http://us.cnn.com/2005/US/12/23/hitler.gun.ap/index.html

BLOOMINGTON, Illinois (AP) -- A rare German gun that may have belonged to Adolph 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 Hitler owned the Krieghoff Drilling combination shotgun and rifle engraved with the initials "A.H." It is to be sold by Midwest Exchange, a Bloomington pawn shop, at auction at http://www.gunbroker.com.
Randall Gibson, author of The Krieghoff Parabellum, a reference book on the gun maker, said the gun likely is 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 unnamed owners, who live in central Illinois, will donate net proceeds of the auction to the Anti-Defamation League, a 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 where it could be preserved and safeguarded.

"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 likely would 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, 30, 40, 50 thousand? I don't know," 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 Infantry Regiment, profiled in the HBO cable TV miniseries "Band of Brothers."

The paratrooper later sold the gun to an Army lieutenant who was unaware of the connection to Hitler, Lane said. The soldier settled in Illinois and kept the gun 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.

My uncle was in the 506th and was in Hitler's mountaintop retreat. It would be like him to have pinched and fenced Adolph's gun...

Hello;
One can never be sure, that's why provenance is everthing with any kind of antique and I don't see it here. A.H. could be anyone and is easy to fake.
Years ago, I had the priledge of meeting Andy Wright, even took his daughter out for dinner once. He owned a gold plated Walther PP or PPk, reliably ascribed to Hitler. After he died, I think it was auctioned off for $50,000.
Grizz

Right after I posted the above, I though of the obvious. Hitler was a vegetarian and a non-hunter. Whey would he own such a gun? As a presentation piece, it would have meant nothing to him and the supposed presenter would have been aware of that. Goering was after all, the Reichs Jagdmeister.
Grizz

I wouldn't pay a damn nickel for the thing even if it was his.

Not Hitler's but interesting enough: http://www.blocket.se/vi/6937265.htm?ca=8_s - a Luftwaffedrilling.

F.K.

I know A. Hitler received at least one weapon - a Suomi-submachine gun - as a birthday gift during the WW2. It was given by C.G. Mannerheim of Finland, but I don't know where the gun has gone after that.

Hello Fritz;
If my guess at a Swedish translation is correct, that says it was described in the 1972 issue of Gun Digest??

quote:

Originally posted by Grizzly Adams:
Hello Fritz;
If my guess at a Swedish translation is correct, that says it was described in the 1972 issue of Gun Digest??

I believe those "Luftwaffe Survival" wepons were J.P. Sauers made in 12 ga. over a 9.3X74R.......

The auction ended and the gun sold for $140,025.00.
Here's the link.
Hitlers Gun