World War II

Feb. 26, 2015

Churchill goes to Moscow in August 1942 to bring a disappointing message to Stalin?

Ray Goodwin and Carolyn Yeager read and comment on the August 7-16, 1942 lunch and dinner table monologues by the German Leader, as taken down in shorthand by attorney Heinrich Heim. 1h23m. Included in this episode:

• Churchill to visit Stalin, Hitler is intrigued as to why;
• Germans are in Crimea to stay, says AH, and winning over the peasantry;
• British have no rights to decide anything in Europe - Rumanians vs Hungarians, and the Viennese;
• Riches of Ukraine - Reichsmarks and Ostmarks - the parson class are enemies of the state;
• Very interesting account of Hitler visiting the National Club and the Officers' Club in Berlin in 1921, meeting Admiral Schröder, an important early supporter;
• Hitler on Dance as artistic expression: most beautiful is the waltz, impressive is the Bavarian Schuhplattler done by men;
• Some of the diplomats he's known in Berlin - comments on Stalin - Churchill and the Malta situation.

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

Old Pforzheim church and market square with monument of Bismarck.

On February 23, 1945, the Royal Air Force attacked the mid-size city of Pforzheim in Baden, in southwestern Germany, for the last time--the previous times being six night raids in Oct. 1944 and one in November. They didn't need to do it again because this attack by 378 aircraft, all but 10 of them heavy bombers, dropped 730 tons of explosives and 820 tons of incendiary bombs and set off the intended firestorm that consumed every building of the town center.

Nearly sixty thousand people were in the town that night. 17,600 of them - one out of three Pforzheimers - were officialy counted as dead and thousands were injured.

The post-war British Bombing Survey Unit boasted that the bombing destruction of Pforzheim was "probably the greatest proportion [percentage] in one raid during the war.” It was considered a complete and resounding success at the time. Yet even after such a complete success by the British, the US Air Force on March 4th bombed the area around the Kupferhammer (main hotel and square), the pilots flying low and opening fire on crowds of civilian survivors, murdering 100 or more. They didn't get around to bombing the railway facilities and destroying the autobahn until March 14, 16, 18, 20 and 24th.

Feb. 16, 2015

Adolf Hitler's view on race and the German Volk in his talk to Officers of May 1944 has been misrepresented by Veronica Clark in two books that she has sold on Amazon. Carolyn discusses the most interesting parts of the talk and points out the mistakes in Clark's translation:

• Changing the word Volk to Rasse, or race, in one instance where it could not be an honest error (on page 48 of the German copy, shown at right - click on image for enlarged view);
• Other inexplicably poor translation seemingly designed to detract from Hitler's strict attitude on race;
• Attributing to Adolf Hitler in her foreward a false quote that she knew was actually written by another man, Otto Wagener;
• Hadding Scott comes on the line in the last 15-20 minutes and confirms the correctness of Porter's translation over Clark's in some specific instances.

Read "Hitler's Talk to Officers and Generals on May 26, 1944 at the Platterhof in Obersalzberg" translated by Carlos W. Porter here.

The Platterhof Hotel accommodated National Socialist events and visitors of the Führer, including military officers, when he was staying at his private home on the Obersalzberg.

 Continued from Part 1:

Translated by Carlos Whitlock Porter

The Führer is speaking:

But first, of course, it’s not a pretty picture, I admit it. At first, we had all sorts of difficulties, and you can really get some white hair before you’ve put everything back in order again. But I always counted on one thing: the time will come when that will all have been worth it; then you’ll see that this selection process, which has been made one of the hard principles of the party, is correct. And really, that’s the most basic thing: the most decisive. Since today, when we speak of a national community, you can only do so on the condition of suitable leadership and people.

There are a lot of training courses being given today for officers, in the so-called Ordenburgen [fortresses built by the Teutonic Knights], not just because they’re suited for it but because that gives them an insight into the way we start out with our youth, building up their education. Of course, gentlemen, nothing is perfect. You ought not to forget: we came to power in 1933. The war began in 1939. So we had barely 6 years. During the war, there’s a limit to what we can do to continue building, but there’s no doubt about it: when our people have had 50 years of peace, then we’ll see something: the whole nation will be completely organized, and the leadership of the nation will consist of the best political leadership corps we’ve ever had, carefully selected from the best we’ve got. There’s no doubt about that.

Dresden Fire Damage Map

In a news story today, the BBC makes historically false statements in its attempt to whitewash the nation's guilt for the Dresden Holocaust in February 1945, 70 years ago. It writes:

• An estimated 25,000 people died in the British and American attack, which created a firestorm that left 33 sq km (12 sq miles) of the city in ruins.   [How can a firestorm that completely destroyed 33 sq km of a city center teeming with a million additional homeless refugees leave only 25,000 dead? A firestorm is something that is near to impossible to escape. They make no attempt to explain that. Witnesses at the time said the number was two to three hundred thousand.]
  

The old Dresden. It does not look like this today, even after being "rebuilt." The essence is gone, leaving it mainly a tourist destination rather than a place for Germans to enjoy.

On this 70 year remembrance of the destruction of Dresden, the incomparable cultural city of Europe and a German treasure, remembering the hellish inferno that burnt to death up to 200,000 undefended civilians whose "crime" was to live in Adolf Hitler's Third Reich, I feel compelled to acknowledge publicly that my anger and disgust goes mainly toward the British.

A nation that can lie to itself, in order to keep lying to the rest of the world, and feel sincere about it, as the British do, deserves no respect. This includes the British decendants in Canada, the US, Australia, wherever they may be.

Feb. 12, 2015

Adolf Hitler with Gerdy Troost, widow of National Socialist Party architect Paul Troost, view works of art at the House of German Art in Munich. which was designed by Troost. Enlarge

Ray Goodwin and Carolyn Yeager read and comment on the July 24-August 2, 1942 lunch and dinner table monologues by the German Leader, as taken down in shorthand by aide Henry Picker. 1h30m. Included in this episode:

• Hitler has faith that the Dutch can "improve" but the Italians without the Duce are hopelessly under the thumb of the Church and nobility;
• The need for oil from the Caucasus and the value of gas-driven over petrol-driven vehicles;
• Hitler discusses why government or military corruption must not be allowed to get a hold in Germany and tells of his experience with "swindlers";
• On Russians wanting to emigrate into the Crimea;
• The lack of superior weaponry in the first World War - developing and building such are of equal importance to soldiering;
• Praise for the annual exhibition and sale in the House of German Art in Munich;
• The credulity of the American and British public - German and American standard of living compared - the power of the Church to surpress scientific progress;

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.

Adolf Hitler greets and decorates officers at his Wolfsschanze headquarters in East Prussia in 1943.

INTRODUCTION by Carolyn Yeager

This unrehearsed talk was taken down by stenographers at the time it was given by Adolf Hitler to his top officers. A single typed copy exists in the archives of the Institut für Zeitgeschichte in Munich, Germany. To obtain it, a Munich woman familiar with the Institute had to go there in person and request it, then make a copy on the premises, after which she mailed the copied pages to me for a fee. It consists of 70 typed, double-spaced pages, with some words on every page illegible because of fold marks.

I made 3 sets of copies and mailed them to 3 persons, one of which was Carlos Porter, who agreed to translate it--a really hard job considering the length and the poor quality of the original. I asked Carlos to do the translation in a more or less direct fashion, not concerning himself overmuch with the quality of the prose. I wanted the exact idea of what the Fuehrer said and meant. Since I'm not in the business of selling books for a profit,  the ease of readability for the general public is not my first concern. My first concern is a very clear rendition of the ideas Hitler was expressing to his audience.

Feb. 5, 2015

Martin Bormann said of Ukrainian children: "They are fair, with blue eyes, bonny and chubby-faced. In comparison, our children look like tottering little chicks." And of the adults: "They are bursting with good health." This photograph is from 1942.

Carolyn Yeager and Ray Goodwin read and comment on the July 17-22, 1942 lunch and dinner table monologues by the German Leader, as taken down in shorthand by aide Henry Picker. 1h24m. Included in this episode:

• Goebbels failed to introduce wired-wireless radio control in Germany before the war to prevent foreign broadcasts;
• Roads are superior to railroads for unification--Hitler wants to create a network of autobahen from Berlin to the East Wall;
• Hitler agrees to an interview with a foreign journalist so he can respond to the persistent talk of a Second Front, i.e. Allied landing;
• Discussion of "seaman's yarns" and need to consider superstitions of the public when making decisions;
• The Channel Islands and how they could be used after the war;
• Hitler criticises lawyers again and makes some very good points
• Russia's strength and the Stakhanov system--Bormann tells of his tour of Ukraine;
• More on how to treat the local populations in the occupied territories (see Ukraine images here).

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.