Global General

Nazi propaganda chief's waterfront estate on sale

(Agencies)
Updated: 2011-06-23 22:39

BERLIN - The former Berlin waterfront estate of Adolf Hitler's propaganda chief Joseph Goebbels is going under the hammer.

The bidding for the 1.5 acre (6,440 sq m) island property in the capital's leafy west opened this week and will last two months, the real estate firm in charge of the auction said on Wednesday.

"The current market will determine its price," Liegenschaftsfonds spokeswoman Irina Daehne said, adding that there was no minimum bid in the closed process.

The Goebbels residence was torn down after World War Two and the property passed into the ownership of the city of Berlin.

In the 1950s a 7,640-square foot (710 square meter) ranch was built on it and was later rented by the Aspen Institute, a US think-tank.

But the real estate firm handling the sale for the city said it reserves the right to reject inappropriate buyers, such as any neo-Nazis attracted by the link with Goebbels.

"This isn't our first property with a problematic history," said Daehne.

Another former Goebbels property near Berlin - a 30-room villa described by the German media as his "love nest" - will be going up for sale as part of a larger real estate sale.