By the time American troops arrived in Berlin in the summer of 1945, the Russian army had already reached, raided and looted the Nazi bunkers in the German capital. Robert Feinsod, a member of the 82nd Airborne, was among the first Americans in Berlin following the close of the war. A Jewish American, Feinsod befriended a Russian officer in the city who was also Jewish. Although the Russian officer didn’t speak English and Feinsod didn’t speak Russian, they both spoke Yiddish, and Feinsod invited the Russian officer to a Yom-kippur service in Berlin. As a token of friendship, the Russian soldier gave Feinsod a silver picture frame with a photo of Eva Braun that was taken from Adolph Hitler’s desk in one of Hitler’s bunkers. Feinsod shipped the framed photo to his future wife back in the US, but destroyed the photo of Braun that the frame contained. The picture of Eva Braun contained here is not the original photo that the frame contained while in the Berlin bunker, but a replica.
Also contained within this display are a couple of German swords and a German Navy dagger, along with a German book. Feinsod inscribed a message to his future wife on the inside cover of the book: “Kalma, dearest mine, this was found in Adolph’s library. You can see how fanatic these Krauts were. Today there isn’t a one in Germany. I wonder?”