WEST GERMANY: Bidding for Adolf

"Here I have a cue card for an early Hitler speech," the auctioneer announced in his nasal Bavarian accent. "The words that Hitler penciled on it repeat the pattern to be followed in his harangue: 'November 1918—Criminals—The Political Situation Today—Our Irrevocable Demands—The Coming Elections—Our Candidates—Our Tactics—The Jews.' " Bidding in the stuffy auction room on Munich's fashionable Maximilianstrasse started briskly. The scruffy cue card was quickly knocked down to a broker acting on behalf of an anonymous British collector. Price: $545.

Next came Hitler's ostrich-skin wallet, which was stuffed with 37 pictures, two negatives of Eva Braun and a free ticket...