Adolf Hitler's 'Andreas Huber' watch fetches more than $1.1 million at auction
The wristwatch of Hitlerwas expected to be sold for more than two to four million dollars. However, the accessory has been sold for 1.1 million dollars.
- World News
- 3 min read
The wristwatch said to have belonged to Adolf Hitler has been sold for more than 1.1 million dollars (more than Rs 8,71,14,500) at the Alexander Historical Auctions in the United States. The gold 'Andreas Huber reversible wristwatch' was presented to Hitler on April 20 in 1933 on his 44th birthday by members of the Nationalist Socialist Workers Party of Germany. An eagle, a swastika and the initials of the leader of the German Nazis were engraved on the golden case of the watch, DW reported.
The wristwatch was found on May 4 in 1945 by a French soldier at Hitler's former Alpine residence at Berchtesgaden in Bavaria. The watch was found four days after the suicide of Adolf Hitler in Berlin. Reportedly, the watch has remained in the possession of the soldier's family for decades. The watch was expected to be sold for more than two to four million dollars. However, the accessory has been sold for 1.1 million dollars. According to the statement released by Alexander Historical Auctions, the watch had a movement originally made by LeCoultre and a case created by a subcontractor and the combination was reversible making the entire case rotate by 180 degrees.
Case of watch has Swiss & German gold hallmark
It further revealed that the rotating case of the watch carried a Swiss hallmark and a German gold hallmark. The Swiss hallmark indicates that the frame of the watch had Swiss manufacture and was later exported to Germany, according to the statement issued by Alexander Historical Auctions. In addition to Adolf Hitler's watch, other artefacts from the Nazi era were also auctioned. An imperial eagle which was allegedly in the Reich Chancellery in Berlin fetched $200,000 at the auction, as per the news report. The bronze bivouac on which Hitler signed the Munich agreement of 1938 was sold for $290,000.
European Association of Jewish Organizations called for cancellation of auction
The European Association of Jewish Organizations had called for the cancellation of the auction, as per the DW report. Rabbi Menachem Margolin, the head of The European Association of Jewish Organizations, in an open letter addressed to the organizers termed the sale of such items "disgusting." The letter has been signed by more than 30 representatives of Jewish organisations from Europe and Israel. Rabbi Menachem Margolin stressed that the accessories from the heritage of Nazism must be kept in museums if they were so necessary and need not be sold at auctions. Margolin underscored that selling item belonging to Hitler do not contribute to learning from the horrors caused in the Nazi era.