Post by Woody Williams on Dec 24, 2005 7:41:39 GMT -5
Auction offers gun likely owned by Hitler
By The Associated Press
December 24, 2005
BLOOMINGTON, Ill. - A rare German gun that may have belonged to Adolf Hitler - allegedly taken as a souvenir 60 years ago when U.S. forces captured one of his secret hideaways - could fetch thousands of dollars in an online auction next month, organizers said.
No one knows for sure whether the Nazi dictator owned the Krieghoff Drilling shotgun/rifle engraved with the initials "A.H.," which will be sold at ww.gunbroker.com in an auction hosted by Midwest Exchange, a Bloomington pawn shop.
Randall Gibson, author of "The Krieghoff Parabellum," a reference book on the gun maker, said the gun is likely authentic. The company gave engraved guns to Hitler and other high-ranking German officials as it sought military contracts before World War II.
The gun's owners, who live in central Illinois but have not been identified, will donate net proceeds of the auction to the Anti-Defamation League, a national group that combats anti-Semitism and bigotry, said Midwest Exchange owner Wes Lane.
A league official said Friday that the organization welcomes donations, but would rather the owners donate the gun to a museum.
"When you auction it off, you never know who might buy it ... We prefer it not fall into the hands of people who praise or laud Hitler because there certainly are still people out there who do that," said Adam Schupack, associate director of the league's Chicago office.
The gun would likely sell for at least $7,000 without a connection to Hitler and there's no telling how that possible link might drive up the price, Lane said. "Twenty, thirty, forty, fifty thousand? I don't know. That's why a weapon like that turns up at an auction. Nobody knows what it going to go for," Gibson said.
Lane said the online auction will begin Jan. 30 and will run at least 15 days.
According to the gun's owners, Lane said, the weapon was taken as a souvenir when Hitler's hideaway in the Bavarian Mountains was seized in May 1945 by the U.S. Army's 506th parachute regiment, profiled in the HBO miniseries "Band of Brothers."
The parachutist later sold the gun to an Army lieutenant who was unaware of the connection to Hitler, Lane said. The soldier settled in central Illinois and kept it under his bed for years, taking it out only occasionally to hunt. He died more than a decade ago and his family no longer wants the gun.
www.courierpress.com/ecp/regional_news/article/0,2578,ECP_23656_4339180,00.html
By The Associated Press
December 24, 2005
BLOOMINGTON, Ill. - A rare German gun that may have belonged to Adolf Hitler - allegedly taken as a souvenir 60 years ago when U.S. forces captured one of his secret hideaways - could fetch thousands of dollars in an online auction next month, organizers said.
No one knows for sure whether the Nazi dictator owned the Krieghoff Drilling shotgun/rifle engraved with the initials "A.H.," which will be sold at ww.gunbroker.com in an auction hosted by Midwest Exchange, a Bloomington pawn shop.
Randall Gibson, author of "The Krieghoff Parabellum," a reference book on the gun maker, said the gun is likely authentic. The company gave engraved guns to Hitler and other high-ranking German officials as it sought military contracts before World War II.
The gun's owners, who live in central Illinois but have not been identified, will donate net proceeds of the auction to the Anti-Defamation League, a national group that combats anti-Semitism and bigotry, said Midwest Exchange owner Wes Lane.
A league official said Friday that the organization welcomes donations, but would rather the owners donate the gun to a museum.
"When you auction it off, you never know who might buy it ... We prefer it not fall into the hands of people who praise or laud Hitler because there certainly are still people out there who do that," said Adam Schupack, associate director of the league's Chicago office.
The gun would likely sell for at least $7,000 without a connection to Hitler and there's no telling how that possible link might drive up the price, Lane said. "Twenty, thirty, forty, fifty thousand? I don't know. That's why a weapon like that turns up at an auction. Nobody knows what it going to go for," Gibson said.
Lane said the online auction will begin Jan. 30 and will run at least 15 days.
According to the gun's owners, Lane said, the weapon was taken as a souvenir when Hitler's hideaway in the Bavarian Mountains was seized in May 1945 by the U.S. Army's 506th parachute regiment, profiled in the HBO miniseries "Band of Brothers."
The parachutist later sold the gun to an Army lieutenant who was unaware of the connection to Hitler, Lane said. The soldier settled in central Illinois and kept it under his bed for years, taking it out only occasionally to hunt. He died more than a decade ago and his family no longer wants the gun.
www.courierpress.com/ecp/regional_news/article/0,2578,ECP_23656_4339180,00.html