Los Angeles: A two-volume first edition set of Adolph Hitler's 'Mein Kampf,' personally signed by the Nazi dictator, is set to go under the hammer.
The two-volume set was given by Hitler to one of the earliest members of the Nazi Party.
Each book in the set of hate literature is autographed by the Nazi fuhrer and addressed to Philipp Bouhler, the 12th person to join the Nazi Party.
Hilter's blueprint for German domination will be auctioned off by the Nate D Sanders auction house in Los Angeles on March 26, with a starting bid of USD 35,000. Participants can bid online, CNN reported.
Bouhler was involved in the Beer Hall Putsch of 1923, which was Hitler's initial failed attempt to overthrow the German government, a decade before seizing power through elections.
Hitler wrote "Mein Kampf" while doing time in prison after the Putsch. The rambling racist tract is rife with caustic references to Jews, who he blames for all of Germany's woes. It also outlines his vision for Nazi Germany.
The auction house said that Hitler gave the volumes to Bouhler as Christmas presents after Hitler got out of prison. The first volume was presented in 1925, and the second in 1926.
The books contain handwritten messages from Hilter to Bouhler, "in grateful recognition of your loyal work for our movement" and "as a sign of recognition of your performance of duties."
Bouhler became a senior Nazi official and oversaw the extermination of 70,000 disabled children and adults, even though they were considered Aryan and therefore members of Hitler's so-called master race.
The programme was meant to eliminate people who were considered a burden to society. But it was controversial, especially when rumours surfaced that German soldiers who had suffered brain damage were being euthanised.
It is one of the few instances where the German public successfully resisted the Nazi government, shutting down the programme and calling into question the notion that the German people were powerless to stop the Holocaust.
Hitler, "who did not want to be publicly identified with the project," chose Bouhler to lead it because he was "considered absolutely loyal" to the fuhrer, according to Robert Lifton, author of "The Nazi Doctors."
In addition to the books, the lot includes a propaganda pamphlet that Bouhler wrote in 1938.
