A previously unseen album of photographs from the collection of Eva Braun, Adolf Hitler’s partner, is to auction later this month.

The collection was found in Braun’s bedside table in the Fuhrerbunker in Berlin.

In one image Hitler performs the salute from Charlie Chaplin's The Great Dictator (1940)

In stark contrast to the propaganda images published by the German state at the time, many of these photographs were taken during the dictator’s downtime and show him looking relaxed and jovial.

They also feature high-ranking Nazis such as Joseph Goebbels and Heinrich Himmler.

Most would have been taken by bodyguards, although Braun herself was keen on photography and may have taken some herself.

The album makes for unsettling viewing, given the horrific atrocities the Nazis were engaged in at the time. 

Tim Harper, of C&T Auctions, told the Telegraph: "We can say with 100 per cent certainty that this album was recovered from Hitler's bunker in Berlin in 1945…

"Very few significant artefacts liberated from the Fuhrer Bunker in 1945 exist today in the open market, especially with such concrete provenance dating all the way back to the time of liberation…

"There is a certain macabre aspect to it, given that it was owned and handled by evil people.

"But they were people who were right at the focus of history, a pivotal moment in time that culminated in the suicide of Adolf Hitler.

"My guess is that the album will go to someone who wants a powerful and visual statement from history."

It’s expected to make around £18,500 ($22,438) in the March 15 sale.

Hitler’s telephone, which was also taken from the Fuhrerbunker in 1945, sold for $243,000 at Alexander Historical Auctions in February this year.

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