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| Hermann Göring, the former deputy leader of Nazi Germany, reads in his jail cell during war crimes trials at Nuremberg. A collection of Nazi artifacts that included Göring's underwear is feared to have been snapped up by Neo-Nazi buyers. |
Monday’s sale, conducted by Munich’s Hermann Historica, featured the collection of John Lattimer, a renowned U.S. physician who treated high-ranking Nazis during the Nuremberg war crimes trials.
Lattimer, who later became known for his intricate medical studies of the Kennedy assassination, was also an insatiable collector who made off with a treasure trove of Nazi artifacts, including the cyanide ampoule that Luftwaffe head Hermann Göring used to kill himself following his conviction for war crimes.
The Munich sale included the ampoule, as well as Göring’s watch, his silk underwear and a jacket worn by Adolf Hitler.
The auction was reportedly dominated by a single unnamed buyer using the number “888.” Spending more than $850,000, 888 purchased more than 50 artifacts, including the Hitler jacket and the cyanide ampoule.
Ultimately, 888’s purchases represented almost two-thirds of the auction’s $1.3-million total take. An agent for 888 at the Munich sale said only that he came “from Argentina,” and that the Nazi memorabilia was destined for a museum.
The scant information on the mysterious buyer all comes by way of Bild, a German tabloid that snuck a reporter into the auction.
Nevertheless, observers noted two aspects of 888 that seemed to indicate neo-Nazi leanings. The buyer’s number, 888, appears to evoke “88,” a common neo-Nazi code meaning “Heil Hitler.”
And Argentina, of course, became notorious as a Nazi hideout after the war. (more...)
$850K in Nazi artifacts — including Göring’s underwear — purchased at auction by shadowy Argentinian
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