A 1943 diplomatic letter from Adolf Hitler to Emperor Showa concerning the recall of a German ambassador following a spy scandal was sold to an unidentified bidder at a British auction Thursday for 6,500 British pounds.
The A-4 size, two-page letter was found in a secondhand book market in Britain and put up for auction in Swindon, west of London.
The letter, with an "ADOLF HITLER" letterhead and signatures by Hitler and Joachim von Ribbentrop, the wartime German foreign minister, is considered authentic by handwriting experts. It is believed the letter was not actually sent to Japan, for unknown reasons.
Dated Jan. 6, 1943, the letter was intended to inform the Emperor about the recall of German Ambassador Eugen Ott, who was implicated in a 1941 espionage scandal involving German journalist Richard Sorge, who spied for the Soviet Union and was hanged by Japan.