Rare and historic documents and artifacts that capped the end of World War II in Europe are heading to auction this week, reminding the nation of the 81st anniversary of D-Day this week.
“The documents before us are not merely historical curiosities — they are the precise moments when one world ended and another began,” said the auction house offering the items, RR Auction.
The highlights of the online auction that closes June 11 are documents chronicling the surrender of Nazi Germany and Supreme Allied Commander Gen. Dwight Eisenhower’s refusal to give an inch in the negotiations with the Third Reich’s leadership just days after Adolf Hitler killed himself.
The headliner is the surrender document Reich President Karl Donitz signed, expected to sell for over $100,000.
Two of the most iconic Eisenhower war-ending comments are also at auction.
The first, expected to fetch over $30,000, was described by RR Auction: “At 2:41 AM on May 7, 1945, [German Colonel General Alfred] Jodl signed the Instrument of Unconditional Surrender in Reims, France. General Dwight D. Eisenhower announced the moment with a now-iconic eleven-word message: ‘The mission of this Allied Force was fulfilled at 0241, local time, May 7th, 1945.’”
The second, expected to sell for $6,000, is “A rare signed copy of Eisenhower’s top secret message — marked Copy No. 37 and inscribed in fountain pen by Eisenhower — will be offered in the sale, along with his confidential ceasefire directive, instructing: ‘All offensive operations by Allied Expeditionary Force will cease.’”
Also among the many historical items in the auction is a tattered Navy invasion flag flown on D-Day and a German Enigma I cipher machine housed in an original wartime case.
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“The Donitz authorization represents one of history’s most dramatic ideological reversals,” said Bobby Livingston, executive vice president at RR Auction.
“With Hitler dead, the Nazi ‘fight to the last man’ mentality — where every German was expected to die rather than surrender — was completely abandoned. These generals suddenly faced an entirely different mission: save as many German lives as possible by negotiating time for millions to flee from the Eastern Front to Western lines. While Eisenhower firmly rejected their request and demanded immediate surrender, the delay in announcing the capitulation created the crucial window that saved 1.5 million people. This document captures that extraordinary transformation — from a regime demanding mass death to leaders desperately trying to preserve life,” he added.
