Eisenhower room to be offered by Red Baron, Nov. 11 The very room in France where then-Gen. Dwight D. Eisenhower drew up the unconditional terms of surrender for Nazi Germany in the final days of World War II will be auctioned at Red Baron's in Atlanta
After World War I, the Mignots sold the property to the Clauzier family. Then, when World War II broke out and Germany occupied France, the house was requisioned by the Nazis. Later in the war, the Allied troops – led by the Americans – re-took France and set up a central base in Paris. But that later shifted to Reims, nearby.
Eisenhower lived in the house from Feb. 20, 1945 to May 25, 1945. On May 8, 1945, the terms of unconditional German surrender were signed at the house. Ten years later to the day, in 1955, a plaque was placed there. It reads: “Dwight D. Eisenhower, General in Chief of the Allied Armies, resided in this house,” and it gives the dates.
Eisenhower, who by that time had become President of the United States, was unable to attend the ceremony. But he sent his regrets in a letter: “I am very honored by your kind invitation…I am very sorry not to be able to be present, but I send you my best wishes for the citizens of Reims, who have a very special place in my memory.”
The room will be offered the first day of the weekend auction, on Nov. 11. Brown pointed out a hand-carved bookcase currently offered by Red Baron, for $90,000. “By anyone’s yardstick, this is a beautiful piece with exceptional carvings,” he said, “but it doesn’t even compare to the intricately detailed hand-carvings in the Eisenhower room.”
Red Baron’s, in its fourth decade of business, is widely regarded as the premier auction house in the Southeast. The firm holds just three sales a year, all of them themed extravaganzas. Auctions in the past have featured ice sculptures, dwarves in costume and armed guards protecting some of the more valuable lots.
To learn more about the upcoming sale, you may visit Red Baron online at www.rbantiques.com. To inquire about offering a quality consignment or collection, you may call the firm directly, at (404) 252-3770.
