Berlin Wit

Discussion in 'Germany' started by jacobtowne, Nov 12, 2006.

  1. jacobtowne

    jacobtowne Senior Member

    Browsing a copy of Marie Vassiltchikov's Berlin Diaries that I recently borrowed from the library, I came across the following entry written a few days after the Hess fiasco.

    Friday, 18 May [1941] The Berliners, who are noted for their wit, have already concocted a few jokes about Hess's escape. Examples:

    Augsburg [the town he took off from]: Town of the German Ascent (Amer. Ascension)

    B.B.C.: On Sunday night no further German cabinet ministers flew in.

    O.K.W. Report: Goering and Goebbels are still firmly in German hands.

    The Thousand Year Reich has now become a Hundred Year Reich. One zero is gone.

    Churchill asks Hess: "So you are the madman?" Hess answers, "No, only his deputy."



    Interestingly, the author mentions Peter and Christabel Bielenberg, both of whom she knew. Christabel, an English woman married to a German officer, lived in Germany throughout the war. I have a copy of the account she wrote of that experience, Ride Out the Dark.

    Here's a quote from Bielenberg's book: "We were none of us too even tempered at breakfast time, owing to the National Socialist coffee bean."


    JT
     

Share This Page