style="font-size:15px;"> In summer 1932 a rather influential British politician came to Germany with a private visit. His name was Winston Churchill. In Sir Winston’s memoirs we find a very interesting note: “In hotel Regina one gentleman was introduced to one of my companions. His surname was Hanfstaengl. He talked about Führer a lot and seemed to be a close friend of his. As I found him entertaining and talkative and all the same he spoke good English I invited him to have lunch. He was really under a spell telling about Hitler’s opinions and views. I could feel he was completely charmed by him. Most probably he was ordered to engineer contacts with me as he was clearly making all the attempts to leave a good impression. After lunch he started playing the piano and he performed a lot of plays and songs so well that we all had a great pleasure. He turned out to know all my favourite English songs. And he was good at entertaining society. It turned out he was Führer’s favourite at that time. He told me that I had to meet Hitler personally and that it would be easy for him to engineer a meeting between us”[106].
Sir Winston told about the matter as if some accidental acquaintance was trying to introduce him to Führer. In Hanfstaengl’s description the story sounded differently: “I spent quite a lot of time in the company of his son, Randolph (Churchill’s son. – N.S.) during our pre-election trips. I even organized plane flights together with him once or twice[107]. He paid my attention to the fact that his father comes with the visit to Germany and that we should arrange a meeting”[108].
You must admit that knowing the son who several times had flights with Hitler and Hanfstaengl is something more than just “one gentleman was introduced to one of my companions”. One way or another but British politician agreed to arrange a meeting: “At that time I had no national prejudices against Hitler. I knew little of his doctrine, of his past and knew absolutely nothing of his personal qualities. I admire people who rise in defense of their defeated country even if I am on the other end. He had the full right to be a German patriot if he wanted to”[109].
So who actually ordered Hanfstaengl to “make contact” with the British politician? Who ordered him to arrange a meeting of the two great political personalities? Hitler himself? No. Führer did not ask to arrange this contact because he did not go to that meeting with Churchill no matter how hard Ernst Hanfstaengl persuaded him to! “That is how Hitler missed the only chance to meet with me”[110], – complained Churchill. A serious politician could not behave like that – first ask about the meeting with one of the leading political personalities of the most powerful state in the world and later failing to go that meeting. That was too childish and not frivolous. It was only half a year left before Hitler seized the power, and personal meeting with Churchill would not be unnecessary. It appears that Hanfstaengl was ordered to introduce Hitler to Churchill not by the Nazis but by that very intelligence service that very cleverly and neatly attached their agent to the rising star of the German politics Adolf Hitler. Otherwise why would he know Churchill’s son and take him to pre-election flights?
Hitler and Hanfstaengl (the first on the left) at the plane during the continuous pre-election flights. Son of Winston Churchill several times participated in those flights
There is only one answer: all Hanfstaengl’s activities were directed to persuade Hitler to be friends with England and the USA and for that purpose he was bringing Hitler closer to the strong people of the world. Even Führer’s failure to appear at the meeting did not intervene the British politician from discussing some very delicate issues. With whom? With Hanfstaengl. “Tell me what your boss thinks about the alliance between your country, France and England?”[111] – asked Churchill.
And why on earth did an old fox Winston come to Germany? Maybe to find out who would be in the head of Germany in six months?
Hitler’s good friend made many more good favours for him. For example, in February 1934 without notifying Führer he went to Benito Mussolini. The purpose of the trip of the modest press secretary was to push duce to stabilization of relationships. As Hanfstaengl told Mussolini “something must be wrong when such complications stand between our two fascist states”[112]. As we know from the history it was the time when the two dictators were moving towards each other. We should only wonder about one detail: how Hanfstaengl achieved to be received by the head of Italy? Is every German occurring on the territory of their country got treatment with Chianti and got to meet Mussolini? The rank of our hero was not so high to get there.
But Hanfstaengl’s connections were truly fantastic. If you have an idea that all these breath-taking memoirs were written by Putzi following the image of baron von Münchhausen and all his memoirs are simple invention, you would be quite mistaken. Because if the statement about the visit to Mussolini is difficult to verify, there still exist some “concrete reinforced” evidences of the incredible powers of Ernst Hanfstaengl. After he had done so much for the Reich, he suddenly left Germany in 1937. Meaning that he secretly left the country because he supposedly had conflict with Hitler’s surroundings and felt threat to his life.
Where did our hero go? To his other home – America. It appeared that in America he had another good friend, his Harvard classmate – president of the USA Franklin Delano Roosevelt! Our German hero worked for Hitler in the position of the press secretary of foreign affairs of the party, so what? In the United States Putzi laid wreaths to the memorials … with eagles and swastika, so what?
During the World War II Hanfstaengl was working… as president Roosevelt’s counsel![113]
As an expert on the Nazi Germany he was working under arrest, that is under guard. He was under the guard of the sergeant of the American Army Egon Hanfstaengl. A namesake? No, he wasn’t. He was the son timely rescued from Germany and sent to guard his farther under personal order of the American president! This was the friendship which lasted exactly until Nazi consolidated its forces. There was no further need to direct or give advice: the war for which Hitler was so required, for which Hanfstaengl worked so much, was not far away. Or maybe simply the contract was over? It is a really dark story just as the one about Hitler coming to power.
Nevertheless, let’s return to Russia. After leaving the Western partners without the spoils at the Genoa Conference and after breaking through the diplomatic isolation by means of the Treaty of Rapallo, Lenin seemed to be completely exhausted. The 52 year old Vladimir Ilyich had a stroke. It happened in May 1922. This was the first time when the issue on successor rose. Practically Lenin appointed nobody after himself and the strokes that followed the first one did not allow him to fully govern the country. It resulted in the beginning of struggle for the Lenin’s heritage between Leon Trotsky and Joseph Stalin. The struggle unrolled in unstable economic and political conditions: In 1922 the transfer from the New Economic Policy and the next step in “collection of the Russian lands” – establishment of USSR started in the country.
The date of Lenin’s death knew every single person in the Soviet Union: January 21, 1924. However there is another date just as important for understanding of fascism origins but hardly anyone remembers it[114].
The interrelation between these two events cannot be left unnoticeable. England waited until Lenin died and only after that acknowledged the Soviet Union[115]. The matter was not in the non-acceptance of communism by the heads of Britain. The matter was in the principal position not to deal with the one who lied to them. The one who was sent to destroy the country and transfer it under governance of
As Hitler was the major striking force of Nazis during the last year before his coming to the power in the country he was constantly flying to meetings from one German town to another. He was provided with a special rented plane and Goebbels came out with a good advertising slogan: “Führer over Germany”.
Ibid. P. 15.
It was 1 February 1924. On that day the United Kingdom officially acknowledged USSR.
Right after the patron, the vassals also started acknowledging USSR: on 7 February 1924 – Italy where Benito Mussolini was the Prime Minister, on 13 February – Norway, on 25 February – Austria, on 8 March – Greece, on 15 March – Sweden, on 18 June – Denmark, on 6 July – Albania, on 19 July – China, on 1 August – Mexico, on 28 October 1924 – France. The last in this “acknowledgement order” was Japan, it happened on 20 January 1925, while the United States acknowledged USSR on in 1933.
