World War II As It Happened
A MaritimeQuest Daily Event Special Presentation
Sunday, November 12, 1939
Day 73

November 12, 1939: Front page of The People, London, England.
(Click on the image for a readable version.)

Note the reports at the bottom of columns 3-5: "Reported Execution Of Ex-Crown Prince" and "No Mercy For Von Schuschnigg"
I have noticed that the newspapers of the time often published reports which were about the suspected death or execution of high level Germans. In previous days they have reported the deaths of Reich Propaganda Minister Joseph Goebbels and Hitler's right hand man (later Deputy Führer) Rudolf Hess. Both reports were untrue. There were also reports of Julius Streicher and Leni Riefenstahl being arrested. In today's paper they report the possible execution of the former Kronprinz (Wilhelm of Prussia) and they report that former Austrian Chancellor Kurt Schuschnigg is near death while being held in Gestapo custody.

The report about Wilhelm (son of Kaiser Wilhelm II) was completely false. He was never arrested by the Nazis let alone executed. He was a Hitler supporter in the early years, but had distanced himself, like many others, from Hitler over time. He was under suspicion after the July 20, 1944 assassination attempt on Adolf Hitler (Operation Valkyrie) but was never officially arrested. It seems that he was aware of the plot and he was even approached about replacing Hitler, but he declined to sanction such a move. He died on July 20, 1951.

Kurt Schuschnigg (not von) was arrested by the Nazis and spent the entire war in concentration camps, but he survived the war. His exact condition at the time of this report is unknown to me, but that he was probably in ill health, due to torture and or starvation, may very well have been true. After the war he emigrated to the U.S.A. and became a Political Science Professor at St. Louis University. He died in 1977.


November 12, 1939: Front page of The Sunday Post, Glasgow, Scotland.
(Click on the image for a readable version.)


November 12, 1939: Front page of The Sydney Sun, Sydney New South Wales, Australia.
(Click on the image for a readable version.)


November 12, 1939: Front page of San Antonio Sunday Light, San Antonio, Texas.
 
Note that the majority of the front page is dedicated to the first in a 20 article series about Josef Stalin. So many younger people living today have so little, if any, knowledge of what Stalin was, how he operated and just what communism/socialism really is. Many young people think it is fairness and equality, when in fact it is totalitarianism, terror and death, in the same way Nazism was. We will follow the entire series in the coming days.

While reading this keep in mind that Stalin was a predator, he aligned with the Nazis to divide Poland, then took advantage of the chaos to force other countries to accept "Soviet" protection by putting troops and bases in those countries.

Also keep in mind that this evil dictator was the person that the Allies had to assist in order to defeat Hitler. After the war Stalin did exactly what many people thought he would do. After the Allied forces liberated most of Europe, we returned those countries to their people. Stalin on the other hand kept all the countries the Soviets "liberated." It is estimated that in the 20th Century 100,000,000 (one hundred million) people died at the hands of communists/socialists.

While reading the story about Stalin make special note of the report just to the right of Stalin's photo: "Soviet Deaf To Finland Proposals"
(At this time Russia was preparing to invade Finland and would do so by the end of the month.)


November 12, 1939: Front page of The Salt Lake Tribune, Salt Lake City, Utah.
(Click on the image for a readable version.)
 
Note the report in column 7: "Japan, Russia Seek Amity"
(Russia and Japan had been enemies for decades by this time and while Japan was preparing for war, the question was war with who? Some leaders in Japan believed that they would benefit more by attacking Russia, while others believed that the real enemy was the western powers (America, Britain and Europe.) In the end it was decided to attack the western powers. The decision was made after Germany invaded the Soviet Union and many in Japan believed that Germany would defeat Russia or at the very least keep them (the Russians) to occupied to oppose them Manchuria.)


November 12, 1939: Front page of The Port Arthur News, Port Arthur, Texas.
(Click on the image for a readable version.)


November 12, 1939: Front page of The Ogden Standard Examiner, Ogden City, Utah.
(Click on the image for a readable version.)


November 12, 1939: Front page of The Hammond Times, Hammond, Indiana.
(Click on the image for a readable version.)
 
Note the report in column 7: "Farmer Kills Wife, Daughter and Himself"
(Just for the people who say this kind of thing only happens now days.)


November 12, 1939: Front page of the Butte Montana Standard, Butte Montana.
(Click on the image for a readable version.)


November 12, 1939: Front page of the Oakland Tribune, Oakland, California.
(Click on the image for a readable version.)
Note the report at the bottom of column 3: "Prehistoric Stone Ax in Animal Skull Is Exposed as Joke"
Also note the report in column 4: "Japan Labels U.S., Russia Two Devils"



   
Page published Nov. 12, 2020