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De Valera letter for sale

Leonard Doyle
Sunday 17 July 1994 18:02 EDT
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A TWO-PAGE handwritten letter in which Eamon de Valera, the former Irish leader, justified his decision to call on the German ambassador in Dublin to express 'condolences on the death of Herr Hitler' will be auctioned at Sotheby's tomorrow, writes Leonard Doyle.

The letter, written in May 1945 on notepaper of the then Irish Department of External Affairs, was sent to Bob Brennan, Ireland's ambassador to Washington, a friend of de Valera. It is expected to fetch up to pounds 1,000 and the National Library of Ireland hopes to bid for it along with letters by Sir Roger Casement.

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