NEW YORK: Marooned on a naval base in northwest Germany, pinned down by advancing Allied forces and Adolf Hitler dead, the last leader of the Third Reich hammered out the surrender order.

Seventy years later the telex will go on auction in New York, the flimsy sheet of pink paper valued at $20,000 to $30,000, and an incredibly rare relic from the world’s deadliest conflict.

In it, Karl Doenitz tells the head of the Luftwaffe, Field Marshal Robert von Greim, that he has signed an unconditional surrender and that all hostilities will cease at 1:00 am on May 9, 1945.

“This was unavoidable in order to prevent the complete destruction of certain parts of the front, which was expected to occur in a short time, and, in so doing, to save as many people as possible for Germany,” the telegram explains.

Tom Lamb, history expert and curator of the sale at Bonhams, said it was the first German telegram he had ever seen.

“The Germans had a scorched earth policy as they pulled out so they burnt, destroyed every piece of paper they had,” he said.

“And if they didn’t do it, the Russians did it, so the survival of this is extraordinary.” Von Greim received the telegram at 10:40 pm on May 8. He fled Germany and was arrested by US forces outside Prague, the telegram found in his attache case.It was kept by the interrogating officer of the US Army and is being offered for sale by a private American collector.

Von Greim was to be swapped in a prisoner exchange with the Soviets, but committed suicide with cyanide on May 24, 1945.

Lamb expects significant interest in the document, not only from American buyers by German and British as well.

Published in Dawn, April 29th, 2015

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