A watch said to have belonged to the late Nazi leader Adolf Hitler has sold for $1.1 million (£900,000) at a controversial auction sale in the US.
The historical artefact was sold to an anonymous bidder at the Maryland-based auction house, Alexander Historical Auctions, and bore a swastika, Nazi eagle and the initials AH, Sky News reports.
It is believed the Huber timepiece was given as a birthday present to the fascist leader back in 1933, the same year he became Chancellor of Germany.
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While documents supplied by the auction house stated it cannot provide proof that Hitler actually wore the watch, an appraisal by an independent specialist concluded that the watch 'in all likelihood' belonged to him.
However, the sale of the watch drew strong criticism, and an open letter signed by 34 Jewish leaders described it as 'abhorrent', before it was called upon to be pulled from the auction.
This was along with numerous other controversial Nazi memorabilia items for sale, including a dog collar belonging to Eva Braun’s terrier, Wehrmacht toilet paper, and cutlery and champagne glasses of senior Nazi figures.
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Rabbi Menachem Margolin, Chairman of Brussels-based European Jewish Association (EJA), said in the open letter: "This auction, whether unwittingly or not, is doing two things: one, giving succour to those who idealise what the Nazi party stood for.
"Two: Offering buyers the chance to titillate a guest or loved one with an item belonging to a genocidal murderer and his supporters. The sale of these items is an abhorrence. There is little to no intrinsic historical value to the vast bulk of the lots on display.
"Indeed, one can only question the motivation of those buying them. Europe suffered egregiously because of the perverted and murderous ideology of the Nazi party."
He added: "Millions died to preserve the values of freedom that we take for granted today, including almost half a million Americans. Our continent is littered with memorial mass graves and the sites of death camps."
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Regardless of the backlash, the auction house told German media that the aim of the sale is to simply preserve history.
"Whether good or bad history, it must be preserved," Senior Vice President Mindy Greenstein told Deutsche Welle, as reported by BBC News. "If you destroy history, there is no proof that it happened".
Adolf Hitler lead Nazi Germany between 1933-1945, orchestrating the systematic murder of approximately 11 million people – 6 million of whom were Jewish.
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Hitler would go on to take his own life in 1945 at the end of World War II, which soon lead to Germany unconditionally surrendering to the Allied forces, thus ending the Nazi leader's dreams of a '1,000-year' Reich.
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Topics: World News, World War 2
Emily Puckering