Hitler's Phone for sale

[der-hase-fee]

Provenance ?????

An account given by Rayner's son: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SUoynfNkArM

The phone is said to have been a "mobile phone", which is the reason for a special receiver that needed to be tilted for removal. That way is wouldn't fall off the cradle during travel.

[alexanderautogr]

Well said ,

I seen how the person selling this item conducted himself recently on a FB group , absolutely disgusting ...

( excuse the language )

I'm quite happy you brought this up. You did, however, take your excerpt completely out of context. Why not, for the sake of journalistic integrity, post the entire thread? BTW I still stand by what I wrote...and I don't hide behind a non de plume.

[FrenchVolunteer]

Hi,

The phone is said to have been a "mobile phone", which is the reason for a special receiver that needed to be tilted for removal. That way is wouldn't fall off the cradle during travel.

Thanks for the info !
So is it the explaination for the British look alike handset ?

See You

Vince

[Mikedenmark]

I placed a message in a different board about the eagle markings on this telephone.
Someone turned my attention to this thread.

I do wonder about the different issue´s mentioned. But one thing in the description of the item isn´t mentioned here. The claimed statement:

from a an original fax message (faded) with translation from ROCHUS MISCH (1917-2013), SS-Oberscharführer and a member of Hitler's personal bodyguard, from Jan. 16, 1945 telephone operator in the bunker, states: "...From the photo I agree this was the red telephone that accompanied my Father [Hitler] constantly during the last two years of the war...";

How they make out father is Hitler, I don´t know. The original message says Vater. May be mishearing the word Führer in a german dialect when the original message was typed. Or, he saw Hitler as a father ?

After all, that is an eye witness confirming a red telephone prior to V-day.
Not that I believe he would be a reliable witness regarding the type of telephone 18 years later.

Secondly, how can the bottom plate be red and with the german telephone type in black on the red? That would not be likely if the telephone was repainted, at least at the bottom. At face value, the bottom can supply an owner with a sample of what looks like original red paint.

I don´t want to buy it, but I do like the red bottom and the flimsy statement from the telephone operator. The rest are less important.
If the handset is british, there is a problem. Then one buys the telephone only, and a dilemma: Switch the handset, or not ?
The thing about the handset being locked in the cradle sounds like rubbish to me. If for real, then a Siemens catalog would list this feature.
Most likely, it simply do not fit properly.

Also, on a different note, no family photo´s from the former owner´s family, where he uses Hitlers telephone?

Regardless, I do not doubt it will sell. Original or not.

Update: Having seen the youtube video, I realised I had overlooked something. The way it is marked, it would be perfect for any party official´s desk. The eagle is facing the person in front of the desk. So, I think it may be a plain common NSDAP party office telephone, where the name Adolf Hitler in no specific way relates to the person. Still, interesting enough. Especially being red. Anyone asked Siemens how many red telephones they have made?

But as far as I can see, not necessarily a personal item of Adolf Hitler. There may be more known among german telephone collectors. Black or red.

2nd update. Postwar model, but original Siemens coloured telephones. The red one in the middle is a prewar model.
http://www.w48.info/

[Jo Rivett]

A pity that the corresponding red badge - worn by Adolf every time he used his big red phone - is not offered together with it.

Fear not, Weitze has the badge, and for a measly €200.- the two can once more be reunited!

https://www.weitze.net/militaria/74/...K__270474.html

[Funksammler]

Hitler's military converstations would have been done via the exchange in the Bunker, this was a military plug type exchange, not an automatic dial-up system. Looking at the period pictures, various phones without dialing disks (and handles for a bell generator like a field telephone) can be seen for this purpose.

Hitler did use a unit to claok his speech, this is called a GKIII, You can actually see his GKIII in the picture on post 31. The "special mouthpiece" on the phone has nothing to do with it. I concur with the analysis that the handset is not even German.

Dial phones were present in the Führerbunker (at least one black dial phone can be spotted on the photographs in this thread), these phones were connected to the public network and would have been for domestic use only.

Hitler would not have held military conversations with his generals over a public/insecure line, for that he used a phone with a call generator through his GKIII converter and through his military exchange with a telephone operator in his bunker...

regards,

Funksammler

[Coltsnsox07]

It's up to $143,000 in pre auction bids..

[FrenchVolunteer]

Hi,

thanks for your essential post Funksammler

I was looking for a technical reply like yours, i didn't had the time to check again the various books about the Hitler HQ i have that are dealing with Hitler's communications.

See You

Vince

[Fischreiher]

Joachim von Ribbentrop, the Foreign Minister of the Reich and Hitler's old crony, read the text carefully; after a slight hesitation, he reached for the red phone that connected him directly to "The Wolf's Lair", Hitler's advanced headquarters at Rastenburg, East Prussia.

Michael Bar-Zohar. The Enigma. p. 14.

[Fischreiher]

i would love to see Soviet pictures taken from the Führerbunker in early May

The Kukryniksy artists depicted two phones of this model in their painting "The End of Hitler" (1946). It is confirmed that the Kukryniksy artists were in Berlin in 1945, but I'm not sure if they saw the bunker.

[FrenchVolunteer]

Hi,

this painting is a very bad interpretation of what may be the the interior of the Führerbunker.

I suspect that the artists used pictures (and maybe the LIFE ones) for their painting.

They (badly) recreated ROOM #10 (the door in the background is escape exit, from which the Hitler's bodies were taken in the garden to be burned).

Too many errors in the painting, but they are maybe done on purpose (especially the thickness of the door) to show the Götterdammerung.

See You

Vince

[CPB]

Sold for 200 grand plus commission.

Some crazy prices were achieve in that auction.

[FrenchVolunteer]

Hi,

it could be cool if the family of the original owner may get pre-1963 pictures, i'm sure that they exist.

Strangely we have pictures of the few "Hitler's rooms", but nothing more from the other rooms.

See You

Vince

[Fischreiher]

Hi, this painting is a very bad interpretation of what may be the the interior of the Führerbunker.

Okay. So, they were in Berlin in 1945, but likely not at the bunker.

[FrenchVolunteer]

Hi,

i think that the "differences" may be infact artistic propaganda to have a more powerful painting, they probably visited the bunker if they had to paint it for propaganda purpose.

On another hands, i found an interesting picture from Röhm's desk in 1933.

Check the handset of the telephone...

Isn't it (very) similar to the Hitler's phone ?

See You

Vince