January 9, 2013 | 63 notes

The Hunt For Hitler’s Most Notorious Henchmen The hunt for Albert Speer was unusual. The U.N. War Crimes Commission was determined to bring him to justice, but a U.S. government official hoped to reach the Nazi technocrat first. A former investment banker named Paul Nitze, who was then vice chairman of the United States Strategic Bombing Survey, believed it was imperative to get to Speer. As the war in Europe was winding down, the Americans were hoping that strategic bombing in Japan could end the war in the Pacific. But in order to achieve that, they hoped to learn more about how Germany had maintained its war machine while withstanding heavy bombing. Thus Nitze needed Speer. In May 1945, the race was on to capture and interrogate one of Hitler’s most notorious henchmen. Just after Hitler’s death, President [Karl] Donitz and his cabinet took up residence at the Naval Academy at Murwik, overlooking the Flensburg Fjord. On his first evening in power, the new leader gave a nationwide radio address; though he knew German forces could not resist Allied advances, he promised his people that Germany would continue to fight. He also appointed Speer his minister of industry and production. On On May 15, American forces arrived in Flensburg and got to Speer first. Nitze arrived at Glucksburg Castle, where Speer was being held, along with the economist John Kenneth Galbraith, who was also working for the Strategic Bombing Survey, and a team of interpreters and assistants. They interrogated Speer for seven straight days, during which he talked freely with the Americans, taking them through what he termed “bombing high school.” Each morning Speer, dressed in a suit, would pleasantly answer questions with what struck his questioners as remarkable candor—enough candor that Nitze and his associates dared not ask what Speer knew of the Holocaust, out of fear that his mood might change. Speer knew his best chance to survive was to cooperate and seem indispensable to the Americans, and his cooperation had a strange effect on his interrogators. One of them said he “evoked in us a sympathy of which we were all secretly ashamed.” - Continue reading at Smithsonian.com. Photo: Adolf Hitler (left) and Albert Speer in 1943. Wikipedia

The Hunt For Hitler’s Most Notorious Henchmen

The hunt for Albert Speer was unusual. The U.N. War Crimes Commission was determined to bring him to justice, but a U.S. government official hoped to reach the Nazi technocrat first. A former investment banker named Paul Nitze, who was then vice chairman of the United States Strategic Bombing Survey, believed it was imperative to get to Speer. As the war in Europe was winding down, the Americans were hoping that strategic bombing in Japan could end the war in the Pacific. But in order to achieve that, they hoped to learn more about how Germany had maintained its war machine while withstanding heavy bombing. Thus Nitze needed Speer. In May 1945, the race was on to capture and interrogate one of Hitler’s most notorious henchmen.

Just after Hitler’s death, President [Karl] Donitz and his cabinet took up residence at the Naval Academy at Murwik, overlooking the Flensburg Fjord. On his first evening in power, the new leader gave a nationwide radio address; though he knew German forces could not resist Allied advances, he promised his people that Germany would continue to fight. He also appointed Speer his minister of industry and production.

On On May 15, American forces arrived in Flensburg and got to Speer first. Nitze arrived at Glucksburg Castle, where Speer was being held, along with the economist John Kenneth Galbraith, who was also working for the Strategic Bombing Survey, and a team of interpreters and assistants. They interrogated Speer for seven straight days, during which he talked freely with the Americans, taking them through what he termed “bombing high school.” Each morning Speer, dressed in a suit, would pleasantly answer questions with what struck his questioners as remarkable candor—enough candor that Nitze and his associates dared not ask what Speer knew of the Holocaust, out of fear that his mood might change. Speer knew his best chance to survive was to cooperate and seem indispensable to the Americans, and his cooperation had a strange effect on his interrogators. One of them said he “evoked in us a sympathy of which we were all secretly ashamed.” - Continue reading at Smithsonian.com.

Photo: Adolf Hitler (left) and Albert Speer in 1943. Wikipedia

July 18, 2012 | 24 notes

Hitler Plotted to Kill Churchill with Exploding Chocolate German secret agents planted in Britain planned to place the “chocolate” amongst other luxury items in the War Cabinet’s dining room where Winston Churchill often hung out. After being unwrapped and tampered with, seven seconds later the sweet slabs of destruction would detonate and kill anyone within several meters of their chocolatey impact. Photo: Corbis Ed note: Did you know Hitler had his very own hot jazz band?

Hitler Plotted to Kill Churchill with Exploding Chocolate

German secret agents planted in Britain planned to place the “chocolate” amongst other luxury items in the War Cabinet’s dining room where Winston Churchill often hung out. After being unwrapped and tampered with, seven seconds later the sweet slabs of destruction would detonate and kill anyone within several meters of their chocolatey impact.

Photo: Corbis

Ed note: Did you know Hitler had his very own hot jazz band?

April 20, 2012 | 511 notes

life: We do not usually give so much space to the work of men we admire so little.Here, rare color photos from the over-the-top celebrations that marked Hitler’s 50th birthday (April 20, 1939), as well as some of the obscenely gaudy gifts bestowed on the German leader by his peers and sycophants. Pictured: Adolf Hitler receives a model of a Condor airplane as a gift on his 50th birthday, Berlin, April 20, 1939. Beside Hitler (left) stands Capt. Hans Bauer, his personal pilot.

life:

We do not usually give so much space to the work of men we admire so little.

Here, rare color photos from the over-the-top celebrations that marked Hitler’s 50th birthday (April 20, 1939), as well as some of the obscenely gaudy gifts bestowed on the German leader by his peers and sycophants.

Pictured: Adolf Hitler receives a model of a Condor airplane as a gift on his 50th birthday, Berlin, April 20, 1939. Beside Hitler (left) stands Capt. Hans Bauer, his personal pilot.