Never-before-seen Hitler photos up for auction

A photo album of a more relaxed Adolf Hitler will go up for auction in Kent, England on Wednesday. The album will feature photos that have never seen the light of way, exactly how Hitler intended.

"Hitler's image, particularly his photographs, were controlled. They had to be approved," said C&T Auctions consultant Tim Harper.

Harper said the photos show Hitler more "natural, relaxed, a number of them are amusing and almost certainly they would not have been allowed to be published. They are quite revealing," according to Harper.

The album also contains photos of Hitler in his motorcade passing crowds of people cheering him, smiling next to a group of children, and alongside top members of the Nazi party including Joseph Goebbels and Heinrich Himmler. The photos "had to be taken by someone who had clearance to get close to the Fuehrer and close to that inner circle," said Harper.

The photo album was found by English photographer Edward Dean and English broadcaster Richard Dimbleby in Hitler's bunker in April 1945. Harper said Dean and Dimbleby were with a Russian soldier and they broke into Eva Braun's bedroom. "The Russian solder pried open her drawer and got the album from there," said Harper.

The album is currently owned by an unnamed collector. The album could fetch more than 15,000 British pounds (17,200 euros, $18,300). A telephone apparently owned by Hitler sold for $240,000 at an auction earlier this year. 

kbd/bw (Reuters)