The telephone Hitler used to scream instructions at his generals, demand the murder of concentration camp Jews and order the death of his brother-in-law
The sinister blood red artifact was given to British officer Brigadier Sir Ralph Rayner in 1945
A TELEPHONE used by Adolf Hitler to order the murder of concentration camp Jews and arrange the death of his brother-in-law is set to fetch over £400,000 at auction.
The sinister blood red artifact - used to send millions to their deaths - was recovered from the 'Fuhrerbunker' by Brigadier Sir Ralph Rayner in May 1945.
The red phone, which has Adolf Hitler engraved on it, was passed down from to his son, Ranulf Rayner - a retired army major.
It is up for auction next month and estimated to go for £400,000.
The Siemens phone also has a swastika and NSDAP eagle inscribed above Hitler's name and is "unequaled in historic importance".
The Brigadier was ordered to establish contact with the Russians in Berlin and went to the Chancellery, who gave him a tour.
He was then offered Eva Braun's phone on entering Hitler's private quarters, which he declined because he "preferred the colour red".
The Russians then handed him Hitler's iconic telephone.
Brigadier Rayner, the first non-Soviet victor to enter Berlin after the War, died in 1977 and his son has now decided to sell it.
Ranulf,82,from Dawlish, Devon, said: "It is a very sinister piece of equipment when you think about what it was used for.
"This was Hitler’s personal instrument of death.
" He would have used it extensively to scream brutal orders to those running the concentration camps, to his generals on the battlefield, and everything and anything in between.
"I have discovered everal eyewitness accounts telling how one of the last calls Hitler made on it was to order that his new brother-in-law, General Hermann Fegelein, was to be shot for treason.
"He then called his aides and told them to torch his apartments once he and his wife, Eva Braun, had committed suicide.
"As soon as their bodies had been removed, the two men tried to do so but when they shut the airtight door, after a brief conflagration, the flames had gone out.
"That's why the phone has been lightly scorched.
"Since the end of the war it has mostly sat in a safe, virtually unannounced."
He added:"But I'm getting pretty elderly now, and this sort of thing should not be hidden away. I hope the buyer is someone who is able to display it, and its story.
"The orders Hitler shouted down the phone's mouthpiece, many of which are recorded in history, are a lesson we should never forget."
Ranulf has listed it for auction with Alexander Historical Auctions in the hope it will be displayed as a reminder of the terrible crimes carried out by the Nazis by whoever buys it.
A spokesperson for Alexander Historical Auctions said: "This was not a staid office telephone used to solicit contributions to the party, or to answer polite calls at the Berghof.
"This was Hitler's mobile device of destruction, used in vehicles, trains, his field headquarters, at the Wolf's Lair and in the last desperate days deep beneath Berlin.
"While Hitler vehicles, tunics, accessories, tableware, and other personal items are readily available, an item of this importance with such solid provenance is offered perhaps once in a lifetime.
"It would be impossible to find a more impactful relic than the primary tool used by the most evil man in history to annihilate countless innocents, lay waste to hundreds of thousands of square miles of land, and in the end, destroy his own country and people."
We pay for your stories! Do you have a story for The Sun Online news team? Email us at tips@the-sun.co.uk or call 0207 782 4368