Hitler's Gun to be Auctioned

A Krieghoff Drilling combination shotgun and rifle engraved with the initials "A.H." will be going up for bids on Gunbroker next month. The gun is believed to have belonged to Adolph Hitler.

According to the gun's owners, the weapon was seized as a war trophy, by a U.S. paratrooper, from Hitler's mountain hideaway in the Bavarian Mountains. This hideaway, known as the Eagle's Nest was captured in May 1945 by the U.S. Army's 506th Parachute Infantry Regiment, made famous in the HBO mini-series "Band of Brothers". The paratrooper later sold the gun to an Army lieutenant who was unaware of the connection to Hitler. The lieutenant 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.

The sellers will donate the net proceeds of the auction to the Anti-Defamation League.

See "A system for evaluating historically attributed firearms", by Jim Supica for information regarding firearms attributions. Buy the gun, not the story.