Oregon Man Finds Nazi Paperwork Signed By Hitler And Himmler
By Ari Feldman October 4, 2017
Heinrich Himmler, center, shaking Adolf Hitler’s hand in April 1939.
A man says he found documents from Nazi Germany containing the signatures of Adolf Hitler, Heinrich Himmler, Joaquim von Ribbentrop and other prominent Nazis in a van he bought at an auction, the Register-Guard reported. The man, from Eugene, Oregon, bought the 1985 blue Ford Econoline at an auction in mid-September, and discovered the paperwork about a week later.
“I’m still in awe that I have Hitler’s autograph,” Ron Post, 59, said.
“I wanted to make it into a prospecting rig,” Post added. “I like to prospect for gold.”
The documents have not been determined to be authentic by experts. Gary Piattoni, an appraiser for the PBS show “Antique Roadshow,” told the Register-Guard that many World War II soldiers brought home pilfered documents from their service. A professor of early modern German history at the University of Oregon who examined the documents said that they may have been part of one person’s Nazi signature collection.
The trove, which contains mostly administrative materials, has a Christmas card apparently signed by Hitler. They date to between the late 1920s and 1944.
Contact Ari Feldman at feldman@forward.com or on Twitter @aefeldman.
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