Our title today paraphrases the slogan taken for the New York Times by then publisher, Adolph Simon Ochs, in which he attempted to underscore honest, accurate reporting of the day's events...In this age when so-called "fake news" has become news itself, I took a little time out to expand a paragraph I wrote in my review of William Shirer's "The Nightmare Years"...
Not a new phenomenon by any means, "fake news" was brought to almost an art form under the direction of Joseph Goebbels and his Reich Ministry of Propaganda as he also had the advantage of a captive and gullible audience...In a time when German citizens were subject to beheading for the monstrous crimes of listening to alternate news sources, such as Britain's BBC, the outside world mostly took Nazi press releases with a large grain of salt...
But even they were fooled on occasion, especially when they really wanted to believe something...During the opening episodes of the sea war between His Majesty's Navy and the German Kriegsmarine, fake news was strewn about from all sides in the hope of bolstering the spirits of the belligerents...But, as history proves time after time, the truth always surfaces...
On December 13, 1939, the German "pocket battleship," Admiral Graf Spee, was found and trapped by three Royal Navy cruisers in the South Atlantic where it had been raiding British shipping...Both belligerents had played their strong cards well, the RN knowing it had the strategic advantage in relying on its own support ships for cover, repair and replenishment, while still in danger from Graf Spee's superior firepower...
Graf Spee's overpowering gunnery gave it the tactical advantage, but its commander, Captain Hans Langsdorff, knew the ship was doomed if it became damaged enough to prevent escape towards its home port...Unable to break out of the River Plate estuary, Langsdorff used every advantage against the three cruisers, severely crippling Exeter, forcing its retirement...This allowed Graf Spee to shelter itself in the neutral port of Montevideo, Uruguay with a badly damaged fuel system...Unable to effect repairs in the 72 hours allotted by its host port, Captain Langsdorff ordered the ship scuttled at sea rather than risk capture by the Royal Navy...
Both the English and German press offered their own accounts of the action...British newspapers reported accurately...The Nazi-controlled Berlin papers first blared a great victory by Graf Spee as it defeated the Royal Navy fleet singlehandedly, while suffering superficial damage...Three days later, the German press regrouped, running stories of how the pocket battleship, unable to avoid the outnumbering British fleet, was scuttled on leaving Montevideo, with its captain "following his ship" to the bottom rather than being captured...
Shirer later pieced together the truth that Langsdorff was not even aboard the Graf Spee when its crew sank it, having stayed behind in port to await further orders...Those orders came directly from an infuriated Fuehrer who demanded the suicide of Langsdorff for scuttling his ship rather than fighting to the last man...The ship's commander then dutifully blew his own brains out with a revolver shot in his Montevideo hotel room...Hitler's fake news put a heroic spin to the story for the German public who learned the truth later anyway...
But the same reporting strategy could cut both ways as Winston Churchill learned the hard way...When the British flagged Royal Sceptre was sunk in the Atlantic by shots from the deck gun of U-48, London newspapers reported it as an unwarned attack in which all crew and passengers were presumed lost at sea...Without confirming the story, First Lord of the Admiralty, Winston Churchill (before he became Prime Minister), was forced to admit before the House of Commons that the U-boat commander, Kapitanleutnant Herbert Schultze, had radioed him personally stating the coordinates of the sinking, requesting him to pick up the survivors...
Churchill also reported that the U-boat commander had been captured, and was in British custody, which the Nazi press vehemently denied...The always alert, and ever skeptical Shirer scored a personal interview with Schultze in which he confirmed he had sent the tongue-in-cheek message to Churchill, and also radioed the British ship Browning the exact whereabouts to effect the rescue...This the British denied, until it became known that the Browning had indeed picked up the survivors who were all safely ashore on British territory...
Still skeptical, Shirer had Schultze produce his ship's logbook which he found to contain the text and transmission times of both messages...He also said Churchill's boast of capturing the U-boat commander was premature at best...Presumably Churchill learned to better vet his sources before any public pronouncements, a lesson that could be well considered by today's politicians who still seem to prefer blame after rather than research before...
Even a sage thinker, such as Truckman, can be led down a primrose path paved with falsehoods laid down by one whose intentions were evil from the beginning, as evidenced by his last visit to divorce court...This is one reason he no longer listens to media broadcasters reading prepared news items using the interpretations they were instructed to bring into play...He reads news releases from varying sources, then makes his own judgments, many times believing none of them...
The ancient adage, "Don't believe anything you hear, and only half of what you see," has been variously attributed to Ben Franklin, Edgar Allen Poe, Samuel Clemens, and numerous anonymous sources...The oldest I can find is from the First Book of John, fourth chapter of my King James version of the Holy Bible:
"Beloved, believe not every spirit, but try the spirits whether they are of God: because many false prophets are gone out into the world."
From any source you choose, vetting your sources is just good advice...
It has been said by those who think it's funny, that medical professionals sometimes bear no resemblance to professionalism, nor anything medical...Being human, we all have our moments of failure as well as triumph, but, like politicians, doctors are a more visible sight when dabbling in areas other than that for which they were hired...
Being one who has always enjoyed a good doctor joke as well as the more common lawyer jokes, I found myself playing a minor role in two instances concerning the medical trade, and specifically the cardiological specialty...In recounting these anecdotes, I will not name the individuals as both are rebuilding their lives, and I owe a personal debt of gratitude to each for their services...
The first was a referral from another doctor, and proved his worth to me on a personal level twice; the first as he skillfully diagnosed and repaired a faulty blood vessel, which to this day is still functioning unobstructed 15 years later...He also recommended the correct medication to reverse a cholesterol condition which, if left unattended, could have eventually undone his surgical work...
At another later time, my mother, who was in her eighties, was taken by ambulance to a local hospital with stroke-like symptoms which she could not clearly communicate to the response team...While waiting in a side room until a doctor could be made free for examination, my cardiologist passed by on his way elsewhere, did a double-take when he saw me, and entered the room addressing me by my first name...
I briefly explained why my mother was there, and after a few seconds of examination, he began barking orders to nurses who cleared the room, and within ten minutes had Mom on the operating table where he installed a life saving pacemaker...I still do not know whether a surgeon of lesser reputation could have gotten that kind of instant response to his commands, but I do know that today, at the age of 97, my Mom's heart still astounds her doctors when she submits to her periodic checks to renew her prescriptions...
Unfortunately this fine surgeon, who could make snap decisions which saved countless lives, was not as astute in his own personal choices...His ever increasing workload created demands on his time which led to his abuse of certain drugs allowing him to remain awake and alert enough to continue his practice...His family life had also suffered, and a young lady of his acquaintance also began sharing his drug life...
Tragically she died from an overdose of drugs, for her possession of which he assumed responsibility...To his credit, even though one life was lost and many others shattered, he accepted all accountability for his actions, even though it cost him his career, and his means of making a living...After his license to practice was removed, he successfully sought treatment for his addiction and eventually wrote a book, detailing the events as they happened, as a warning to others who could fall victim to the same trap...
Today he continues to tell of his experiences to anyone who might benefit, and his license has been reinstated, but in an administrative capacity only...Continuing my magic touch, I next found another cardiologist who was equally inept when choosing his personal associates...
He first came to me as my customer in my store, buying collectible guns which he found interesting, and he even joined our shooting league...As I learned what he did for a living, and at that time needing a replacement physician for my heart, I started seeing him for regular check-ups...He was very personable, and although his gargantuan size might have made one question his ability to maintain the heart health of others, I never had reason to doubt his professional treatment of me...
But like his predecessor, his behavior in personal and business choices was not always wise...After not hearing from him for a few days which was unusual, a law enforcement friend told me his home had been raided, and he had been taken into custody...Having a few connections here and there, I was directed toward a look-see at the CSI photos which showed black-jacketed investigators with a veritable alphabet soup of gold lettering on their backs...Agencies were noted from our local sheriff's department to state agencies and various federal authorities including BATFE, FBI, DEA and ICE...
As it turned out, the main charges stemmed from a scheme to defraud Medicare for some non-existent wheelchairs and motorized scooters concocted between him and a "business partner"...But from my information, enough evidence was seized inside his home to warrant further investigation into sufficiently numerous other charges to keep him busy even without his medical license...
Knowing some of his family history, I can only imagine how his great-grandfather and namesake, who is favorably remembered making medical history of his own, might react if the news were known to him...A little investigation on my part in later years showed him practicing medicine again in another state, but I expect Texas has seen the last of him...
Since then, I have not enlisted the services of another cardiologist for fear of rounding out the traditional and historical trio of ill happenstances, but as of this writing, my heart still seems to be pumping on a regular basis, and I will give credit to the good work done by those two discussed above which is seldom credited to those who are remembered more for their notoriety...Thank you, gentlemen...
As fraught with drama as those two anecdotes might appear, they pale when compared to the choice made by a particular politician of the previous century...In a nation populated by a people who became infamous for their own abominable choice in leadership, that leader became dependent upon a medical professional, and even more reliant on the concoctions prescribed by the so-called healer...
The demands of office became so burdening to Adolf Hitler as he rushed to complete his genetic reconstruction of the world's population, that his own health became tenuous...Already a hypochondriac, Hitler's megalomania, combined with his paranoiac fear of losing control to others, allowed him to push himself into taking on more responsibility than he could reasonably account for...Staying awake long hours supervising his world annihilation plans, he began to exhibit signs of real disorders combined with his imaginary ones...
At this point, Hitler became the patient of the disgusting and swinish Dr. Theodor Morell, whose medical interests were always directed more to the improvement of his own position and wealth, rather than the health of any of his patients...He kept the Nazi leader ambulatory and functional by treating only the symptoms of his complaints, rather than the root causes with methamphetamine injections on an almost daily basis, as well as cocaine laden eyedrops to clear his vision...
Morell kept a steady flow of drugs pumping through Hitler's veins, and is said to have participated in the immense profits from the supply of Pervitin, a form of crystal meth, issued to Wehrmacht members to fuel their long battlefield advances...However, Morell was less forthcoming about his family's own Jewish origins than other doctors of Hitler's past such as Dr. Edward Bloch, who extended the life and comfort of Hitler's mother as she was stricken with terminal cancer...
Some critics have labeled the inclusion of the study of Herr Hitler's ailments in the analysis of his position of power, having and using the capacity of life or death over people at his own will, as irrelevant in a scientific discussion...Most historians include such evidence in any research concerning the events of the mid-20th century, saying if it affected the judgment of those in power, it's pertinence is obvious...My own conclusion is that Hitler was a man whose actions were always guided by hatred which he justified as a virtue, and an understanding of him and the times he lived in and influenced are germane to the prevention of reoccurrence...
Meanwhile my own existence was prolonged by the happy choice of an endocrinologist who has proven his worth to me in times of both good fortune, and more challenging times...When insurance was available to cover the costs of his services and his recommendations for medicines, my health was stabilized...When economics forced changes, he accepted lower payments, and found more cost-effective medicaments, all the while maintaining his interest in my improving health...
Like those who have preceded me in bygone times with their own attending physicians, only history will judge whether my doctors' efforts benefited mankind, or were a disservice to society by prolonging my life...
Click here for Part II...
Click here for Part IV...
William Shirer's focus here is on Germany's expansion of it's borders and influence in the mid to late 30's as Adolf Hitler's risky gambles fell into place, both militarily and politically...Whether his scheduling of the "Saturday surprises" was the result of his own analysis or not, it was brilliant but perilous strategy...As this unfolds, Shirer experiences both career and family changes...
In the first of Hitler's weekend whammies, on Saturday, March 16, 1935, he had propagandist Joseph Goebbels call a press conference where the diminutive stooge announced a virtual trashing of the Versailles Treaty as he proclaimed a re-armament of Germany, including a reinstatement of military conscription...It being a Saturday morning, the story would not reach the world's public until scrambling journalists could write and transmit their accounts to their newspaper editors who would see it in print on Sunday...Global government reaction would not follow until early that week...
The German public, however, was told about it as Goebbels read the proclamation to a cheering crowd of 12,000 at the Sportpalast that same evening...The next day was a German holiday, Heroes Memorial Day, in which Hitler received the adulation of a packed Opera House in Berlin as past and present military members were enthralled by the news...
Caught with their pants down, Britain did nothing in response, and France, which wouldn't let a champagne cork pop too loudly without British approval, sat on its hands, awaiting its turn to use the little nations' room...Hitler was a gambler for big stakes, and as such, he was very good at "reading the table," although this eventually fed his out-of-control ego to the point of recklessness...
He correctly timed many of his big moves when key members of the British government were away for the weekend, knowing that the slow communications of the day would not allow a prompt meeting to decide what reaction to take against the latest Nazi aggression...He also knew that the inept and cowardly leadership of France would make no decisive moves at all without the might of the English to back them up militarily...France was rife with brave, but latent warriors who would gladly rise to a fight, but allowed themselves to be led by frightened, indecisive bureaucrats fearful of raising a hand only to draw back a bloody nub...
Hitler further realized that American reaction would be delayed as news correspondents did not telephone their stories to Paris for relay to the US until late Saturday night, and important happenings might not see print until the following Monday, given time zone differences...By the time any major power could decide on a course of action, German forces would already have had 24 to 48 hours to become entrenched...
Two months earlier, following his somewhat unexpected overwhelming victory as Saarlanders voted to reunite with Germany, rather than maintaining their status as a League of Nations protectorate, or alternatively unifying with France, Hitler began making his plans for the next big plunge...The weekend timing of the Saar referendum, and its subsequent impact may have reinforced his preference of weekend actions...Nevertheless, his decision to defy the Treaty of Locarno, and occupy the de-militarized zone of the Rhineland was met with skepticism from the Reichswehr general staff...
Following the pattern of always being prepared to fight the previous war, the Reichswehr leadership was hesitant against any new thinking in military measures, preferring to react to a first strike rather than advance into non-reconnoitered territory...But Hitler had actually read General Heinz Guderian's book, "Achtung - Panzer!" and, having seen a demonstration of the power of fast-moving armor, wanted it for his military even though trained armored divisions did not yet exist...He determined to use the tactic as applied to infantry using whatever motorized conveyances could be had...
This rudimentary plan, combined with his theory of Saturday incursions, was ordered to take shape to a nervous and reluctant general staff...I am not sure to what degree Hitler saw the risk of failure being, but I am sure some of his staff saw the potential failure as a chance to rid themselves of a former corporal as a commander, and return to a comfortable normalcy...Nevertheless, being professional soldiers, they still put forth their best effort in planning Operation Winter Exercise...
As part of the plan, they also included provisions for a hasty "about face" on the off-hand chance the gutless French decided to mount a defense...The lightly armed German foot soldiers would likely have been forced into a retreat if faced with anything stronger than a troop of French Girl Scouts...At this point of Hitler's rearmament, the French military was a vastly superior force in terms of numbers, armament and mobility, but sadly lacking a willful and competent leadership to guide it...
Shirer said that from later studies of Nazi records, Hitler spent the weekend biting his nails to the quick over worry that his plan would fail...He understood perfectly that if his meager battalions had been forced into withdrawal, the humiliation he would face would be overwhelming, and he would have looked forward to resigning in disgrace as the world laughed in his face...Those first goose-steps over the bridges of the Rhine on Saturday, March 7, 1936, were met with open-mouthed wonder by the hausfraus doing their morning marketing...
The three lightly armed battalions were prepared under orders to turn tail and retreat at the first sign of a French soldier wearing a frown on his face...But no such French reaction was forthcoming, as not a shot was fired and the German troops took their places up and down the Rhineland without incident...Hitler's exhalation in relief must have been audible as he realized his bet had paid off...
Although the success did not necessarily guarantee future successes, it promised that Hitler's image in his own mind as a military genius would guarantee his overshadowing any future objections from his general staff...
If I had the same interest in history then as I did in comparing all 1,300 brands of German beer when I was stationed in the Rhineland during the 1960's, I might have paid closer attention to the area around Trier where the re-occupation took place...When I was there it was a bustling city of both old and new architecture nestled in a beautiful forested valley...
Three decades earlier it was a scene of apprehension and nervous hand-wringing...A decade after that, it became a battle area as Patton's Third Army retook the territory for the Allies...I won't speculate on how history will see it during its next occupation...
Germany's next muscle flexing occurred in July, 1936, as Hitler saw an opportunity to test his newly rearmed regime in the Spanish insurrection...He and Goring considered it a good battlefield test in which the benefits were tangible...Victory would put another Fascist nation at France's southern border, one which would then have a debt of honor to be called in at a later time...
The wily Franco was later more slippery to pin down when Hitler called the marker due, but still afforded the Nazis some relief in the form of sanctuary, and a buffer state...At the cost of only $215,000,000, and 300 German lives, the Third Reich leadership considered it a bargain...
Der Fuehrer next turned his aim on his home country of Austria, as his plans for the Anschluss began...At this same point, Shirer and his Austrian wife faced their own problems with the impending birth of their first child...The very difficult birth was compounded when her Jewish obstetrician was forced into hiding after the Caesarian delivery, unknowingly leaving some instruments unaccounted for in his hasty retreat...
Eventually she regained enough of her health to make a harrowing escape from Austria along with Shirer and the baby girl under pressure from Nazi officials who did not want her to leave without first obtaining a Nazi passport...This was a ruse to look for undeclared cash leaving the country...After satisfying themselves that she had no contraband even under her bloody bandages, they caught the last flight out to Switzerland...
Other hapless detainees were not as lucky as many thousands faced internment in the concentration camps as the Nazi hordes took possession of what Hitler now called "Greater Germany"...Austria's Chancellor Kurt Schuschnigg held the line as long as possible even as he was ordered to renounce his position and allow the Nazi takeover under a personal browbeating from Adolf Hitler on yet another Saturday...
The brave Schuschnigg reacted by ordering a plebiscite to take place in which the Austrian people would decide whether to remain independent, or live under the thumb of a Nazi regime...A furious Hitler then gathered his troops to march across the border, at which point Schuschnigg cancelled the plebiscite and resigned...Schuschnigg's ultimate fate, and that of many other high-value prisoners, was covered in Stephen Harding's excellent book, "The Last Battle," which I reviewed here...
The German divisions (by now known as the Wehrmacht) paraded into Austria on Saturday, March 12, 1938, as British and French politicians wrung their hands in indecision while reading of it over their morning tea in the Monday newspapers...But the insane German dictator didn't leave much time for tear-shedding as he quickly turned his sights to the east, and Czechoslovakia...After seeing his family safely ensconced in Switzerland, Shirer proceeded to Prague to resume his duties for CBS...
Oddly enough, his boss William S. Paley, even after witnessing the wildly successful scoop which Shirer and Murrow pulled off in bringing on-the-spot coverage of the Nazi takeover of Austria, would not allow anything but regular scheduled news broadcasts from Europe, or even time-shifting by recording incidents for replay later...He insisted that all coverage be at pre-arranged times, or not at all...
During this time Shirer's wife and baby daughter traveled to America via Paris and England...There her efforts at naturalization were stonewalled (in those times, spouses of Americans were not automatically granted citizenship), and she faced a return to Nazi Austria without a Nazi passport, which was tantamount to being forced into a concentration camp...Fortunately her court appeals paid off, and she was sworn in as a citizen...
Czechoslovakia was especially disheartening for Shirer as he watched the gutless French follow the lead (it's hard to write that word with a straight face) of Britain's pasty-faced PM, Neville Chamberlain, as he signed away the fate of the only remaining East European democracy, then waved it about as a personal victory...The last chance for freedom in Europe was flushed away as Hitler and his band of brigands rushed in to seize their prize...Calling it a "bloodless victory" was ironic as millions of Slavs, Jews and gypsies lined up for their slaughter...
Drunk on power, and swimming in the blood of his victims, Hitler's greed lost all boundaries as he imprisoned or executed his enemies, while promising never to do it again...He even managed to hoodwink the normally suspicious and distrusting Joseph Stalin into signing the Soviet-German Nonaggression Pact, in the belief that the western allies would stop short of war against their combined forces...
But his winning streak came to a close as he dealt the hand certain to touch off global warfare...In his next section, Shirer tells of standing by helplessly as the fuse ignites on the conflict, and we will resume this review at that point...
Presented merely as free advice, and worth every penny you paid for it, Truckman offers the following, inspired by a discussion of finances elsewhere...
Be careful to whom you're married as you approach retirement age...There are those spouses with their own retirement plans which might include a considerable unearned amount of what was believed to have been earmarked for sharing in the golden years...Such spouses might be inclined to take their halves out of the juicy middle, leaving only a few dried out scraps of crust for which the remaining "partner for life" is expected to be grateful...
For some, the only saving grace lies in the fact that greed sometimes oversteps reach, and backfires as a plan collapses upon its unsupported and poorly engineered structure, but at a cost which severely impacts the future happiness of both participants...In such a case in which I have personal insight, the devious and acquisitive half, having ambushed the unsuspecting and clueless half with a cruel, unexpected blow from behind, thought she might become independently wealthy in one stroke at the expense of the hapless victim lying dazed on the floor of a divorce courtroom...
To the regret of the one with no scruples, the bloodied victim rose from his intended tomb of despair to recover his senses long enough to engage competent counsel, thereby thwarting the evil plans of the other...In the end the entire episode proved most costly to both participants, becoming an object lesson for both...One regained a forgotten skill in careful allocation of remaining funds, and lives a comfortable life, though not at the level originally planned for...The evil half chose to blame others for what she saw as undeserved continuation of working for a paycheck while being forced to pay a continually growing amount of new debt for which she blamed everyone except the one who incurred it...
I offer no moral for this story other than taking care when choosing with whom to lie down at night...Some bedpartners apparently lie awake at night concocting schemes for gaining unearned, and unshared wealth...Such schemes formed in the darkness sometimes have hidden pitfalls which become visible as the fog lifts, and the light of day illuminates it for all to see...
I might add in a way more practically suited to the purpose of this article, each person is allowed an individual retirement savings account which has some tax advantages for both partners in a marriage when the accounts are kept separate...Ah, the lessons we learn late in life...
William Shirer's account of the decade between 1930 and 1940 continues with his introduction to the men who would become the sub-leaders of the outlaw Third Reich under Adolf Hitler...I have spoken before of Shirer's unbridled and barely contained disgust with Hitler and his gang of miscreants, and here he does not disappoint, venting his feelings in his descriptions with gusto...The Nazi Party had already branded him as unfriendly, and he was under watch for any contact with those who were "enemies of the state"...
Like all successful journalists, he maintained a network of informants to garner information, tips and secrets which he passed on when he could...He guarded their identities not only from the Nazis, but from each other, never fully knowing all that were covertly working for the Third Reich...There were some hangers-on whom everyone knew were counter-spies, but he treated them as if he didn't know, sometimes gathering a snatch of truth from them in an unguarded moment...It was a balancing act that kept him in the know, but could turn deadly at any time...
Some of his sources did not even realize they were sources, being members of the working staffs in the party as well as in the government itself...Shirer knew how to get these people to give up bits of information in exchange for simply letting others retain a sense of self-importance...Some of those higher in the Nazi food chain were notorious for telling too much, if a person could tolerate their obnoxious personalities long enough...
A major example of this was Alfred Rosenberg, chief of the party Foreign Affairs Office, whom Shirer, in his inimitable descriptive style, characterized as a "crackbrained, doughy-faced dolt"...Hitler himself regarded Rosenberg as uninspired and weak, which by Der Fuehrer's own admission was the reason he appointed Rosenberg as chairman of the Nazi Party during his enforced absence in Landsberg Prison...
Rosenberg was the author of "The Myth of the Twentieth Century," a book so jumbled that even the addled mind of Adolf Hitler was unable to sort through it, dismissing it as "impossible to get through"...Hitlerjugend Fuehrer, Baldur von Schirach, was said to have remarked, "Rosenberg was a man who sold more copies of a book no one had ever read than any other author in German history"...Its million-seller status can only be explained by the same selling point as Mein Kampf; if it wasn't on your home bookshelf in Nazi controlled Germany, you were under suspicion as subversive...
After Hitler's assumption of power in 1933, Rosenberg, who was inexplicably dubbed the party "philosopher" by Hitler, hosted a regular gathering for journalists which he called a Bierabend, where invited guests from the press could talk to and get to know Nazi party officials and Third Reich bosses...Each event featured at least one member of Hitler's inner circle plus a few deputy toadlings (Shirer said these became excellent sources as they loved to pad their own resumes by boasting) who would rotate between tables of reporters every few minutes to talk and answer questions...
Rosenberg's career in Nazi Germany may have come about solely because his ambitions were rejected in the Soviet Union...Born in Estonia, which since 1721 had been part of the Czarist Russian empire until the Bolshevik Revolution, his architecture degree under Soviet tutelage opened no career doors for him...
Proving my theory that the only good Nazis are the dead ones, Rosenberg was rehabilitated for his crimes at the end of a rope following his conviction at the Nuremberg Trials...He has since then meekly blended in with his surroundings...
Hermann Goring was a featured guest at some of the Bierabends if, for no other reason, than he was unlikely to ever miss an evening of beer and sausage on someone else's expense account...Shirer described him as a ruthless, self-obsessed man who, when the occasion called for it and was to his advantage, could be charming and affable, but was also a brutal "blood swiller"...Always confident in his Number Two status with the Third Reich, he enjoyed firing off a few zingers of his own, such as:
"When I criticized Ribbentrop's qualifications to handle British problems, the Fuehrer pointed out to me that Ribbentrop knew 'Lord So and So' and 'Minister So and So'...
To which I replied, 'Yes, but the difficulty is that they know Ribbentrop'..."
Unfortunately Goring's ego matched his own bulk, allowing him to believe he was indispensable to the regime...He learned his true worth shortly before the Nazi collapse when Hitler slapped a death sentence on him for suggesting he take over the reins of government since the Red Army had Berlin surrounded...He ended his own days in a typically cowardly fashion by swallowing cyanide hours before his scheduled noose fitting in Nuremberg...
Shirer had plenty of descriptive adjectives for Ribbentrop as well, referring to the Foreign Minister as "ridiculous," "insufferable," and an "ignorant nincompoop"...These were his more endearing qualities as Shirer related several anecdotes of his embarrassing and numerous diplomatic faux pas...
The lesser reprobates listed among the Nazi roster of villains did not escape Shirer's acerbic depictions of their characters...Julius Streicher was described as a "sadistic, pornographic Jew-baiter" and an "unspeakably vulgar psychopathic pervert"...Joseph Goebbels came close to being complimented by Shirer as "arrogant, but not unintelligent," yet at least equally "repugnant" as the other slime gathered at the feet of Herr Hitler...
Hitler's choice for Minister of Education was a man imminently unqualified for teaching, but certainly fitting to the subject matter the Nazis valued most highly on the curriculum...The Weimar Republic had fired Dr. Bernhard Rust as a schoolmaster for "an instability of the mind," yet his belief in the Nazi's crackpot racial theories drove even the great German universities to either bend to the new programs of studies, or have it forced onto them, such as the renowned University of Berlin which became in effect a veterinary academy...
The aforementioned Baldur von Schirach was characterized as shallow, empty-minded and silly...Heinrich Himmler at first struck him as "insignificant, mediocre," but later showed himself to be "sinister" and "murderous"...Fritz Sauckel was a "piggish, brutal, stupid little man" who served Hitler well as provider of labor, slave labor to be exact...His final service to the German people was as a rope decoration at Nuremberg...
Rudolf Hess was listed as the most loyal and least ambitious of Hitler's sucklings, described by Shirer as "muddled" and "emotionally juvenile"...Robert Ley was thought of as a "stammering drunk" by industrialist Fritz Thyssen...Even his secretary complained that he was "always drunk"...Remembered for his "Strength Through Joy" program (the naming of which always struck this reviewer as smacking of Marxist origins), he didn't even bother waiting for his trial to begin at Nuremberg before taking the wimp's way out by suicide in his cell...
Wilhelm Frick was thought of by Shirer as "competent, but colorless" with no knowledge at all of the world beyond Nazi Germany...Upon receiving his death penalty at Nuremberg, he stated he had only done his duty, then dutifully took his step through the gallows trapdoor...
The despicable Martin Bormann was said to be a "molelike man" who slipped beneath Shirer's radar in his "Berlin Diary," yet emerged later as the invisible hand behind the power who controlled all access to the Fuehrer, preventing Hitler from being told of disturbing, yet conflicting complaints by his deputies charged with maintaining his administration...The jury is still out on exactly where, when and how his death occurred...
Occasionally Hitler slipped up, and hired someone actually competent at his job, such as Freiherr von Fritsch, who was responsible for rebuilding the German Army in defiance of the Treaty of Versailles...Having faithfully done his duty, he soon ran afoul of Himmler and Goring, who manufactured evidence of homosexuality against Fritsch...The charges were disproven by the indignant Field Marshal, but his reputation and career were destroyed...His mysterious death later served as inspiration for Wehrmacht officers who conspired to remove their Fuehrer from power...
One of the sadder figures encountered by Shirer was American Ambassador William E. Dodd, a man uncommonly qualified for a duty he reluctantly accepted from President Roosevelt, he not only spoke fluent German, but understood the culture and was an admirer of the Old Germany...An avid historian, he found kinship with Shirer...His later life, after his resignation from foreign service, was marred with the knowledge of his promiscuous daughter's involvement in a communist spy ring...
It was not out of character for Hitler to appoint men to high positions who, like him, had a history of criminal behavior, sexual perversion or a complete lack of skills suitable for their jobs, as he was elected by popular vote from a German populace willing to settle for considerably less than the best...He could have chosen competent, dedicated and highly qualified men, such as Roosevelt did with Dodd, but instead gathered a band of furtive, self-serving sycophants content to destroy their own nation in their quest for personal aggrandizement...
Instead of choosing a staff which could shore up areas where he was weak, making him look better as a leader, Hitler chose mediocre men possibly fearing that someone more capable would try to replace, rather than reinforce him...His suspicious and devious nature worked against him in this case...From my studies, he also habitually kept his cohorts apart in their duties, even overlapping them thinking the resulting jealousy would prevent them organizing a coalition against him...
Shirer wrote his many articles and books with the same aim as most historians, wanting his recollections to serve as a guide, as well as a warning, for the coming generations charged with selecting their own leadership...As to whether his efforts have prevailed, look around you...
Part III will review Shirer's aptly named section, "The Road to Armageddon"...
William L. Shirer's contribution to journalism and literature have been well covered both here, and in other sources since his debut in foreign news coverage in the 1920's...His nearly 70 year career made him an indispensable authority on the most momentous event of the twentieth century, World War II and the events which led to it as well as its aftermath...
I have reviewed his most well known work here, and I find I constantly refer to it as I research the various aspects of that period in time...Another of his books is "The Nightmare Years," a coverage of the buildup which became the horror of the Third Reich as it inexorably led to a cataclysmic war engulfing the entire world...
When reading accounts of history as told by a masterful writer such as Shirer, it becomes easy to forget that he was not just a man pecking away at a typewriter in his comfortable library, composing a story to be read at the leisure of others...He was also a man who searched out and found his own sources of information, developed his own contacts, heard the same story from differing viewpoints, then decided where the truth lay, and how to make it believable to others...
"The Nightmare Years" becomes a more personal story as Shirer explains it was also a personal narrative of a young reporter finding his own way not only through foreign lands, but into a budding career in which he must outwit other journalists as well as obstructive bureaucrats to find and bring to print newsworthy items before other members of his trade become aware of the awaiting story...As an example, he related how in India, when stalled in expectation of new developments in a jailed Mahatma Ghandi's struggle, he took the opportunity to pry into an unfolding story in neighboring Afghanistan as a new head was emerging as king for the fourth time in a year...
Shirer's attempts to cross the border from India at the Kyber Pass were thwarted by an uncooperative British government unhappy with Shirer's slant on their methods of reaction to Ghandi's unconventional warfare...Alert for any openings, he struck a friendship with the 16 year old son of the man who would become king...The prince knew little English and had little communication with those around him, but was fluent in French as was Shirer...Their resulting conversations got Shirer invited to join the official coronation party, gaining him entrance to Afghanistan where he reported his exclusive story on the momentous shift in power...
Ever watchful for adventure or a good story, he made his way back to his base of news operations in Vienna, through the Mideast where, mostly by instinct, he found the unreported story of what should have been front-page news, evidence of the location of the Great Flood as told in the Old Testament...Although the authenticity of the findings remain in doubt, others continue to search for new confirmation of the biblical inundation...
At first turned away by the chief archaeologist who had pre-sold the story rights to the Times of London, he soon gained entrance with his honesty and naiveté, and made a deal for the story which would not infringe on the Times...As it happened, his boss at the Chicago Tribune was not impressed, burying the story in the travel section...
Shirer found in later years that he also missed a connection to a budding novelist who had recently married the young assistant to the archaeologist, and would later use the desert setting for one of her novels...He also found romance himself on his return to Vienna, and married his own young bride, a beautiful Viennese, but his joy was soon marred by a telegram from the Tribune, firing him...
In 1932 it was tough finding another job as a reporter during the depression, even in Europe, so he and his new bride decided to go to Spain on a tramp steamer where they could live cheaply until he could find work...They found a three-story double villa in a fishing village, and paid $180,00 up front for a years rent on half of it...
As it turned out the other half was occupied by Andrés Segovia whom he had met casually after a concert in Vienna...He said Segovia was one of the most gracious people he ever met, and when he found out Shirer was writing a book, he moved his morning practice ritual which he did from 7 to noon to the farthest corner of the house so as not to disturb his writing...Shirer could not convince him that his gesture was unnecessary...
He said Segovia visited them 3 or 4 evenings a week where they listened to Shirer's collection of Asian melodies played on the Indian equivalent of the guitar...Segovia learned the notes and played along with the recordings, adding the songs to his own repertoire...Segovia also had a deep interest in literature, especially Cervantes, and gave him a leather-bound edition of Don Quixote as a farewell gift...Sometimes the guitar-playing next door neighbor turns out to be OK...
By this time Hitler and his Nazi toadlings had assumed power in a complacent Germany, and Shirer soon accepted a post with the Paris Herald where he quickly grew bored with the copydesk, and dizzy from the ever-spinning roulette wheel of French government as one corrupt and inept politician after another was shuffled through the revolving door of parliament...But his eye was constantly on Germany as he observed Der Fuehrer's expanding power grab...When offered a position with Universal Service in Berlin shortly after the Nazis' murderous Night of the Long Knives, he jumped at the chance, beginning what became arguably the most comprehensive war coverage of the 20th century...
Shirer came to an early conclusion upon seeing and hearing Hitler that his power only worked when he and his audience had something to mutually hate, for obvious example Jews and communists...I thought the same as I reviewed "Mein Kampf"...Love, whether of nation, family or self, did not hold the same dynamics as hate for the power hungry Hitler...
He found much more camaraderie in post-WWI Germany in the numbers of disillusioned haters than he could ever have gathered among those looking to learn from mistakes, rebuild and move on to peaceful prosperity...I believe fear was also a strong motivator for him also, not fear of Jews and communists, but fear of not being thought of as hating them enough...
Shirer also soon discovered Hitler's outlandish and atrocious taste in art and architecture, and that, although he was raised as a Catholic, the only worship he could accept was that directed toward him...His ignorance of culture was evident as he removed from public view all works from artists identified as Jewish, and even non-Jewish non-Germans, depriving the German public of enjoyment from paintings by Cezanne, Van Gogh and Picasso...
Hitler's taste in art and architecture was bad, but instead of improving his own, he set out to bring the German standard down to match his...He showcased his own talent for art appreciation by commissioning his then favorite architect, Ludwig Troost, to design a particularly soulless building to house the Haus der Kunst in which Der Fuehrer displayed a personally selected collection of what has been almost universally described as some of the most vulgar and embarrassing "art pieces" ever gathered...
At the grand opening Hitler acted as tour guide pointing out to the horrified ladies in his entourage what he described as classical Grecian sculpture, which consisted mostly of statues of nude men with their genitalia exposed...It is thought by many that the disturbing array subconsciously appealed to Hitler's homoerotic personality side...
In the meantime, the confiscated works of genuine art did not gather dust, as Reichsmarshal Hermann Goring lustfully gathered as many paintings, tapestries, rugs, vases and sculptures as possible into his greedy hands for his personal collection...At first paying pennies on the dollar for their value using funds he had already purloined for himself, he later decided not to pay at all, thinking there was nobody left alive to protest...Shirer said he was offered several times a chance to purchase some of the pieces if he paid in dollars (Goring cited "foreign exchange rates" as a reason for the dollar demand), but declined the offer knowing the original source...
Hitler himself also acquired many of the banned artworks intending them for his memorial museum to be built in his hometown of Linz, allowing the purchases to be made in his name using redirected funds from the Reich treasury...Liberating forces from George Patton's Third Army found 6,755 paintings earmarked for this purpose preserved in a salt mine in Alt-Ausee...Hitler's greed was modest by comparison to Goring, who commandeered entire freight trains just to haul the stolen loot he had transported to his home in Carinhall...
Before the robber band divvied up their plunderage, Minister of Propaganda Joseph Goebbels decided it would be educational for the German public to view examples of the offending art forms to give them an idea of the difference between "degenerate art," and what they would now enjoy in the Nazi-controlled museums...650 pieces of priceless artworks were viewed for the last time in the poorly lit and narrow rooms of a building in the Hofgarten of Munich...Shirer's figures show over two million visitors attended this showing in the four months before its closing, while attendance at the Great German Art Exhibition held concurrently amounted to an embarrassingly few thousand...
Music associated with Jewish composers and conductors the likes of Felix Mendelssohn and Otto Klemperer, and even Cole Porter and Irving Berlin were considered degenerate art and not fit for the German public...The choice of what was and was not "degenerate" in the visual arts was left to the president of the Reich Chamber of Art, Adolf Ziegler, a painter whose only claim to fame was that he once painted a portrait of Hitler's niece/girlfriend, Geli Raubal, whom Hitler almost certainly killed personally or authorized her murder...His list of taboos included not only Jewish selections, but modernist and impressionist paintings which Hitler despised...
In the field of music, Hitler's only consistent choice was the powerful operatic talent of composer and fellow anti-Semite, Wilhelm Richard Wagner...In his youth in Vienna, Hitler is said to have sat enthralled to many performances of Wagner's operas, never speaking a word until the curtain closed...He then spent the rest of these nights robbing his roommate of sleep with his boring recitations of the importance of Wagner's work as it applied to the Germanic principles of life...
It's my guess he always imagined himself as the heroic Teuton who saved the German people as he watched from the cheap seats when he could afford it, or in the SRO section when he couldn't...In 1923, the soon-to-be-convicted Hitler met Wagner's son-in-law, who became his mentor, later having his book placed on the Nazis' must-read-or-else list...
Less talked about has been his criticism, condemnation and abolition of all forms of religion, including Judaism as well as Christianity, in the Reich, followed with its supplanting by the Reichskirche, in which the Holy Bible and Talmud were replaced with the teachings from Mein Kampf, and the Crucifix and Magen David saw their place taken by the swastika...At this time Hitler was less a believer in the 1st Commandment than he was in his Catholic upbringing, and felt that any aspect of religion which could not be bent, reshaped or interpreted as compatible with National Socialism had no place in a modern Germany...
As the elected head of the German Evangelical Church, Reich Bishop Ludwig Muller posted his 30 points by which religion would be practiced...The 30 point proclamation is also attributed to Alfred Rosenberg, although original thought of any kind was doubtful from his clouded mind...The priests, pastors and religious leaders who disagreed risked assignment to concentration camps or death...Shirer recalled in his book a pastor who, knowing the risk, kept him informed of the demands being placed on Christians who opposed Nazism...The pastor was sentenced to death by the Nazi People's Court, but was later commuted to life imprisonment...
Hitler's only serious opposition to nazified religious life in the Third Reich was the Confessional Church, led by Martin Niemoller, a highly decorated former U-Boat commander during WWI...He was a German nationalist who at first welcomed the Nazi regime, but quickly saw its abuses as contrary to God's laws, and as an alternative to the Reichskirche, formed the Confessional Church, inviting all protestant faiths to join him in a solidified front in their worship of God...Out of curiosity for this lone voice against totalitarianism, Shirer attended many of his sermons, none of which were allowed publicity in Germany...
Hitler, who up to this point had considered Protestants to be submissive and docile, found the increasingly vocal and militant Niemoller to be an embarrassment to his regime, but found it difficult to act against a religious leader who was also a respected war hero...As hundreds of the church's pastors were arrested and consigned to concentration camps and eventual death, Niemoller stepped up his attacks from the pulpit, eventually being arrested and tried before the Sondergericht...
He was acquitted of the charges of "underhand attacks against the state" since his sermons had all been public and available for hearing by anyone, but he was fined and sentenced to seven months for "abuse of the pulpit"...He was freed as having already served more than that time awaiting trial, and immediately seized by the Gestapo who incarcerated him in "protective custody" in Dachau until his release by the Allies seven years later...
Niemoller is most famous for this poetic passage from one of his sermons:
"First they came for the Socialists, and I did not speak out—Because I was not a Socialist.
Then they came for the Trade Unionists, and I did not speak out—Because I was not a Trade Unionist.
Then they came for the Jews, and I did not speak out—Because I was not a Jew.
Then they came for me—and there was no one left to speak for me."
From this point, Shirer moved to a discussion of the Nazi leadership which I will review in another installment...
Human events are determined by the existence of at least three requirements: chance, opportunity and will...Emotion may also be said to be a determining factor...World history often hangs in the balance as chance and opportunity meet and wait for will and emotion to decide the outcome...In such cases the future is often decided to the regret of some, and the gratitude of others...
Chance brought childhood friends William, Arthur and Walter together with an opportunity common to many as they combined their talents in a project to create a machine which could reduce the time spent traveling from one point to another...Their joy raised their spirits as the engine which they mounted to a bicycle propelled them along the road, but disappointment overtook them as they discovered that their creation did not have the power to climb a modest hill without resorting to the pedals...
They might have given up the idea, resuming normal lives and taking jobs and raising families...Instead Harley and the Davidson brothers learned from their mistakes, and with the help of a young engine builder, Ole Evinrude, built ever bigger and more powerful machines...Chance brought the men together with the opportunity to do something together they enjoyed, and the emotions they shared of joy and disappointment forged the will needed to form a company which has provided not only the products for a demanding world but a means to provide a living for countless families for over a century...
Even in less heralded events, chance and opportunity can combine their efforts with emotion and will, sometimes twice...Chance brought a nurse to her son's Little League game where a youngster serving as a batboy was hit in the chest stopping his heart...Emotions ran wild as fear gripped those who thought the boy would die...But the nurse, remembering her training, calmly used CPR techniques to return life to the boy...
Years later as the nurse was dining in a restaurant she became choked on a piece of food lodged in her windpipe...Chance dictated that the same young man was working there, and had received training in the Heimlich Maneuver as a firefighter...Pushing fear and distress aside, he used his opportunity to employ his training, saving the nurse from death and repaying the gift of life which she had once provided for him...Both had the will to do their jobs surrounded by panic, stress and confusion...
In the ongoing storm patterns of history, chance and opportunity pause everyday waiting for will and emotion to decide which direction future events will take...Opposing enemies meet on battlefields never knowing in what their actions will result...They only know they are sent there to kill the other, reducing the will of the enemy to continue...At times there are moments when emotion decides personal as well as world-encompassing fortunes...
Two soldiers from opposing camps were sent on their separate duties, each with a job to perform, neither understanding completely why their nations were at war, but both with the conviction to complete their objectives as ordered, and return home alive after the war...Both have been in continuous battles for years, each weary of the daily sight of fighting and death...Both see each other across a battlefield, each understanding the other's duty to reduce the enemy numbers at every opportunity...
They've both been trained to view those in enemy uniforms as nothing more than a unit to be removed bringing the war to a close a few seconds earlier...Both understand that thinking of the enemy as human makes it that much more difficult to bring death to him...They are trained to leave emotion out of the equation, and simply reduce the enemy numbers...
But looking across the few yards of smoking battlefield into each other's eyes, they see themselves, battle-weary, bone tired, cold, hungry and wishing only for rest...One of the soldiers is first to remember that this is an enemy soldier he faces, and raises his rifle in aim at the other...His target stands stoop-shouldered, wounded, leaning on his rifle, waiting for certain death and the peace it will bring...
At some point the soldier with the power of death at his fingertip realizes he's looking at himself in a different uniform, and, deciding he does not have the will to destroy another enemy in this moment, he begins to lower his rifle...The emotion of gratitude in his enemy meets the look of compassion in the soldier who has lowered his rifle as they nod toward each other in acknowledgement and then move off in separate directions to resume the war...
Both survived the war, one in hard fought victory, the other in ignominious defeat...The victor finished the war as his nation's most highly decorated veteran, awarded the highest honors in recognition of his achievements...In later years, during another war the former Private served as an air raid warden, rescuing civilians from their bombed homes...He performed this duty knowing he once had the opportunity to possibly prevent the carnage all around him simply by pulling a trigger on the man who would become the most hated mass-murderer in history...
The soldier whose life was spared during a moment of compassion by his enemy, recalled the event as he recognized the enemy soldier in a photograph of a painting which brought the memory back to vivid life for him...He acknowledged the story to then British Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain during discussions which would lead to the Munich Agreement in a prelude to WWII...Possibly as part of his attempts to appease the power-hungry leader of pre-war Germany, Chamberlain acquiesced to Hitler's request to attempt to convey his greetings to the private on his return to England...
Documentation is sketchy as to how the message was transferred to the former Private Tandey, but during war years he was aware of the coincidence of his battlefield opportunity, and verbally regretted not having the will that day to add Hitler's death to the many other anonymous enemy lives he took during the course of battle...The story is significant in the study of Hitler and his actions which led to the massacre of millions in that he always emphasized, whether in his book, his speeches or in private conversations, that his iron will was what set him apart from others with similar opportunities...
Both men had the opportunity to change history, and one accomplished the goal through his fanatical will to destroy people who existed as enemies only in his tortured mind...Today he is remembered as the murderer of millions who went to his own death only regretting not having killed more...
The other slowly fades from the footnotes of history taking to his death the knowledge that having less compassion and more will for a single moment on a battlefield might have prevented a world conflagration...The chances for such a chain of events were incalculable...
