1944. Nazi Yearbook for the German Soldiers in the North

Jahrbuch für den deutschen Soldaten im Norden

Bill Downs at some point acquired this yearbook that was distributed to Nazi soldiers in Norway in 1944 (click to enlarge):

"Auch wenn wir vergehen müssen, muss Deutschland bestehen. Auch wenn uns im Einzelnen das Schicksal schlagen sollte, muss Deutschland leben. Auch wenn wir Not und Sorge auf uns zu nehmen haben: Deutschland muss sein trotz Sorgen und Not."

Adolf Hitler.

"Ein Jahr liegt hinter uns, das an Front und Heimat grösste Anforderungen stellte und uns Prüfungen auferlegte, die nur ein wahrhaft starkes Volk zu überwinden vermochte.

"Ein Jahr liegt vor uns, in dem sich wieder die ungebrochene deutsche Kraft aller Welt offenbaren wird und vom Feinde Erfolge und Entscheidungen erzwingt, die uns dem Endsieg näherbringen.

"Der Krieg ist im vergangenen Jahre immer totaler geworden und wird geführt von Alle und gegen Alle, die zum deutschen Volk gehören oder seine Freunde sind. Während die Front gewaltigste Abnutzungs- und Zermürbung-schlachten schlug, tobte gegen die Heimat ein mitleidsloser Kampf, den wir Greisen, Frauen und Kindern ersparen wollten. Der Feind war es, der mit gemeinsten Waffen das Blutvergiessen hineintrug in dicht besiedelte Städte, und damit aus dem Kampf Mann gegen Mann verbrecherisches Morden und kulturzerstörende Barbarei werden liess. Nur jener seelenlose Amerikanismus konnte eine solche Kriegsführung beginnen, der instinktiv fühlt, dass seine Zivilisation zu minderwertig ist, um einen Vergleich mit der ehrwürdigen europäischen Kultur aushalten zu können.

"Beide aber, Front und Heimat, bewährten sich wie nie zuvor in diesem Kriege. Militärische Rückschläge konnten die Front nicht brechen, sondern machten sie nur noch härter, die Deutschen immer mehr zusammen und stärkten jenes Lebensgefühl, das uns zu einer unzerbrechlichen Schicksalsgemeinschaft schweisste.

"Wer dachte in den vergangenen Monaten nicht an all das zurück, was Friedrich der Grosse militärisch und persönlich an Rückschlägen im Siebenjährigen Krieg hinnehmen musste, Schläge, die ihn nicht kapitulieren liessen, sondern zu wahrhaft unvergänglicher Grösse emporführten und mit ihm seine Preussen. Er schöpfte seine ungeheure durch nichts zu bezwingende Kraft aus seinen Soldaten und sie wuchsen mit ihm zur Unbesiegbarkeit.

"Genauso fanden die harten Monate der bewährung das deutsche Volk!

"Ich danke Euch allen, Soldaten, die Ihr im hohen Norden Eure Pflicht für Führer, Volk und Vaterland erfüllt habt und weiterhin erfüllen werdet, für Euren Einsatz und für Eure Härte, die durch nichts, das weiss ich, zu brechen sein wird.

"Eins aber wollen wir geloben:

"Stark zu sein im Glauben an den Führer und die Grösse des Deutschen Volkes.

"Eisern zu sein im Willen, für die Grösse Deutschlands zu kämpfen.

"Aus Glauben und Willen aber wäscht die Tat Der Sieg!"

Oslo, den 31, Dezember 1943.

Reichskommisar für die besetzten norwegischen Gebiete.

 

"Liber Soldat!

"Zum vierten mal erhältst Du nun dieses Soldatenjahrbuch. Inzwischen ist über Skandinavien und insbesondere Norwegen soviel in Literatur und Tagespresse erschienen, das unser Jahrbuch eine Umstellung in seinem Inhalt erfahren konnte. Da Du das Taschenbuch ja täglich bei Dir hast, soll in ihm auch nur das zu lesen sein, wofür Du Dich täglich interessieren könntest. Auf diese weise ist aus dem Jahrbuch eigentlich ein kleines Nachschlagewerk geworden.

"Diesmal wollen aber auch wir erstmalig eine Bitte an Dich richten. Du weisst, dass das Amt, das Dir auch dieses Jahrbuch zusammengestellt hat, sich im wesentlichen im Norwegen mit den nachfolgenden Arbeitsgebieten beschäftigt: Propaganda, Schrifttum, Sport, Rundfunk, Presse, Kultur, Film, Theater, Schul- und Bildungswesen, Truppenbetreuung usw. Das sind alles Fragen, mit denen auch Du Dich sicher wiederholt auseinandergesetzt hast, wo Du Anregungen geben kannst, Wünsche äussern möchtest oder auch einmal Kritik anbringen willst. Das gerade wollen wir! Schreibe uns deshalb—und wie gesagt, vertragen auch durchaus ein offenes Wort der Kritik. Wenn Deine Wünsche berechtigt sind, werden sie erfüllt, und wenn Deine Anregungen allgemein gültig sind, hilfst Du uns mit, unsere Aufgabe zu meistern."

"Heil Hitler!"

Hauptabteilung für Volksaufklärung und Propaganda beim Reichskommisar für die besetzten norwegischen Gebiete, Oslo, Storting.

Inhalt:

Reichskommisar Terboven: Geleitwort - 1

Geleitwort der Haptabteilung für Volksaufklärung und Propaganda - 5

Die nordeuropäischen Staaten - 9

Einige Bemerkungen zur Landeskunde - 42

Bewegliche Feste für 1940 bis 1950 - 48

Zeittafel (24-Stunden-Uhr) - 48

Ermittelung eines Wochentages - 51

Was bei Benutzung der Feldpost zu beachten ist - 51

1967. George Romney Insists Mormon Faith Won't Mar His Liberal Stand

George Romney Combats Racial Segregation; Rejects Political Scrutiny of His Faith

Source: "The governor (shirt sleeves) walking in the first rank of an NAACP march, 600-strong, in protest of housing discrimination, June 1963"

Source: United Press International, published in the Baltimore Afro-American on March 11, 1967, p. 5

Romney Insists Mormon Faith Won't Mar His Liberal Stand

By LOUIS CASSELS

United Press International

In his bid for the 1968 Republican Presidential nomination, Governor George Romney is doing the same thing that John F. Kennedy did in his successful 1960 campaign for the Presidency.

He is confronting head-on a religious issue that could have a serious effect on his candidacy.

In Kennedy's case, the religious issue stemmed from a belief widely held among Protestants that a Roman Catholic President would be subject to undue influence from the hierarchy of his church.

KENNEDY GAVE his answer in a meeting with the protestant Ministerial Association of Houston, Tex., on Sept. 12, 1960. He said:

"Whatever issue may come before me as President—on birth control, divorce, censorship, gambling—I will make my decision in accordance to what my conscience tells me to be the national interest, and without regard to outside religious pressures or dictates.

"I do not speak for my church on public matters—and my church does not speak for me."

Kennedy appealed to Americans to "judge me on the basis of my record of 14 years of Congress" rather than on the basis of "carefully selected quotations" from Catholic church leaders about the obedience expected from the laity.

THE RELIGIOUS issues dogging Romney's candidacy steams from a widely held belief that his Mormon Church condones segregation and teaches that colored persons are an inferior race.

Romney challenged this belief in a recent meeting with Catholic and Protestant clergymen in Salt Lake City, Utah—a meeting reminds it of Kennedy's confrontation with the Houston Ministerial Association.

The Michigan governor said there is nothing in the doctrine of Mormon faith that prevents him from doing all in his power to combat racial discrimination and prejudice.

On the contrary, he said, "My faith has influenced me to believe that every human being is a child of God as I am, and should have every opportunity I have."

He added:

"I have fought for 25 years in Michigan to eliminate discrimination. I believe I'm entitled to be judged on the basis of my action, not someone's ideas of what may be the precepts of my church."

KENNEDY'S DECLARATION did not stop some of his opponents from arguing that a Catholic President would "take orders from the Pope." It seems doubtful that Romney's forthright statement will end political discussion of Mormon teachings about race.

Here are some of the facts which may help to keep the debate in perspective:

All Mormon bodies admit colored persons to membership. The reorganized Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, which has a membership of about 170,000 and headquarters at Independence, Mo., ordains black members to its priesthood.

The 2-million member Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, which has its headquarters in Salt Lake City, and to which Romney belongs, does not accept colored men for its priesthood. The Utah Mormons, commonly referred to as the LDS church, base their policy primarily on a brief passage in a document known as "The Book of Abraham."

THE BOOK of Abraham should not be confused with the Book of Mormon—the scriptures which the Prophet Joseph Smith said he received from the Angel Moroni on plates of gold.

The Book of Abraham is a translation by Smith of the hieroglyphics on an Egyptian papyrus scroll which came into the prophet's hands several years after the Book of Mormon was published.

Interpreting black skin as a mark of divine disfavor, the Book of Abraham speaks of non-whites being "cursed as pertaining to the priesthood."

LDS theologians have connected this terse statement with a Mormon doctrine that every human being receives at birth the station in life to which he is entitled as a result of his deportment in the "spirit world" of pre-mortal existence.

The "curse" which bars colored men from the priesthood is thus understood as punishment for having been less-than-valiant in the spirit world battle between God and the devil.

TO BE barred from the priesthood is, for a Mormon, a serious disability. Mormon doctrine holds that everyone will go to Heaven, but the degree of "exaltation" which an individual can expect in the celestial realm depends on how far he has progressed in his religious development during the state of his mortal existence.

The priesthood, usually conferred on white male children at the age of 12, is an important first step in that development. Thus a person who is ineligible for the priesthood is certain of a low status in the world to come.

Conservative Mormons decline to enter into arguments about the fairness of this doctrine. They regard it as a divine commandment, and say it is not up to men to question the justice of God.

Liberal Mormons, including Romney, are hopeful that their church eventually will place a new interpretation on the brief passage in the Book of Abraham.

Meanwhile, they take their own cue from other texts, including several passages in the Book of Mormon, which assert that God loves all races equally.

1968. An Analysis of the 1968 Presidential Race

Battling for the Nomination

Bill Downs interviewing Richard Nixon in the 1950s

Bill Downs

ABC Washington

April 15, 1968

These are the Ides of April, and Washington's political "pros" are making spring book on next November's presidential elections. And as of right now, even the most skilled Democratic and Republican prognosticators are so confused by the mixed up primary races for the White House that they'll give only 10 to one odds against Harold Stassen ending up with the job.

So, with only six months of campaigning left, here's how some of these professionals see the presidential race developing.

Former Vice President Richard Nixon is still the front-running Republican, but now Nixon must watch for flanking attacks from both the right and the GOP left. After flubbing the candidacy of Michigan's George Romney, the Republican liberals are now regrouping and building a powerful drive to nominate New York Governor Nelson Rockefeller to head the ticket. It's no secret that the Republican right is viewing this in dismay. The GOP conservatives have accepted Nixon thus far with ideological reservations, so if the June and July political polls show that Nixon cannot win decisively against the Democrats, then some of the Washington pros are saying to watch out for conservative Governor Ronald Reagan of California at the GOP Convention in Miami.

The Democratic race this Spring is just as unpredictable. The entry of New York Senator Robert Kennedy into the primary lists have prompted the backers of Minnesota's Senator Eugene McCarthy to say that "Bobby has the courage of McCarthy's convictions." But like Nixon, Kennedy right now must be considered the front runner in the Democratic race.

However, both senators are campaigning, looking always over their shoulders. Because waiting in the wings is Vice President Hubert Humphrey, the most durable and experienced campaigner of them all. And strangely enough, Hubert might just be tapped by the Democratic convention in Chicago, for the irony is that Humphrey, an original populist liberal, has built himself a reputation for honest and party loyalty in the thankless Vice Presidency that his image has changed. Also the primary campaigning of Senator Kennedy and McCarthy seems to be making Hubert look a lot like a starch-collared conservative.

This is Bill Downs in Washington.

1944. Allied Forces Capture Nazi Generals in Belgium

Nazi Commanders Talk Failed Strategy

Free Belgian troops arrive in Brussels, 4 September 1944 (source)

Bill Downs

CBS Brussels

September 8, 1944

British troops have gained a bridgehead across the Albert Canal at the town of Beringen, a point a little over twenty miles from the German frontier. Infantry and armor are across the canal in strength, and today bitter fighting is underway as the Germans try fruitlessly to keep the bridgehead from expanding.

This is the first break across the Albert Canal, one of the few remaining land obstacles in the Allied drive north and east toward Holland and the Reich. The Germans seem to have been able to organize themselves into strong defensive units along the north bank of the canal for the first time since the British entered Belgium. The Germans lost an estimated 500 men in one battle for the bridgehead yesterday. The Nazis are contesting every crossroads and hill, and in one mining area there has been violent fighting for the possession of a slag heap which the Germans were last reported as still holding.

The 15th German Army troops now trapped in the channel pocket seem to have finally realized their predicament and are now making desperate attempts to get across the wide Scheldt river estuary and make their way northward through Holland back to Germany. The Allied air forces have spotted the movement and have barges and boats operating in the river under attack.

During the past week, two Nazi generals have been captured in Belgium. The first was Major General Graf zu Stolberg-Stolberg, commandant of the Antwerp garrison. Then yesterday Belgian forces captured Lieutenant General Seifert, commander of a German infantry division. These men have some interesting sidelights on the state of the Wehrmacht. The Antwerp commandant said that there were two reasons for the fall of that city. First, he said, there was the strong resistance activity inside of Antwerp, and second, the blitzkrieg advance of the British which gave him no time to prepare a defense. He praised Allied strategy; he once fought in Russia and Norway. He said that Red Army strategy and tactics were in many ways superior to those of the German staff.

However, the other Nazi general, General Seifert, said that the reason for the present predicament of the German army in northwest Europe was mainly due to the fact that they are completely out of touch with what is going on. They simply do not have the communications to coordinate either retreat or defense. He added that his best source of military information was the BBC and Allied radio stations operating out of Belgium.

When a British officer commented that he had seen only two German airplanes since D-Day, the Nazi general grinned and said, "That's two more than I have seen."

However, the most interesting prisoner captured in the past few days was a German soldier who for four years was one of Adolf Hitler's batmen. It seems that this soldier fell out of the good graces of Der Fuehrer and was fired; whereafter he was sent to prison, later to be released for service in the army.

This soldier said a lot of things about Adolf, including gossipy bits such as that no one ever knows when Hitler is going to feel like, and everyone from Field Marshals down to batmen have to wait to see the Fuehrer's mood before they approach him.

And the batman, who should know, said that Hitler's lady friend back in those days was a beautiful stenographer. For after all, Adolf is a dictator.

This is Bill Downs in Brussels returning you to CBS in New York.