A telegram believed to be one of the driving forces in the suicide of Nazi dictator Adolf Hitler was sold at an auction last week for $55,000, the Washington Post reported. The telegram, sent by senior Nazi Hermann Goering as the Allied forces closed in on Hitler's Berlin bunker in April 1945, indicates that Goering was prepared to fill in for Hitler as he was instructed to do in case of emergency. "I felt obligated to assume, in case by 22:00 no answer is forthcoming, that you have lost your freedom of action," the telegram states. "I shall then view the conditions of your decree as fulfilled and take action for the well being of Nation and Fatherland. You know what I feel for you in these most difficult hours of my life and I cannot express this in words. God protect you and allow you despite everything to come here as soon as possible." Some historians believe that Hitler saw the note as an attempted coup, leading to him strip Goering of his rights of succession. A week after the telegram was sent, Hitler committed suicide, and an American soldier, Capt. Benjamin Bradin, picked up the document and several other papers from the bunker and brought them back to the United States. According to the report, the telegram remained in a bank vault for several years, with the Bradin family unaware of its significance until Bradin's son James wrote a thesis about it and handed it in to his professor along with his work. The telegram was auctioned off last Tuesday by Alexander Historical Auctions, and went to an unnamed North American buyer.
