Dieter Reiter in asking the auction house to cancel the auction. But the sellers went ahead, explaining on their website that the sale catalogue would be available only to regular clients, public collections and museums. Those requesting the catalogue would have to provide an electronic signature, which would make them traceable.

“Hermann Historica is a renowned, internationally known auction house for historical objects from all periods and countries,” the website said. How Lattimer came by the collection is unclear. In 1945, the Second World War US army doctor was assigned to the war crimes prisoner’s barracks at Nuremberg, where he dealt with the medical needs of war crimes defendants.

Lattimer kept his collection in his 30-room, late 19th century mansion in Englewood, New Jersey.

The Bild newspaper, which sent an undercover reporter to the event, speculated that some items were on their way to a museum in Argentina, based on the little information that the main buyer revealed about himself.