A letter penned by Adolf Hitler, wishing for a “truly cordial relationship” between Britain and Germany, has fetched ₤ 8,000 at an auction.
The one-page letter, dated September 30, 1931, was in fact the Nazi dictator’s response to a “kind invitation” from British journalist Sefton Delmer to write an article about the economic crisis facing Britain.
Although Hitler declined as his views would be seen as a criticism and “part of the British public might consider it presumptuous of me”, the typewritten letter is revealing about the warmth of the Fuhrer’s feelings towards Britons.
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Writing of his hopes that a new accord would arise between Britain and Germany to replace the settlement made after the First World War, Hitler said: “I hope that out of this crisis a new readiness will grow up in Britain to submit the last twelve years to a reappraisal.
“I should be happy if, as a result of this, the unhappy war-psychosis could be overcome on such a scale as to permit the realisation of the truly cordial relationship between the British and the German peoples so eagerly desired by myself and my movement.”
The US buyer, Kenneth Rendell, owner of a Second World War museum in Massachusetts was quoted by ‘The Times’ as saying, “It was the most incredible bargain.” He added that he would have paid up to 50,000 pounds for the historic letter.
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Delmer, who possessed the letter, was one of the famous journalists of his generation and the first British reporter to interview Hitler and travel with him on his plane during the 1932 election campaign.