Cutting - Hitler Dead (1945)

1st May 1945

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Adolph Hitler actually committed suicide in the Fuhrer Bunker in Berlin on 30th April 1945 along with Eva Braun, who he had married the previous day. Hitler's last Will and Testament surprisingly named Grand Admiral Karl Doenitz as the new Fuhrer. The expulsion of both Heinrich Himmler and Hermann Goering from the Nazi Party for 'betraying Germany' meant that the leaders of the Army and the SS were out of the running as Hitler's successor so the head of the Navy was next in line i.e. Doenitz. Goebbels was made Chancellor but he committed suicide on 1st May. 

On the 4th May Doenitz surrendered to Field Marshall Montgomery and after the War was sentenced to 10 years imprisonment. He was released in 1956 and died in 1980.

Cutting - Hitler's Deputy escapes to Britain (1941)

13th May 1941

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Hess joined the Nazi on 1st July 1920, and was at Hitler's side in November 1923 for the Beer Hall Putsch, a failed attempt to seize control of the government of Bavaria. Whilst serving time in jail for this attempted coup, Hess helped Hitler write Mein Kampf. After the Nazis came to power in 1933, Hess was appointed Deputy Führer and received a post in Hitler's cabinet.

Having learnt to fly at the end of WWI he retained his interest and obtained his private pilot's licence in 1929. During the 1930’s he owned 3 aircraft and logged many hours flying time.

On 10 May 1941, Hess flew himself across the Channel to Scotland, claiming that he wanted to meet with the Duke of Hamilton and plot a peace treaty that would lead to the supremacy of Germany within Europe and leave the British Empire intact. He crash landed near Eaglesham and gave his name as Alfred Horn, a friend of the Duke. Hess was taken to hospital for injuries sustained during his landing, the Duke was informed of the prisoner and visited him. Hess revealed who he was and why he’d come to Scotland. The Duke, also a keen airman, flew himself to London and informed Winston Churchill.

Hess was imprisoned by the British authorities until the end of the war and sentenced to life imprisonment at the Nuremberg trials. He spent the rest of his time in Spandau Prison and apparently committed suicide at the age of 93 in 1987.

Hitler to Become War Minister (1938)

Daily Herald dated Friday February 4th 1938

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Adolf Hitler to replace Werner von Blomberg as commander of the German Army in a move to head off discontent in the German Military over Nazi policies.

Britain replies to Hitler's Peace Proposals (1939)

Daily Sketch dated Saturday October 7th 1939

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At this early stage of World War II, between invading Poland and while planning to invade France, Adolf Hitler made a speech in the Reichstag in which he condemned the War with Britain and France as a waste of life and that if those countries were willing to a mutual cease fire and if they would allow Hitler to continue with his policies in Poland, then the War could be over there and then. 

Prime Minister Chamberlain's speech in the House of Commons on the 12th October said, in part, “We must take it, then, that the proposals which the German Chancellor puts forward for the establishment of what he calls ‘the certainty of European security’ are to be based on recognition of his conquests and his right to do what he pleases with the conquered. It would be impossible for Great Britain to accept any such basis without forfeiting her honour and abandoning her claim that international disputes should be settled by discussion and not by force." And so the War continued.

What will Hitler Say? (1938)

The Children's Newspaper dated 19th February 1938

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Arthur Mee's Children's Newspaper not flinching from the serious subject of Adolf Hitler and Nazi Germany in 1938. The 2 high ranking military gentlemen mentioned, Blomberg and Fritsch, were actually accused of having a homosexual affair and, although proved innocent, were removed from power to be replaced by Hitler's own men.

The speech of Hitler's that is mentioned in the article was the one in which he warned that Germeny would "no longer tolerate the suppression of ten million Germans across its borders". This was a precursor to the invasion of Austria on March 12th 1938.

Even the article about cave-dwellers was triggered by a speech on the European situation by the Foreign Minister Anthony Eden.

Chamberlain's Last Plea for Peace

Daily Mirror dated Tuesday September 27^th 1938

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On September 12^th 1938 Adolf Hitler gave a speech in which he demanded the return of the Sudetenland from Czechoslovakia. On the 15^th the British Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain flew to Berlin for talks with Hitler, but couldn’t resolve the crisis. They had further meetings on the 18^th and 22^nd. On September 29^th Chamberlain, Hitler, Mussolini and the French President Daladier met in Munich and decided, without consulting the Czech government, that the country should be partitioned and Hitler should have control of Sudetenland. Chamberlain arrived back at Heston aerodrome with his piece of paper and ‘peace in our time’ speech. War had been averted – for the time being.

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Roosevelt did what he could to help avert a European war despite the overwhelming isolationist views of the majority of Americans. They were quite willing to supply arms and food to England but did not want any ‘on the ground’ involvement until Japan attacked Pearl Harbour in December 1941.

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Read with hindsight this is a terrible story of a Polish Jew being deported back to almost certain death, but at the time the general public in Britain were generally xenophobic and to some degree anti-Semitic. It should also be remembered that they didn’t really know at this time what was going on in the concentration camps.

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RMS Queen Elizabeth was the sister ship to the Cunard liner RMS Queen Mary and was launched later this day at the Clydebank shipyard by the Queen herself. She wasn’t ready for her maiden voyage until after the War had broken out so her first trip to New York was done in the utmost secrecy. The ship was painted grey and the crew didn’t know its destination until after it had left port.

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There’s a word you don’t see in tabloid headlines these days – ‘repudiates’.

Two words I wouldn’t expect to find in a 1938 tabloid – ‘      ‘ and ‘        ‘.

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Coin operated vending machines appeared in the UK in the late 1880’s. In my experience the most common products available were sweets, particularly chocolate bars, and cigarettes. I’d have thought that keeping fish and chips hot for any length of time would result in soggy chips and soft batter. They certainly didn’t catch on in any great numbers. 

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Just shows how dangerous it was in the 1930’s to be a woman of loose moral habits. According to The Times for November 5^th 1938 David Leonard Knight was found not guilty and discharged

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Despite the War in Europe the 1939/40 New York World’s Fair went ahead. The British Pavilion displayed an original copy of the Magna Carta, but by the end of the Expo it was thought too risky to transport it back to England so it stayed in Fort Knox until 1947. Germany didn’t attend the Fair.

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A happy story for a change. A young couple in love and destined to marry? Maybe not. The only entry in the FreeBDM marriage records for Doris Deciacco has her hitching up with a Robert Jack in 1947. What happened to William?

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T.R. Newton may have been Cheshire’s strongest man and capable of swimming across Morecambe Bay but could he eat three shredded wheat?

Random Cutting - Germany in the Melting Pot (1934)

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This article from July 1934 was written as a reaction to the Night of the Long Knives purge of June 30th to July 2nd in which the Nazi SS murdered at least 85 of Hilter's political enemies including his old comrade Ernst Röhm the head of the SA, and imprisoned many more.

I wonder if this is the same Shaw Desmond who founded the International Institute for Psychical Research.

U.S. Denounce Hitler's Invasion of Austria

Daily Sketch dated Friday March 18^th 1938

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Adolf Hitler was born in Austria but like many Austrians of the time regarded himself as German. When he came to power in 1933 he intended to make Austria a part of Germany once and for all, but Italy led by Benito Mussolini had vowed to defend Austria’s right to independence. By 1938 relations between Mussolini and Hitler had become so friendly that the Italian leader let it be known that he would no longer stand in the way of a German invasion. Hitler threatened the Austrian government with all out war if they didn’t capitulate and agree to Austria becoming part of Germany. The Austrian chancellor, Kurt Schuschnigg, and his entire government, except the one Nazi Party member, resigned. The remaining man, Arthur Seyss-Inquart as de-facto head of government, invited the German army to enter Vienna on March 15^th 1938.

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The bombing of Barcelona on the 16^th, 17^th and 18^th March 1938 followed France’s decision to re-open their border with Spain and allow supplies through to the Republicans fighting against General Franco. It was carried out by the Italian air force in planes disguised as Spanish. 

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Poland had taken over the Vilnius border region with Lithuania in 1920 and since then there had been no diplomatic relations between the two countries. With an eye on Germany expansion into Austria, Poland decided that it was a good time to have an ally on it’s northern border so issued this ultimatum to Lithuania. On March 19^th the Lithuanian government agreed to the demands. 

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The Australian aviator Harry Frank (the ‘E’ initial in the article is a mistake) Broadbent was trying to beat the record of Miss Jean Batten in a flight from England to Australia. A Qantas mail plane discovered him on Torren Island, fifty miles from Wangipo (wherever that is).

Broadbent went on to pilot flying-boats for Quantas and then for a small Southampton based airline serving Lisbon, Madeira and Las Palmas. In 1958 he was an instructor to a Portuguese airline and was forced into an emergency landing in the Atlantic, west of Portugal. The aircraft and occupants were never found.

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The use of the cat-o-nine-tails was officially abolished in UK prisons in 1967 although it hadn’t been used since 1962 and only rarely since 1948.

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Despite the Mayor's incredulity, Greta Garbo never married and according to some contemporary sources, such as writer Mercedes de Acosta, was of a sapphic bent.

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‘Her return to the screen’ refers to the break that Norma Shearer took after the death if her first husband Irving Thalberg. She retired from the business in 1942 and died in 1983.

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“Ouch!”

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‘Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, the first full-length animated feature from the Disney Studios, was released in the UK on March 12^th 1938.

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This is the committal hearing of the men arrested in this post.

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Hitler invades Austria? Spanish civil war? Don’t worry! The toffs are having a good time so all must right with the World. The only name I recognize is Cecil Beaton. I must move in the wrong circles.

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Any excuse to include an example of my favourite comic strip. Simple and elegantly drawn.

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One channel and 3 hours of TV a day for those few people who had sets. No fighting over the remote, then.

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This is the very same HMS Belfast that is now moored in the Thames by the Embankment and can be visited as part of the Imperial War Museum. Having been launched as shown above by Prime Minister Chamberlain’s wife on March 17^th 1938, she, the ship not Mrs C, was commissioned for service in August 1939 just in time for the War and was involved in the Artic Convoys and the sinking of the German battleship Scharnhorst.

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The Welshman Tommy Farr had won his first fight in 1926 at the age of 12 and fought his last in 1953. He’d beaten the American Max Baer in 1937 in England, but lost this fight at Madison Square Gardens.

Baer’s son Max Baer Jr. found fame on TV as Jethro Bodine in ‘The Beverly Hillbillies’. 

Randon Cutting - Bogus Plot to Kill Hitler (1934)

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This cutting is not dated but is from after April 20^th 1934 when Heinrich Himmler took over from Rudolf Diels as head of the Gestapo. 

I found this under some lino at my parents’ house many years ago. Unfortunately there was no page 2 for the continuation of the story. I wonder what happened to Herr Hitler?

German's Announce Hitler's Death

The Daily Telegraph dated Wednesday May 2nd 1945

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Adolph Hitler, the Fuehrer or Leader, of Germany from 1933 to 1945, committed suicide by cyanide poisoning and pistol shot on the 30^th April 1945 along side his new wife Eva Braun.  German radio announced the death on the evening of May 1^st and it appeared in the British daily papers on the morning of the 2^nd. 

Many people in Britain had been waiting for this news for nearly 6 years, but it is now thought by many historians that it happened at the right time.  Any earlier and Germany could well have found a new, stronger and possibly saner Leader who could have changed the course of World War II.

I recommend Stephen Fry’s novel ‘Making History’ in which he explores an alternative history in which Hitler was never even born.

The whole issue is taken up with the same news so I post 2 subsequent Daily Telegraph headlines from a few days later

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VE Day or Victory in Europe Day was held on Tuesday May 8^th 1945.  Celebrations, particularly in America were, tempered by the fact that fierce fighting continued in the Far East against the Japanese, and in fact it was another 3 months before VJ Day and the final end of War on August 15^th. 

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