RARE photographs and documents from Cold War Berlin are to go up for auction this week.

The collection was put together by Major Joseph Brown from Newcastle, an officer who accepted the surrender of several German towns at the end of Second World War, and escaped death at the hands of a Russian soldier during the construction of the Berlin Wall.

His collection will go on sale at Newcastle auction house Anderson and Garland’s Fine Arts and Antiques sale between June 17-19.

Major Brown ran the military government in part of occupied Berlin and oversaw one of the city’s prisons.

Fred Wyrley-Birch, who is an expert at Anderson and Garland, said that collections of this sort are rare: “This is a really interesting record of Berlin after the war and includes photos of the riots and letters about the black market trade.

“There is also the story of how a Russian police officer didn’t like the fact Brown was taking pictures while the Berlin Wall was being built and put a gun to his ribs. Fortunately, Brown’s Russian counterpart saw what was happening and put a stop to it.”