Tag: Adolf Hitler

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The Dalai Lama and the Nazis

“So, we finish the eighteenth and he’s gonna stiff me. And I say, ‘Hey, Dalai Lama, hey how about a little something, you know, for the effort, you know.’ And he says, ‘Oh, uh, there won’t be any money, but when you die, on your deathbed, you will receive total consciousness.’ So, I got that goin’ for me, which is nice.

                                                            ⏤Carl Spackler

                                                         Caddyshack

Bill Murray as Carl Spackler in the movie, “Caddyshack.” Film still from “Caddyshack.” Douglas Kenney, producer⏤Orion Pictures, 1980.
Bill Murray as Carl Spackler in the movie, “Caddyshack.” Film still from “Caddyshack.” Douglas Kenney, producer⏤Orion Pictures, 1980.

Click here to watch Bill Murray.

Did You Know?

Did you know that several home builders recently found 239 gold coins while renovating a 13th-century manor located in Brittany, France? They found a metal box hidden inside the wall of a barn. The box contained gold coins and several days later, above a ceiling beam, a purse was found with more coins.

The coins were minted during the reigns of King Louis XIII and his son, Louis XIV. The oldest coin dates to 1638 while the most recent is 1692. The occupants of the manor would likely have been successful merchants or farmers. (The earliest known occupants can only be traced to the 18th-century.) The collection includes some very rare coins including the Golden Louis with Templar Cross, Golden Louis with a long curl, and Louis XIV by the Atelier de Dijon. (About one hundred years later, it would have been Louis XVI without a head⏤ha ha, I couldn’t pass up that one.)

The estimated value of the collection has yet to be established but it is thought to be around US$356,000. The owner of the manor and the contractors will split the proceeds from a future auction.

Schutzstaffel (SS) Race and Settlement Main Office

The SS Race and Settlement Main Office (RuSHA) was the Nazi organization responsible for “safeguarding the racial purity of the SS.” One of its duties was to oversee the marriages of SS personnel (i.e., ensuring the SS man’s fiancée and her parents could trace their Aryan lineage back to 1800) as well as screening all SS applicants for racial purity. It also controlled the settlement of discharged SS men into the occupied eastern European countries. The RuSHA established and operated the Lebensborn network of maternity homes. Another task was to conduct “racial-biological” investigations. Read More The Dalai Lama and the Nazis

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Professor Dr. Six

Have you ever wondered what the world would be like today had Hitler and the Nazis won the war? That scenario would likely include the fact that the Germans successfully invaded Britain. Today, we will examine the German plans for “Operation Sea Lion,” the planned invasion of England and what the consequences for British citizens might have been had the Germans occupied the country.

Did You Know?

Did you know that Stalin and Hitler signed a non-aggression treaty on 23 August 1939? Otherwise known as the Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact, the treaty allowed both dictators to partition Poland into satellite territories for Germany and the Soviet Union. Of course, you knew this. However, did you know that Stalin signed a neutrality pact with Japan on 13 April 1941? Of course, most of us don’t know about this. Yōsuke Matsuoka (1880−1946), Japan’s foreign minister, negotiated and signed on behalf of Hirohito and the government.

The Soviet-Japanese Neutrality Pact had similar consequences. The German treaty allowed Hitler to turn his attention to the west without worrying about a second front (and it secured Stalin’s western boundary). The Japanese pact eliminated a second front for Hirohito’s generals (and it secured Stalin’s eastern borders). By this time, Japan was preparing to attack Pearl Harbor and Hitler was planning Operation Barbarossa, the invasion of the Soviet Union. The Japanese did not know if Hitler was going to invade England or the Soviet Union. By then, Hitler had given up on invading the British Isles and it is thought that had the Führer informed Japan about his intent to invade Russia (22 June 1941), the Japanese may have launched an attack on Siberia (likely sparing Pearl Harbor). After Matsuoka failed in his attempt to convince the Japanese cabinet to tear up the treaty and attack the Soviet Union, he resigned in disgrace.

Matsuoka signs the Soviet-Japanese Neutrality Pact. Photo by anonymous (13 April 1941). PD-Russia. Wikimedia Commons.
Matsuoka signs the Soviet-Japanese Neutrality Pact. Photo by anonymous (13 April 1941). PD-Russia. Wikimedia Commons.

Despite Roosevelt’s attempts to “bribe” Stalin into committing to fight the Japanese alongside the Allies, the Soviet Union remained “neutral” with respect to the war against Japan. That is, until America dropped the bomb on Hiroshima. Stalin tore up the Soviet/Japanese neutrality pact and invaded Manchuria and Korea. Stalin joined the fight against the Japanese in the waning days of the war and reaped the expected rewards.

The Soviet-Japanese Neutrality Pact showing the signatures of the Japanese delegation. Photo by World Imaging (c. 2009). Japan Foreign Ministry Archives. PD-CCA-Share Alike 3.0 Unported. Wikimedia Commons.
The Soviet-Japanese Neutrality Pact showing the signatures of the Japanese delegation. Photo by World Imaging (c. 2009). Japan Foreign Ministry Archives. PD-CCA-Share Alike 3.0 Unported. Wikimedia Commons.

As we’ve seen throughout history, a treaty with a dictator or totalitarian regime is only as good as long as the regime needs it to be.

War-time Nazi Documents

Most of us are aware that the Germans were fastidious in their attention to detail and documentation. Toward the end of the war as they began retreating from the occupied countries, many documents were destroyed to prevent them from ending up in the hands of the Allied army. At the same time, Himmler gave orders to destroy all evidence of Nazi crimes in the concentration and extermination camps. Similar scenarios occurred in Berlin as the Soviet army began its final assault. Read More Professor Dr. Six