It was surrendered to the Allies by Goering when he surrendered himself at the end of World War Two in Early May 1945.
American soldier, Lt. Jerome Shapiro of the 142nd Intelligence and Reconnaissance platoon, arrested Goering as he fled Germany. Goering was in his bullet-proof Mercedes-Benz car with his wife and daughter, which also had bags of luggage strapped to the roof.
Lt. Shapiro and his squad discovered Goering on a heavily congested road that was overrun with soldiers and military vehicles. Goerings entire entourage was stuck in grid-locked traffic, sitting static and going nowhere. There were apparently eleven other vehicles with several high ranking officers, along with Goering.
Lt. Shapiro recognized Goering in his pale blue Luftwaffe uniform and approached his car with his Colt .45 drawn at the ready. He needn`t have bothered, as Goering was anxious to surrender to the Americans. Shapiro asked for Goerings sidearm and Goering requested that he keep his Smith & Wesson .38 revolver and emptied it of bullets. Goering apparently wanted to hand it over to General Ike Eisenhower as a gesture of formal surrender.
Lt. Shapiro allowed him to keep the revolver and it was then that Goering gave him the gold plated Walther PPK, which Shapiro was happy to accept. The serial number is 408111 K.
Even though Hermann Goering was a high ranking Nazi, it must not be forgot that he was also a World War One fighter ace. Goering was actually accredited with 22 confirmed kills and was the holder of the coveted Blue Max medal a.k.a Pour Le Mérite, as well as The Knights Cross of the Iron Cross, The Zaehring with swords, The Friedrich Order and The House Order of Hohenzollem with swords 3rd class.
Goering committed suicide in his prison cell during the Nuremburg trials on October 15th, 1946, the night before he was due to be hanged. He swallowed potassium cyanide that had somehow been smuggled into the prison. He would have died within 5 seconds of swallowing the poison.
It is interesting to note that when Lt Shapiro died in the 1970`s his widow gave the pistol to a friend of her late husband who lived nearby in Delaware. Twenty years later he sold the pistol to a private collector for an undisclosed sum.
The pistol has now surfaced into the public arena for the first time and has been made available for auction in America in October 2012.
Hitler`s Henchmen - The Marshall - Hermann Goering
Weapontype: Police Pistol
Manufacturer: Carl Walther GmbH Sportwaffen
Operation: Double Action, Straight blowback
Cartridge: .32 ACP
Weight: Approx 590 g (21 oz), Since it is Gold Plated it might weigh in a little higher.
Length: 155 mm (6.1 in)
Barrel: 83 mm (3.3 in)
Magazine Capacity: 7 Round +1
Feed system: Box magazine
Sights: Fixed Gold Plated sights, rear notch and front blade
