Assassination Attempt on Hitler (20 July 1944)

Six weeks after D-Day, a group of German officers attempted to kill Adolf Hitler.  The attempt almost succeeded. In the United States as in Germany (and the rest of the world), people were at first not sure what it meant.  Was Germany collapsing? Would the war end with an internal German revolt?  The paper’s prediction that German faced “civil war” was , unfortunately, optimistic.

The Pittsburgh Press carried the story on its front page on 21 July 1944..  I include the first part of the story here.  To read the full story, follow the link on Google News.

Hitler’s 1923 Beer Hall Putsch

Hitler tried to take over Germany in November 1923, the so-called “Beer Hall Putsch” that became a German national holiday once Hitler succeeded in taking power in 1933.  This article from the 9 November 1923 issue of the Milwaukee Sentinel takes the confused Associated Press reports and suggests Hitler was on the way to power.  In fact, the Putsch rapidly collapsed. Hitler received a remarkably brief prison sentence, using the time to write Mein Kampf.  The full newspaper is available on Google News.

Forebodings of War in 1939

This editorial from the Spartanburg Herald (South Carolina) appeared on 17 April 1939. Franklin Roosevelt had just issued an appeal to Hitler and Mussolini not to attack a list of 31 countries.  Hitler’s 50th birthday was three days away, and people were speculating that the Nazis might occupy the free city of Danzig as a birthday present. The editorial was one of many from the period longing for a peace that was not to be. The full newspaper is available on Google News.