Art & Culture

Unity Mitford, of the famous English Mitford sisters, seated at table next to Hitler in Bayreuth, Germany in 1936. Hitler says in this episode he liked best dining with pretty women.

Ray Goodwin and Carolyn Yeager read and comment on the March 7-24, 1942 dinner table monologues by the German Leader, as taken down in shorthand by trusted aides. On March 21st the note-taker switches from Heinrich Heim to Henry Picker. 1hr36min. Included in this episode:

• Jealousy among women explained as result of prehistoric period when female protection depended on one man;

• Hitler compares men and women to the detriment of women at 3 different mealtimes;

• Hitler on smoking and why/when he quit the habit-(Who knew he had ever smoked?!);

• Questions of the Wehrmacht, private property vs the State, lotteries and gambling, Capitalism and monopolies;

• Stafford Cripps a more threatening figure than Churchill to the health of the British Empire;

• The disastrous influence of Jews on the Arts--the genuine artist and the fake.

The edition of Hitler's Table Talk being used was translated by Norman Cameron and R.H. Stevens, published by Enigma Books, New York, and can be found as a pdf here.

We're 3 years old!

393,400 visits

have ben made to this website in the three years since it's inception on September 27, 2011, making a total of 186,400 visits in this past year alone. 

This represents an increase of 70% over the previous year. or 54,000 more visits than in 2013. This compares to an increase of 57% in the 2nd year over the first. Thus, I have grown at a faster rate each year, which is good news!

St. Anna – Banat – Hungary/Romania

The History of the Donauschwaben

Compiled and translated by Wilhelm Kriessmann, April 2008

I have had this report in my alt files all this time. I knew I had it and had sent it to some family members, but I had forgotten how complete and how interesting it is. It was my dear friend Willi Kriessmann who encouraged me to study up on my Donauschwaben ancestors and provided me with his assistance, including the connection to Alf Kührt. Willi was an admirer of Maria Theresia and of this eastern settlement project. So with thanks and appreciation to him, I present it now as part of my Ancestry section that I'm building. ~Carolyn

Austrian Empress Maria Theresia started her 40-year reign in 1740. She was beloved of her people and had 16 children with her husband Francis 1 !

After the Osmans (Turks – Ottoman Empire) were pushed back during the 17th and 18th Century, the Habsburg emperors Leopold I, Karl VI, Josef II and Empress Maria Theresia began to populate the devastated areas of South Hungary. In the lowlands of the Danube and the Theiss (Tisza), farmers and craftsmen primarily from Southwest regions of the Empire were systematically settled. The total number of settlers, organized by the government or private enterprise, reached about 150,000. The majority were from Alsace-Lorrain, Palatinate, Baden-Wuertemberg, Luxemburg and Bavaria (including Franconia).

The Austro-Hungarian Empire in 1748-1776 (yellowish-tan) included good parts of the Banat and Transylvania where Germans were invited to settle. Enlarge

Sept. 11, 2014

Carolyn Yeager and Ray Goodwin read and comment on the Feb. 17-22, 1942 dinner table monologues by the German Leader, as taken down in shorthand by trusted aide Heinrich Heim. Included in this episode:

• Country estates in Hungary compared to  Wagner's Wahnfried and his own Berghof, and the stories of Karl May compared to American classics;
• Hitler's preference for Bavarian-Austrian lederhosen (leather shorts for men) and why he had to give them up;
• Wrong to shower too much care on colonial subjects, plus not enough theaters in Germany;
• Why Hitler plans for his great observatory to be built at Linz, and the importance of teaching the people the wonders of the physical universe;
• The privilege of playing the role of patron to the arts and sciences;
• Ferdinand Porsche is the greatest engineering genius in Germany at the time, and Hitler sees continued success for the Volkswagen;
• Praise for Schwartz and Amman as great talents who served the NSDAP, plus strong words against the "Jewish virus."

Image: Hitler liked wearing lederhosen during the 1920's, which he said was not considered acceptable attire in North German society.

The edition of Hitler's Table Talk being used was translated by Norman Cameron and R.H. Stevens, published by Enigma Books, New York, and can be found as a pdf here.

Hermann Giesler on left; Albert Speer on right,

 THE DISCORD

Translated and condensed from Hermann Giesler's Ein Anderer Hitler by Wilhelm Kriessmann and Carolyn Yeager

This is a condensation of the 15-page section Der Zwist on pages 340-355

copyright 2014 Carolyn Yeager

“ Powerful and at the same time not interested in power” … so judges the American historian, Professor Eugene Davidson, about the author Adalbert Speer, when reviewing his book Erinnerungen.

The following footnote (Chapt. 4, #32) from Joachim Fest’s Speer: The Final Verdict reveals the disdain Albert Speer felt toward Hermann Giesler that was probably the root of the problems between the two men.

“… in the caption to the picture showing Hitler in front of the Eiffel Tower, (Speer) mentions Breker but not Giesler on his right. […] In conversation Speer remarked that Giesler had been distinguished “beyond merit” by Hitler's invitation. Asked if he had been jealous of his rival, he replied, ‘How should I have been jealous of him? Giesler was a frightful petit-bourgeois! How could he supplant me in Hitler's favor?’ […] How unremitting Speer’s feelings were for Giesler emerges also from the fact that he consistently misspells his name with what seems like pointed indifference.”

This film from 1937 is a joy to watch as we see German-American boys engage in the same type of camping life and sport activities as their ethnic cousins enjoyed in the German homeland. What an extraordinary opportunity this camp experience provided them for discovering and demonstrating their natural gifts of industriousness, teamwork, discipline, comradeship, health and fitness ... and just plain fun. I like it so much I just had to archive it here.  ~CY

From the United States National Archives Blog ...

In Volks-Deutsche Jungen in U.S.A. (German Youth in the U.S.A) you’ll see what first appears to be an unremarkable story of a boys’ summer camp. The film starts with the camp under construction and excited children piling onto chartered buses to make the journey from New York City to Windham, New York in the summer of 1937. The boys pitch tents, unload crates of baked beans, and perform physical fitness drills. If you pay close attention, you might notice that some of the boys are wearing shorts bearing the single lightning bolt insignia that marked the younger contingent of the Hitler Youth, but it’s not until the “Flaggenappell” (flag roll call) at 13:47 that the affiliation becomes clear.

July 24, 2014

At the Hochlenzer Gasthaus (restaurant) in Berchtesgaden, Adolf Hitler sits at an outdoor table with Bruno Buchner and his wife, proprietors of the Platterhof Hotel, Obersalzburg. Enlarge

Ray Goodwin and Carolyn Yeager read and comment on the Jan. 13-17, 1942 dinner table monologues by the German Leader, as taken down in shorthand by trusted aide, attorney Heinrich Heim. Included in this episode:

• Hitler talks about Czechs in general and Emil Hacha in particular;
• Men of genius like Austrian composer Anton Bruckner, who was unappreciated for so long, must be encouraged;
• High birthrate at the time in India, in Russia, but also in Germany;
• A woman of genius: Angelica Kauffmann was a very great painter, says Hitler;
• The early days in Obersalzberg wth Dietrich Eckart - he was known only as Herr Wolf until he began giving public speeches - how he bought his house "Wachenfeld";
• Recalls the many friends from those days, which were the best days in his life, and how he enjoyed the ladies and pretty girls; 
• Hitler mentions "the second volume of my book" being written in the Deutsche Haus in Berchtesgaden;
• Praises Dietrich Eckart, calls him the "polar star" to the early National Socialists and his death a great loss.

The edition of Hitler's Table Talk being used was translated by Norman Cameron and R.H. Stevens, published by Enigma Books, New York, and can be found as a pdf here.