Admiral Gunther LutjensHitler on naval inspection tour of the “Deutschland,” in 1934.Crew of Bismarck on deck, its 15 inch guns visibleSpitfire reconnaissance photo near Bergen, Norway.Bismarck during the Battle of the Denmark Strait
Gunther Lutjens: The Admiral Behind the Bismarck’s Fateful Voyage
Discover the untold story of Admiral Gunther Lutjens and the nine-day voyage of Nazi Germany’s most powerful battleship, the Bismarck. This bite-sized biography delves into the naval strategies, political tensions, and dramatic sea battles that led to one of World War II’s most epic maritime confrontations. From Hitler’s rearmament plans to the sinking of the HMS Hood, uncover the forgotten details of this pivotal moment in naval history.
Captain Ernst LindemannHMS Prince of WalesAdmiral John Tovey on the deck of the George VSwordfish Torpedo dive bomberSwordfish returning to the Ark Royal after attacking the BismarckArk Royal and Renown from HMS SheffieldBismarck survivors being rescued by the DorsetshireHitler and Raeder, 1943
Gunther Lutjens: The Admiral Behind the Bismarck’s Fateful Voyage
Discover the untold story of Admiral Gunther Lutjens and the nine-day voyage of Nazi Germany’s most powerful battleship, the Bismarck. This bite-sized biography delves into the naval strategies, political tensions, and dramatic sea battles that led to one of World War II’s most epic maritime confrontations. From Hitler’s rearmament plans to the sinking of the HMS Hood, uncover the forgotten details of this pivotal moment in naval history.
In 1942, the Czech government in exile decided to parachute two commandos into the former Czechoslovakia to assassinate Reinhard Heydrich, considered the most brutal and sinister Nazi in Occupied Europe. Code named Operation Anthropoid, this suicide mission remains one of the most heroic and remarkable stories of World War II.
Himmler and Heydrich, Vienna, 1938
Nazi lore has it that Heinrich Himmler, appointed in 1929 as the head of the newly formed SS, was intent on developing a unit consigned with obtaining and organizing intelligence on both internal party members and external individuals of political and social interest, essentially an elite domestic spying apparatus. Heydrich’s dossier was given to Himmler by a Von Osten connection and the Reichsfuhrer was impressed enough to summon the former officer to headquarters in Munich. However, at the last minute the interview was cancelled, a development that Heydrich and Lina perceived as a sign that he had been eliminated from consideration. Heydrich, encouraged by Lina, decided to keep the appointment anyway and when he got to Munich, managed to wangle a 20 minute interview. As it turned out, the appointment was cancelled merely because of Himmler not feeling well and he was doubly irritated by having to deal with an official matter during his illness. Initially resolved to quickly dispense with this annoyance, the Reichsfuhrer brusquely informed the candidate that he had twenty minutes to describe how Heydrich would organize a potential internal party intelligence agency. It probably did not hurt that the six foot, blonde haired, blue eyed candidate exactly fit the Aryan physical prototype of the perfect SS man. Himmler was so surprised and impressed by Heydrich’s thoughtful and detailed response that he hired him on the spot. Reinhard Heydrich, 27 years old, was now the head of what eventually became known as the Sicherheitsdienst or SD, literally, in English, the Security Service.
Heydrich as a Naval Cadet
Reporting to the German naval port city of Kiel, Heydrich quickly was perceived as an outsider, especially when he showed up for training with a violin. This possession differentiated him from his lower class compatriots as pompous and even effeminate. His high-pitched voice, tall, gawky demeanor and lack of self confidence did little to endear him to his fellow cadets, another native of his hometown did him no favors by repeating the rumor that he was actually Jewish. A lesser individual might have crumbled under this type of adversity but instead Heydrich thrived on his loner status, becoming technically proficient in wireless operations and passing language exams in French, Russian and English. He completed his initial training, received promotions and excelled in athletic competitions that included fencing, horse riding and even membership in the naval pentathlon team. Heydrich’s naval career progressed positively during the twenties and resulted in a promotion to sub-lieutenant, an officer’s rank.
Edvard Benes, President of Czechoslovakia
To maintain his personal profile and also the national relevance and autonomy of his organization, Eduard Benes resolved that some bold and decisive action must be undertaken, even if it was symbolic, to reassert, even conceptually, the existence of the Czech resistance. He also hoped that the operation was so bold as to serve as a catalyst for a massive uprising of the Czech population. This concept precipitated the specific plot to assassinate Reinhard Heydrich, code named Anthropoid.
Jan Kubis
Secret commando agents had parachuted into the former Czechoslovakia already, with very limited success. Most were rounded up and executed after only a few weeks of operation. But these agents came from an ongoing initiative, assisted by the British Special Operations Executive, to continue to infiltrate Czech operatives into the Protectorate. From this operation two commandos were selected, Josef Gabcik and Jan Kubis, for the specific purpose of killing both Heydrich and Karl Herman Frank.
Martin Gabcik
It was not until December 28, 1941, that the British Air Command provided a long-range Halifax bomber to transport all nine of the Czech agents to three separate drop zones. The flight, with sixteen men total, including crew, and a full load of fuel did not allow for any evasive maneuvers in the event of detection, but the bomber made it across France and Germany without incident. Unfortunately, short summer nights meant that the darkness necessary for such an operation was only possible in the dead of winter. Thus, freshly fallen snow removed any opportunity to note landmarks identifying appropriate drop zones, nevertheless Gabcik and Kubis went out first the other two teams jumping shortly thereafter.
Karl Hermann Frank
Heydrich used information provided by Karl Herman Frank, another Nazi official in the Protectorate administration, to aid in this process. Frank believed that should Von Neurath be pushed aside, he would be appointed as the replacement. On September 21, 1941, all interested parties met at Hitler’s East Prussian bunker headquarters to discuss this situation. First, Frank met with Hitler to enumerate issues and complaints concerning Von Neurath and even was afforded the privilege of eating lunch with the Fuhrer.
Kurt Daluege and Himmler, Poland
Karl Herman Frank was again denied a promotion, the SS General Kurt Daluege was appointed as temporary Reichsprotector. Himmler sent his personal physician to take charge of Heydrich’s treatment, Goebbels wrote in his diary that “such an attack could set a precedent if we do not counter it with the most brutal means.”
In 1942, the Czech government in exile decided to parachute two commandos into the former Czechoslovakia to assassinate Reinhard Heydrich, considered the most brutal and sinister Nazi in Occupied Europe. Code named Operation Anthropoid, this suicide mission remains one of the most heroic and remarkable stories of World War II
On the evening of June 26, 1942, Heydrich hosted a concert featuring classical music composed by his father. Twelve hours later he would be fighting for his life after one of the two parachutists successfully detonated an anti-tank grenade near his limousine.Heydrich’s convertible Mercedes-Benz limousine after the commando attack.
But Kubas had also approached the car, undetected and he hurled the grenade towards the open interior of the vehicle. He missed badly, the device skittering against the rear right tire and exploding against the side and undercarriage of the Mercedes. Although inaccurate, the blast was intense enough to shatter the tram’s windows and send shrapnel into a group of passengers exiting the streetcar.
St. Cyril and Thelonius Cathedral, where the commandos made their final stand against overwhelming Nazi force.
It is not known where exactly Kubis and Gabcik hid in the first days after the assassination. But, understanding that it was only a matter of time before they would be located, Jan Zelensky arranged for seven of the fugitive commandos to be hidden in the expansive crypt of the Saint Cyril and Methodius Cathedral, Prague’s most prominent Czech Orthodox church.
Heinz Pannwitz, Gestapo investigator
Heinz Pannwitz, the local Gestapo official in charge of the investigation and manhunt decided that a change of strategy was in order. He got Frank to agree to announce that an amnesty would be provided to any citizen who provided valuable information about the assassins, as long as this occurred before June 18. If an arrest was not forthcoming by then, 30,000 Czechs would be detained and executed.
Vent that led to the crypt at St. Cyril and Thelonius cathedral, bullet holes were made during the final standoff.
The only other access was through a narrow opening leading to the exterior of the church, essentially for ventilation. Not wanting to instigate another mass suicide, Pannwitz attempted to reason with the remaining commandos inside. Announcements via loudspeaker blared that the defenders would be treated as POW’s if they surrendered. Petrek, and even Karol Curda, was sent up to the narrow opening, hoping to induce a peaceful conclusion. Upon hearing Curda’s voice, one of the defenders let loose with gunshots and yelled that they would never surrender. Pannwitz then tried having the city fire department flood the crypt, jamming large fire houses down the vent and releasing hundreds of gallons of water a minute as well as tear gas into the crypt, to no avail. The hoses were pushed out by the defenders, who also hurled Molotov cocktails at the firemen.
Horst Bohme, ranking officer at Lidice, with Karl Hermann Frank and Himmler.
The ranking officer on the scene in charge of the Lidice massacre, Horst Bohme, disappeared at the end of the war and was declared legally dead in 1954, most likely a suicide.
Lidice, after initial German demolition.
Even before Heydrich’s state funeral in Berlin concluded, on the evening of June 9, upon hearing the details of Lidice’s defiance, Hitler ordered the village to be completely destroyed. At 9:30 at night, the village was sealed off, men over the age of fifteen were separated from the town’s women and children, and in groups of ten were placed against a wall and shot. At midday on the tenth, all 173 men were dead. They were buried in a mass grave dug by concentration camp inhabitants from Theriesiensdtadt. 203 women were placed on an armed transport to the women’s concentration camp facility at Ravensbruck. Although brutal, this was not an extermination camp, 143 of these deportees survived their imprisonment. As many as 105 children were detained, the exact number unclear based on their ultimate fates. Only a handful of these victims were determined to be suitable for “Germanization,” several eventually murdered in German orphanages. The rest were consigned to the Chelmno extermination camp. Only seventeen made it home after the war.
Lidice memorial to the child victims of the Nazi massacre.
Adolf Hitler intended the 1936 Berlin Olympics as a coming out party for his Aryan Master Race. African-American Jesse Owens crashed the venue by winning four gold medals.
Jesse Owens 1936
At the Penn Relays, he won the long jump and the 100 meter dash. Unfortunately for Eulace Peacock, the sprinter completely tore his hamstring during a preliminary heat, an injury so severe that Peacock was unable to make the 1936 Olympic Games.
Jesse Owens and Ralph Metcalfe, Olympic trials, 1936
Owens qualified easily, winning the 100 and 200 meter sprint and the long jump competition at the Olympic trials at Randall’s Island. His chief American competition came from Ralph Metcalfe in the 100 and Mack Robinson in the 200, Robinson the older brother of future Brooklyn Dodger, Jackie Robinson. Eighteen black Americans qualified for the US Olympic team, two of them women, almost four times the number of African-American competitors at the 1932 Olympic games in Los Angeles.
Jesse Owens wins 100 meters at Berlin.
For a gold medal in the 100 meters, Jesse Owens would have to win four consecutive races, but the competition in Monday’s first two heats was minimal, several sprinters in the Big Ten much tougher competition. Jesse cruised easily to victory, in the first heat by seven yards and the quarter finals by four yards, breaking his own world record in a time of 10.2 seconds. While Owens victories were not a surprise, what was astonishing was the response of the crowd when his name was announced and after he crossed the tape in first place. Anticipating that a German crowd politically attuned to the current Nazi master race theories would ignore or even vent hostility toward a Black American, instead the massive crowd roared their approval.
Hitler enters Berlin Olympic Stadium
Elsewhere in the stadium, Two German athletes were generating their own excitement. Hans Woelke and Ottilie “Tilly” Fleischer won gold in the men’s shot put and women’s discus, respectively, the first track and field Olympic gold medals ever won by Germany. Afterwards, they were summoned to Hitler’s personal box, where both were personally congratulated by Hitler and Hermann Goering. Later in the afternoon, when three Finns swept the medals in the 10,000 meters distance race, they were also invited to Hitler’s box and congratulated.
Hitler reviewing stand, Leni Riefenstahl visible to the right.
But by the time the event concluded, and with the weather getting progressively colder with rain starting to fall, Adolf Hitler left the arena before the high jump medals ceremony and without a personal invitation to the black American Johnson. This did not go unnoticed especially by the American press who focused the first day’s coverage on the perceived snub. It also was noticed by Henri de Baillet-Latour, the President of the International Olympic Committee, who was hoping to lower the volume on politics and did not want Hitler to become the focal point of the current games. He is said to have either forbidden Hitler to personally congratulate winners or to have told Hitler that he needed to congratulate every winner, regardless of race or country of origin. The most popular interpretation is that Hitler, figuring that at least one black man, Jesse Owens was a shoe in to win at least one medal, then decided to stop publicly congratulating any of the winners.
Jesse Owens and Luz Long after competition, 1936
Later that afternoon, at 4:30 he participated in the long jump semi-final that served to eliminate ten of the remaining sixteen competitors. Both Owens and Luz Long broke the existing Olympic record, jumping well over 25 feet to the delight of the crowd and setting up a climactic final. Owens faulted on his first jump of the finals and his German competitor regressed to 25 feet, four inches but on his second jump Long pressed Owens to the limit with a leap of 25 feet, 10 inches. Owens responded like a true champion establishing a new Olympic record with a jump of 26 feet. When Long faulted on his third and last try, Owens had won his second gold. Not to leave anything on the table, his final attempt measured 26 feet, 5.5 inches another Olympic record. Long was the first to congratulate him after the American landed in the sand, the crowd also roaring over this exceptional feat. Together, the two athletes walked on the track arm in arm, in clear view of the spectators including Adolf Hitler.
Luz Long behind Jesse Owens, Long Jump medals ceremony, 1936
But, after sharing this moment of sportsmanship, Long was conveyed to a private room under the stands where he was personally greeted and congratulated by Hitler and his entourage. There would no such interaction by Hitler with Jesse Owens or any other black member of the American contingent. Hitler did also privately meet and greet with Helen Stephens, the 18 year old American phenomenon who won the Womens 100 meters, underlining Hitler’s apparent desire to ignore any success on the part of Black Americans, even unofficially.
Adolf Hitler wanted the 1936 Berlin Olympics to be a coming out party for his Aryan Master Race. Jesse Owens crashed the venue by winning four gold medals.
Jesse Owens in the 1936 Olympic Long Jump
Owens then had to hustle to the long jump competition which also began at 10:30 AM. Here he faced an athlete from Germany who was his first formidable foreign competition, a 22 year old German; Carl Ludwig “Luz” Long. Long was the current German and European record holder, not quite Owens equal but certainly dangerous if Jesse should falter. And, proving that he was human, Jesse did initially stumble during what should have been an easy qualification. He was charged with his first of three jumps when he typically jogged on the runway and through the landing area just to get a feel for the surface. This American warmup practice was unknown in Europe and despite even the head coach of the American track and field contingent getting into the face of the officials, the practice jump counted. The incident seemed to rattle Owens, his second jump was only 23 feet, 3 inches, short of what he needed to qualify for the next round and more than three feet shorter than his own world record.
Avery Brundage, 1941
Conversely, and fortunately from Nazi Germany’s perspective, the head of the American Olympic Committee, Avery Brundage, was adamantly opposed to any interference in American Olympic participation due to politics. Brundage, a wealthy and dictatorial administrator, once famously stated that the Olympic Games belong to the athletes and not to the politicians. He officially travelled to Germany to assess the situation and after a series of carefully choreographed interactions with German officials, he was able to convince the IOC to agree to US participation.
Jesse Owens cottage used during 1936 Olympics today.
Although he was due to run in the finals of the 200 meters on Wednesday, August 5, Jesse Owens tried to throttle back some of the intensity of the previous 48 hours. He was already the biggest celebrity of the Olympic games and despite his attempt to sleep late on Wednesday morning, his brick guest house swarmed with fans and even athletes crowding around the windows trying to get a glimpse of the American track star.
Jesse Owens publicity info for one of his clothing chain jobs
Jesse would have to hustle for the next few years to make a living with more barnstorming tours and various promotional gigs associated with black clothing stores and dry cleaning establishments.
With German Chancellor Willy Brandt at 1972 Olympics
1972 also brought another Olympics, this the ill-fated games at Munich which involved the terrorist murder of 11 Israeli Olympic athletes. Despite this tragic event and in spite of some controversy over whether the games should continue they did and Jesse Owens got caught up in mediating another racially charged situation.
Tommie Smith and John Carlos, Mexico City protest, 1968.
Jesse Owens travelled to the 1968 Olympics as a guest of the Mexican government, a consultant to the US Olympic Committee and a radio commentator for the Mutual broadcasting network. Although Owens must have been astonished when long jumper Bob Beamon broke the existing world record by almost two feet, much more impactful was a coordinated protest by two black track athletes, Tommy Smith and John Carlos. Winning gold and bronze respectively, in the 200 meters, while on the victory podium the two athletes raised their black gloved fists during the playing of the American national anthem. While the protest caused a media sensation that reverberated around the world, it prompted great anger from the US Olympic committee and especially Avery Brundage, still the President of the IOC. Owens was sent to meet with a group of athletes to attempt to mitigate the situation and possibly extract a face-saving apology before the IOC punished anyone. He failed miserably to even get any white participants to leave the meeting, the consensus that they supported Smith and Carlos more than he did. Sadly, the lengthy session deteriorated into anger and recriminations. The next day the IOC kicked Carlos and Smith out of the Olympic Village and suspended them from Olympic competition. When questioned as to why it was acceptable for Germans to use the Nazi salute on the victory stand, but that Smith and Carlos’ behavior was unacceptable, Avery Brundage actually replied that the Nazi salute was the accepted national salute in the country in that time period.
Jerry Ford awarding the Medal of Freedom
Jesse Owens spent the next eight years doing what he had done for some time, public speaking. By now, he would enthrall audiences with yarns about being personally snubbed by Hitler and the help he received from Luz Long and other tales, occasionally admitting to particularly determined journalists that these stories were embroidered so that “people got to hear what they wanted to hear and I got paid for telling them.” He received an honorary degree from Ohio State, awards from the NCAA, induction into the track and field Hall of Fame, the Medal of Freedom from President Gerald Ford and the Living Legends Award from President Jimmy Carter, Owens now perceived as a national treasure without any partisan stigma.
“Jesse Owens: An American Life,” by William J. Baker.
Also: “Triumph: The Untold Story of Jesse Owens and Hitler’s Olympics,” by Jeremy Schaap.
The music used in the intro for both episodes was, “Island Woke,” by Freedom Trail Studio. The music for the outro of part one was, “Pouring Out,” by Asher Fulero. The music for the outro of part two was, “Boreal,” also by Asher Fulero.
Georg Elser’s failure is one of the most remarkable stories in European history.
Georg Elser, Circa 1939
The contrast between Adolf Hitler and Georg Elser could not have been more dramatic. Hitler was a fanatically driven over achiever who had overcome his lower middle class background, lack of education and early personal failures to become one of the most charismatic and extroverted political figures of the twentieth century. Elser was a simple woodworker, with an intermittent work history, an unmarried loner with little interest in politics or the world beyond the small towns of Southern Germany where he lived and grew up. But, on November 8, 1939, the lives of these two individuals would intersect in a manner that today seems inconceivable.
Burgerbraukellar, After the War.
November 8 was an important date in the history of Nazi Germany and the life of Adolf Hitler. It was on this date in 1923, that Hitler rushed into Munich’s Burgerbraukeller beer cellar with a group of followers and attempted to disrupt a speech of one of the political officials charged with ruling the German state of Bavaria. Behaving theatrically, Hitler leapt onto a table, fired a pistol shot into the air and proclaimed “The national revolution has broken out! The hall is filled with six hundred men, nobody is allowed to leave!” Hitler’s poorly conceived revolt would end the next day, after a march of Hitler and his followers was fired upon by soldiers and police in Central Munich.
Hilter Addressing the “Alte Kampfers”, Burgerbraukellar
Less than ten years after his release from prison, Hitler would be named Chancellor of Germany on January 30, 1933. To commemorate the success of the Nazi party and the sacrifice and struggle of what he called his Alte Kampfers, “Old Fighters” who had been with him from the beginning, Hitler began a tradition of addressing this group at the site of the start of the Nazi political struggle, the Burgerbraukeller, annually on November 8.
Hitler, Burgerbraukeller, 1939, in Front Of Pillar
Despite the outbreak of war on September 1, 1939 would be no different. On November 8, Hitler flew with his entourage from Berlin, landed in Munich and in the early evening proceeded to the raucous hall jammed with Hitler’s most fanatical adherents. Shortly after eight PM he proceeded to the dais in the reception hall, a giant Swastika flag draped on the massive pillar behind him framing Hitler dramatically.
