The buyer, who has remained anonymous, is based in the US and is not a neo-Nazi or Hitler sympathizer, according to Auctioneer Bill Panagopoulos. Collectors often buy Hitler items to disparage or make fun of one of the most detested men of the 20th century.
"People tend to either buy fearsome Hitler memorabilia, or things that make him look like a buffoon, such as this. To minimize a monster, you make people laugh at him," Panagopoulos told Metro.
"I imagine the buyer would probably frame the shorts. It would be the most talked about relic in the house."
"We've sold underwear belonging to Eva Braun [Hitler's wife] before, but never any belonging to Hitler himself. I think this is the first pair to come to market," Panagopoulos added.
Last year, Braun's lilac underwear was sold at the Philip Serrell auction house in the UK for a whopping $3,828. They were only expected to sell for around $528.
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The Nazi dictator apparently left the pair of boxers at the Austrian Parkhotel Graz hotel in 1938. The Austrian family that runs the hotel kept the underwear for decades. The grandson of the previous owners recently decided to auction the boxers.
"They were retained in the family who owned the hotel, which is very prestigious, for almost 80 years, and when we got them they were wrapped in tissue paper in a box," Panagopoulos said.
"They were as clean as if they had just come back from the cleaners."
A signed copy of Hitler's racist manifesto, "Mein Kampf," which outlines how the Nazi party leader became anti-Semitic as well as his racist vision of future Europe, was sold in June for nearly $23,000.
