Hitler's wife's lovely lilac knickers fetch £2,900 at auction

Private purchaser not identified

An old pair of knickers have been sold at auction for £2,900.

The lilac panties belonged to Eva Braun, the mistress who married Adolf Hitler before she committed suicide by cyanide capsule as Nazi Germany faced collapse in April 1945. It is unlikely she was wearing them at the time.

Originally expected to bring in £400, the silk knickers were sold for £2,900 when they went under the hammer at the Philip Serrell auction room in Malvern alongside some other personal items belonging to Eva Braun and monogrammed with her initials.

The knickers were reportedly found by an American serviceman in an abandoned bunker in the Platterhof Hotel, near to Hitler's home in the Bavarian Alps. They eventually made their way into the hands of a British military memorabilia collector.

They were purchased at the Malvern auction by a private collector, who was not identified. The Register does not know if the buyer is equally interested in the undergarments of the Allied leaders' wives. ®