Adolf Hitler's underwear is being sold at an auction house next week, along with one of his inscribed copies of "Mein Kampf." Question is, why did the Fuhrer's drawers have to be bigger than the man himself, or what we saw of him?
The monogrammed Hitler boxers are expected to sell for $4,000 to $5,000, says the listing at the Alexander Historical Auctions in Chesapeake, Maryland, the New York Post reported. That’s more than Eva Braun’s knickers brought in last year.
It’s believed that Hitler left the underwear behind in a hotel suite while traveling through the country in April 1938. No word on whether clean or dirty then, but they’re described in “as-new condition.”
The Parkhotel Graz family in Austria held on to the Hitler underpants for decades until deciding to sell them. They are included in the auction house’s World War II sale on Sept. 13-14, which has sparked controversy.
"The shorts are surprisingly large: 19 (inches) long, with a waist of about 39 (inches)," a detailed statement on the auction website said. "There is a single button fly with another button closing the drawers at top, and two tabs adjust the size at the rear of the waist band."
"There are also two pairs of loops sewn on either side of the front of the waist band, whose purpose must have been to support the drawers in some fashion, probably fastening to the pants."
So why is the underwear bigger than the man himself?
"It is no secret, of course, that Hitler was in general an atrocious dresser and preferred the loosest clothing, according to his valet, Karl Wilhelm Krause," per the auction house.
Last November, a pair of lilac knickers once owned by Hitler's wife Eva Braun sold at auction for $3,828 or 2,900 pounds, at the Philip Serrell auction house in Malvern, the BBC News said. They were only expected to auction for $528 or 400 pounds.
The auction house said it’s also auctioning a copy of Hitler's political manifesto "Mein Kampf" which he inscribed in German "Only in battle will the noble man survive!" and dated it 1930. Hitler gave a speech promoting the Nazi Party for the upcoming election on the same day, Alexander Historical Auctions said.
According to the auctioneers, “signed copies of "Mein Kampf" are difficult enough to obtain and copies with such a signed quote are only very rarely seen.”
The book is expected to sell for between $ 15,000 to $20,000.
"In light of current events, the signed 'Mein Kampf' speaks to us as loudly today as it did at the time Hitler wrote it from his jail cell," auctioneer Bill Panagopulos said in the Alexander Historical Auctions statement. "Hopefully, this relic will serve as a vivid reminder of those terrible times – and as a warning."
The auction, which will also be selling off various other Third Reich memorabilia, has sparked controversy, coming not long after the violent protests in Charlottesville, Virginia, where white supremacists and neo-Nazi’s vocalized their intolerance for minorities.
The deputy national director of the Anti-Defamation League, Ken Jacobson, told the Post there were concerns about auctions such as this “especially with the extreme elements feeling emboldened.”
He added, “you have to wonder whether any of this is playing into this mood or not.”
However, Panagopulos told the Washington Examiner that “the shameful events we witnessed in Charlottesville last week underscore the need to preserve this material, display it, and educate those who so clearly don't comprehend how they evoke the horrors of World War II.”
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