Hitler's desk to go under hammer

Written By DNA Web Team | Updated:

A desk and chair that belonged to Adolf Hitler when he signed the 1938 Munich pact will be put up for sale this month.

LONDON: A desk and chair that belonged to Adolf Hitler when he signed the ill-fated 1938 Munich agreement will be put up for sale this month, the dealer in charge of the auction said on Monday.

The private sale this month is tipped to fetch up to a million dollars (780,000 euros) for the anonymous US collector who owns them, said British art dealer Minas Katchadorian.

The oak furniture pieces were sold to their present owner by the US government, which seized them from the Nazi leader's apartment when American forces overran Munich in 1945.

They have not been available for public display for years. Built by Bavarian furniture maker Ballin, they were initally installed in Hitler's private residence on the Prinzregentenplatz in November 1929.

They were still in his possession when in 1938 Hitler signed the widely-criticized Munich Agreement with France's Edouard Daladier and Britain's Neville Chamberlain, leading to the secession of Sudetenland to Nazi Germany.

Separately, 21 watercolours and sketches believed to be Hitler's work will also be sold on September 26, after spending 70 years at the bottom of a suitcase in an attic in Belgium.