“The photographs had to be taken by someone who was very close,” Mr. Tredwen said. “All photographs of Adolf Hitler were very much controlled because obviously they did not want photographs coming out that made him look bad. They would not have been made for the general public.” 
 
 There were no signatures in the book to suggest ownership, or the identity of the photographer, he said. 
 
 He described the bidding as “very competitive,” with telephone bidders from Britain and the United States, as well as interest online from Germany, China, South Africa and other countries. 
 
 Newsletter Sign Up Continue reading the main story Get the Morning Briefing by Email What you need to know to start your day, delivered to your inbox Monday through Friday. Please verify you're not a robot by clicking the box. Invalid email address. Please re-enter. You must select a newsletter to subscribe to. Sign Up You agree to receive occasional updates and special offers for The New York Times's products and services. Thank you for subscribing. An error has occurred. Please try again later. View all New York Times newsletters. 
 
 Mr. Tredwen, a specialist of more than a dozen years in military history items, said buyers of Nazi memorabilia were generally historians. “I have never in my life met anyone who shared the political views of the Third Reich,” he said. “They are literally only there to collect. World War II was one of the biggest events to affect the world.” 
 
 “People are fascinated by how evil the Third Reich were,” he added. 
 
 The description of the item online traced its journey from April 1945, when a British Fleet Street photographer, Edward Dean, “obtained” it from a Russian soldier whom he had watched find the album in a drawer in Braun’s bunker bedroom, shortly after the couple committed suicide. The item changed hands several times after Mr. Dean auctioned it. 
 
 In one photograph, Hitler salutes as he walks toward the camera down a path at his Berghof headquarters in the Bavarian Alps. His guards are also depicted on duty and in relaxed poses in the images, which date mostly from the early to mid-1930s. 
 
 Ownership of items related to Nazi history poses ethical questions. Some art collectors have stepped forward to try to find out whether their art was looted from Jews. A replica of a gate that was believed to have been stolen from the Dachau concentration camp in Germany was recovered last year. 
 
 Advertisement Continue reading the main story 
 
 And an attraction in Berlin that recreates the interior of Hitler’s bunker and opened last year suggests an uncomfortable phenomenon — that Hitler sells. 
 
 Memorials dedicated to preserving the historical context of the Holocaust, in which six million Jews were killed, have often called on collectors or people with personal items from survivors to donate the artifacts. 
 
 In January, in commemorating the 72nd anniversary of the liberation of the Nazi concentration and death camps at Auschwitz-Birkenau in Poland, the memorial director, Dr. Piotr M. A. Cywinski, issued a statement calling for donations. 
 
 “We kindly ask the public to hand over any documents, photos, personal letters, diaries, or other materials that are in private hands,” he said. 
 
 “I am absolutely convinced that only mutual effort can lead to a fuller understanding of the mechanisms of hatred, and analyses from the perspective of the victims, given the course of events, cannot fully serve the purpose,” he added. “Today, we need new sources for a comprehensive picture of the history of Auschwitz and the Holocaust.” ||||| Hermann Goering’s April 24, 1945, telegram to Adolf Hitler, marked “Geheim!,” or “Secret!” (Courtesy of Alexander Historical Auctions) 
 
 It is one of the most crucial documents from the most pivotal moment in the most terrible war. 
 
 A treasonous telegram from No. 2 Nazi Hermann Goering to none other than the führer himself. 
 
 A message that, along with the advancing Allied troops, helped drive Adolf Hitler to swallow cyanide and shoot himself inside his underground Berlin bunker. 
 
 Despite its influence on World War II, however, the memorandum ended up inside a South Carolina safe, nearly forgotten for more than a decade until a college student made it his senior thesis. 
 
 On Tuesday, the itinerant but now infamous telegram sold at auction for $55,000. 
 
 Not bad for a scrap of paper plucked at random in the pitch dark. 
 
 This is the story of how a Nazi note changed the course of history, only to slip through the cracks thanks to an American soldier’s ignorance of German. 
 
 
 
 An undated picture shows Nazi Chancellor Adolf Hitler followed by commander-in-chief Hermann Goering, second left, and head of the SS Heinrich Himmler, third left, marching in Berlin next to the hotel Excelsior which was Hitler’s base in the city in the early 1930s. (AFP) 
 
 It was April 23, 1945, almost a year after American troops landed at Normandy. Americans had crossed the Rhine in early March, but it was Soviet troops that now had Hitler and many of his top advisers surrounded. 
 
 But not Hermann Goering. An ace fighter pilot in World War I, Goering had helped Hitler take power in 1933 and stayed at his side as the Third Reich hungrily expanded. So close was he to Hitler that in June of 1941, the fuhrer issued a secret decree stating that should he be captured or killed, Goering would take over. 
 
 [How Hermann Goering unleashed a furry pest upon Europe] 
 
 As the war dragged on, however, Hitler became suspicious of his No. 2. And as the Soviets advanced to within two blocks of Hitler’s bunker, Goering was nowhere to be found. He was holed up nearly 500 miles south in the Bavarian Alps. 
 
 From a Nazi base in the mountainous town of Berchtesgaden, Goering sent a telegram to Hitler shortly after midnight: 
 
 My Führer: General Koller today gave me a briefing on the basis of communications given to him by Colonel General Jodl and General Christian, according to which you had referred certain decisions to me and emphasized that I, in case negotiations would become necessary, would be in an easier position than you in Berlin. These views were so surprising and serious to me that I felt obligated to assume, in case by 2200 o’clock no answer is forthcoming, that you have lost your freedom of action. I shall then view the conditions of your decree as fulfilled and take action for the well being of Nation and Fatherland. You know what I feel for you in these most difficult hours of my life and I cannot express this in words. God protect you and allow you despite everything to come here as soon as possible. Your faithful Hermann Goering 
 
 According to an autobiography by Albert Speer, Hitler’s chief architect turned minister of armaments and war production, those close to the fuhrer used the telegram to pollute Hitler’s already fragile mind against Goering: 
 
 . . . there was a flurry of excitement in the vestibule. A telegram had arrived from Goering, which [top Nazi official Martin] Bormann hastily brought to Hitler. I trailed informally along after him, chiefly out of curiosity. In the telegram Goering merely asked Hitler whether, in keeping with the decree on succession, he should assume the leadership of the entire Reich if Hitler remained in Fortress Berlin. But Bormann claimed that Goering had launched a coup d’etat; perhaps this was Bormann’s last effort to induce Hitler to fly to Berchtesgaden and take control there. At first, Hitler responded to this news with the same apathy he had shown all day long. But Bormann’s theory was given fresh support when another radio message from Goering arrived. I pocketed a copy which in the general confusion lay unnoticed in the bunker. It read: To Reich Minister von Ribbentrop I have asked the Fuehrer to provide me with instructions by 10 p.m. April 23. If by this time it is apparent that the Fuehrer has been deprived of his freedom of action to conduct the affairs of the Reich, his decree of June 29, 1941, becomes effective, according to which I am heir to all his offices as his deputy. [If] by 12 midnight April 23, 1945, you receive no other word either from the Fuehrer directly or from me, you are to come to me at once by air. (Signed) Goering, Reich Marshal Here was fresh material for Bormann. “Goering is engaged in treason!” he exclaimed excitedly. “He’s already sending telegrams to members of the government and announcing that on the basis of his powers he will assume your office at twelve o’clock tonight, mein Fuhrer.” Although Hitler remained calm when the first telegram arrived, Bormann now won his game. Hitler immediately stripped Goering of his rights of succession – Bormann himself drafted the radio message – and accused him of treason to Hitler and betrayal of National Socialism. The message to Goering went on to say that Hitler would exempt him from further punishment if the Reich Marshal would promptly resign all his offices for reasons of health. Bormann had at last managed to rouse Hitler from his lethargy. An outburst of wild fury followed in which feelings of bitterness, helplessness, self-pity, and despair mingled. With flushed face and staring eyes, Hitler ranted as if he had forgotten the presence of his entourage: “I’ve known it all along. I know that Goering is lazy. He let the air force go to pot. He was corrupt. His example made corruption possible in our state. Besides he’s been a drug addict for years. I’ve known it all along.” 
 
 According to Speer’s biography (written while serving 20 years in prison following his trial at Nuremberg), Hitler’s fury instantly dissolved into depression. 
 
 “Well, all right,” he said, according to Speer. “Let Goering negotiate the surrender. If the war is lost anyhow, it doesn’t matter who does it.” 
 
 “Hitler had reached the end of his strength,” Speer wrote. “He dropped back into the weary tone that had been characteristic of him earlier that day. For years he had overtaxed himself; for years, mustering that immoderate will of his, he had thrust away from himself and others the growing certainty of this end. Now he no longer had the energy to conceal his condition. He was giving up.” 
 
 A week later, Hitler and his companion, Eva Braun, killed themselves. 
 
 1 of 12 Full Screen Autoplay Close Skip Ad × Hitler’s last gasp View Photos When Soviets swarmed Berlin and the fall of Nazi Germany loomed, dictator Adolf Hitler had retreated into a concrete Nazi hive 55 feet underground. It became the place where the Fuhrer drew his last breath. Eight days after Hitler’s suicide on May 8, 1945, the world erupted in celebration for Victory in Europe Day. Caption When Soviets swarmed Berlin and the fall of Nazi Germany loomed, dictator Adolf Hitler had retreated into a concrete Nazi hive 55 feet underground. It became the place where the Fuhrer drew his last breath. Eight days after Hitler’s suicide on May 8, 1945, the world erupted in celebration for Victory in Europe Day. Originally constructed as an air raid shelter, the bunker was wired with electricity and water. At 3,000 square feet, it included Hitler’s rooms, a secretary’s office, a radio room and his doctor’s room. Here, the conference room, which was partially burned by SS troops and stripped of evidence by invading Russians. William Vandivert/Life Picture Collection via Getty Images Buy Photo Wait 1 second to continue. 
 
 Goering was put under house arrest but freed by the Luftwaffe, the Nazi air force. He then made his way west in the hope of surrendering to the Americans instead of the Soviets. He was captured by the U.S. Army on May 6 and imprisoned in Luxembourg and later Nuremberg, where he was among the top Nazi officials to be put on trial. He was sentenced to hang but killed himself hours beforehand by swallowing a cyanide capsule. 
 
 Shortly after Hitler’s suicide, his Berlin bunker was overrun by Soviet soldiers. 
 
 More than a month later, American troops were wading through the crumbling, water-logged Nazi hideout when U.S. Army Capt. Benjamin M. Bradin entered the bunker. The place was pitch black and damaged by shelling, looting and flooding. 
 
 “Standing in the wet darkness of this wrecked bunker in Berlin, Captain [Benjamin] Bradin of the U.S. Army snapped his cigarette lighter shut, scooped an untidy armful of souvenirs off somebody’s desk, and groped his way back up the dark angular staircase to the daylight,” wrote controversial historian David Irving in a 2012 biography of Goering. “In the warm sun the haul seemed disappointing: a brass desk lamp, cream-colored paper with some handwriting on it, blank letterheads, flimsy telegrams typed on Germany Navy signals forms, and a letter dictated to ‘my dear Heinrich.’” 
 
 [Historian Charged With Denying Holocaust] 
 
 
 
 A photo circa December 1945 of Hermann Goering at the prison in Nuremberg, Germany. Goering was a leading member of the Nazi party and commander of the Luftwaffe. He was tried for war crimes and crimes against humanity at the Nuremberg Trials in 1945-46 and sentenced to death. He avoided execution by committing suicide in his cell a few hours before the sentence was to be carried out. (AFP/Getty Images) 
 
 At war’s end, Bradin brought the documents home with him to South Carolina. Apparently unaware of their contents, he put them in his local bank vault, where they stayed until 1958. 
 
 That’s when Bradin’s son James — a future Army colonel — took the papers to his history professor at The Citadel, the military college, in Charleston. 
 
 Robert Rieke, a German-speaker, examined the telegram and immediately realized its importance. He urged James Bradin to write his senior thesis on the documents. 
 
 Bradin later gave Rieke the telegram, according to Alexander Historical Auctions. But his wife, Jervy, says he didn’t realize he was handing over such a valuable piece of history. 
 
 “He handed it in as part of his senior thesis,” she said over the phone from their retirement home in Tampa. “He really did not realize that he had given it away, I don’t think.” 
 
 On Tuesday, the Maryland-based auction house put the telegram up for sale. It was expected to sell for between $15,000 and 20,000 but sold for $54,675 to an unnamed North American buyer, according to German wire service DW. 
 
 The Bradin family won’t see a cent, however. 
 
 “They called to say they were going to sell it at auction,” Jervy Bradin said. “They bypassed him with the money.” 
 
 This article has been updated.
– A photo album featuring candid shots of some of the most evil people ever to walk the Earth has been snapped up for $41,000 by an anonymous buyer at an auction in England. The album, found in the bunker bedroom of Eva Braun, Adolf Hitler's mistress, features Hitler and henchmen including Heinrich Himmler and Josef Goebbels in lighter moments, the Telegraph reports. Some of the 73 photos can be seen on the auction site, including one of Hitler relaxing in the Alps. C&T Auctioneers says the photo album was taken in April 1945 from the bunker as a souvenir by British wartime photographer Edward "Dixie" Dean, who sold it to a collector in 1983. Per the auction house, "Very few significant artifacts liberated from the Fuhrer Bunker in 1945 exist today in the open market, especially with such concrete provenance." Auction house owner Matthew Tredwen tells the New York Times that it is clear that the photos were taken by a member of Hitler's inner circle, though the book gives no indication of who that might be. "The photographs had to be taken by someone who was very close," he says. "All photographs of Adolf Hitler were very much controlled" to show him in the best light. These "would not have been made for the general public." Tredwen adds that in his years of dealing in Nazi memorabilia and other military history items, he has never met anybody who actually supports Nazi ideology. "People are fascinated by how evil the Third Reich were," he says. (There is a dispute over whether "Hitler's personal phone" is the real thing.)