A Mein Kampf copy that may have personally belonged to Nazi leader Adolph Hitler has sold at an auction but the Fuhrer’s book only sold for less than a third of its estimated value.
In a related report by the Inquisitr , Hitler’s Mein Kampf began topping eBook sales at the beginning of 2014 and autographed copies were sold at auction . In an ironic twist, it’s also been revealed that Hitler’s wife, Eva Braun, may have had Jewish ancestry .
Seller Craig Gottlieb told the British newspaper the Mirror that “it’s the only copy of Mein Kampf that belonged to Hitler — and although controversial and evil, he changed the world. The book is far more important that mere signed copies. For some, a museum or a book does it, but for me, I have to hold an artifact in my hands — they’re like little time machines.”
Gottlieb claimed this copy of Mein Kampf was found in 1945 at Hitler’s apartment in Munich. The Nazi leader apparently left it behind when he went to go hide in his bunker with his staff. Eventually, Hitler committed suicide in April of 1945 when Allied forces began taking over Berlin.
This particular copy of Mein Kampf eventually sold for $30,000, which was a good $64k less than the expected selling price of $99,000. Ironically, an autographed copy of Mein Kampf sold at the auction mentioned earlier went for $64,850, more than double the selling price of his personal copy.
Mein Kampf was originally written in 1925 and Hitler derived much of his personal income from book sales numbering in the millions. From 1936 and onward, copies of the book were given to all newlyweds in Germany, with the Nazi party paying for the copies so Hitler could pocket the royalties. When Hitler became the German chancellor in 1933, he owed about $8 million in unpaid taxes on these royalties but the debt was officially written off by the German government. During World War II, the U.S. government seized the copyright of Mein Kampf under the Trading With The Enemy act. They sold the rights to the publishing house of Houghton Mifflin in 1979 and since then, thousands of copies have been purchased by Americans.