A GRIEVING family suspect someone known to them stole a ceremonial dagger from their Gower home on the day they cremated their mother.
Gareth Thomas said Grand Admiral Karl Doenitz handed the dagger to his late father, intelligence officer Mansel Thomas, on his capture by the Allies in 1945.
The dagger was displayed in the family's home in Rhossili from 1945 onwards.
But, according to Mr Thomas, it disappeared on March 11 - the day his 98-year-old mother Gwen Llewellyn-Jones was cremated following a funeral service at Pitton Methodist Chapel.
Mr Thomas said either he, his sister Hildegarde Roberts or their mother - until she went to a care home in Southgate several weeks ago - were in the Rhossili home every day until the day of the funeral.
"We just can't believe it," said Mr Thomas, of Ludlow. "It is absolutely bizarre.
"Our feelings of grief have been replaced by fury and disgust."
Mr Thomas said no-one was at the house from around 1pm to 7pm on the day of the funeral service - and is adamant the culprit was aware of the likely absence. The mystery deepens as nobody broke into the house, and nothing else was taken.
Mr Thomas said it was a couple of days after the funeral that his sister, of Penclawdd, realised the dagger was missing.
"She thought I had put it somewhere safe," he said. "I said I hadn't touched it for five years."
He said she then told a local police officer about the missing item, and that he reported it to South Wales Police as well.
A police spokesman said it had been told about the matter two days ago.
"We can confirm that we have been made aware there has been a theft," he said.
Mr Thomas, who owns the Rhossili family home with his sister, said his father was in the British Army's intelligence core.
He said Doenitz handed his father his pair of maritime binoculars as well as the dagger, which he said the family had had verified as being genuine.
When Hitler committed suicide in April 1945, he ordered in his will that Doenitz replace him as the leader of Germany with the title of president.
Doenitz was arrested the following month - and later sentenced to 10 years in prison at Nurembourg for war crimes and crimes against humanity.
Mr Thomas's father died in 1979. His mother married for the second time, to Professor Frank Llewellyn-Jones, and was a great-grandmother. Around 100 people attended her funeral.
Mr Thomas is urging anyone who might be offered the dagger to contact police.
