Zimpapers Logo

A desk set believed to have been used by Adolf Hitler to sign the 1938 Munich Pact is to go on sale for an estimated £600 000.
The agreement — which appeased Germany’s ambitions to extend its borders — allowed it to take over Sudetenland in Czechoslovakia, a region where ethnic Germans lived.
The vain hope was that it would curb the nation’s thirst for expansion.
The 24in, 60lb brass inkwell, bearing the Nazi leader’s initials, a swastika and the eagle emblem, will be auctioned in San Diego, California, this week.
It was taken from Germany by a US soldier towards the end of World War II.
The signing of the Pact saw British Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain fly to Germany where he attempted to negotiate alongside French premier Édouard Daladier and Hitler’s ally the Italian leader Benito Mussolini.
The appeasement deal saw Chamberlain announce “peace in our time” on his return yet war broke out a year later as Hitler continued his plans for German dominance of Europe.
Memorabilia dealer Craig Gottlieb of Solana Beach acquired the inkwell from a Houston man, who claims he took it as a souvenir while serving in Munich in the final days of World War II.
Former US Army lieutenant Jack McConn had been stationed in Munich during the occupation of Germany and lived with his unit in the house of Hitler’s lover Eva Braun for several weeks. While resident in the building, Mr McConn and his fellow soldiers discovered an underground tunnel leading to Hitler’s office, also known as the Fuehrerbau.
The lieutenant found the swastika-emblazoned inkwell and then sent it to his family in Texas. Years later, he was watching a documentary on the History Channel and was stunned to see the desk set being used to sign the Munich Pact. “I got a pretty clear look at it and immediately thought, ‘Good Lord, that’s the one I’ve got’,” he told the Daily Mirror.
Collector Mr Gottlieb, who is offering the set for sale, added: “It’s basically the surface upon which the fate of the world was decided.” — Daily Mail.