Was This a Calculated Moment, or the Opposite?
Please forgive the occasional digression from the arts, but I thought that I should share this moment in history with you.
The other day I thought that I would view chapter three of that wonderful documentary of 1973, 74 called "The World at War", which I hadn't seen in years. The section I was interested in was the surrender of the French to Hitler on June 21, 1940, at Compiegne, where the Kaiser surrendered to end World War I more than a generation before. It was in that old wooden railway car which so many of us have read about.
Hitler and his entourage were seated in the car, waiting for the French to enter.
When the French walked in, Hitler and his group arose, and here is where I found myself surprised, if not actually astonished, by what I saw (remember that the world and I have seen all this before on film many times) ; namely, that Hitler saluted in the universal manner (you know; arm crooked at the elbow, with hand to eyebrow), rather than with the Nazi salute, with arm shooting straight out at the usual upward angle.
I cannot remember Hitler ever having saluted in public before in the traditional manner. Is there another time that history has filmed such a salute from him? I know of no such picture.
Was Hitler feeling so avuncular at that moment(we know that he was in a joyous mood on that day, having reached what ultimately turns out to be the apex of his successes), that he did this purposely to"reach out" to the French for their "gallantry", or was it simply a reflex action going back to his days as a runner in World War I?
I can only speculate; however, it most assuredly was an unexpected gesture from a tyrant possessed with such vertical and obdurate ideology.
The other day I thought that I would view chapter three of that wonderful documentary of 1973, 74 called "The World at War", which I hadn't seen in years. The section I was interested in was the surrender of the French to Hitler on June 21, 1940, at Compiegne, where the Kaiser surrendered to end World War I more than a generation before. It was in that old wooden railway car which so many of us have read about.
Hitler and his entourage were seated in the car, waiting for the French to enter.
When the French walked in, Hitler and his group arose, and here is where I found myself surprised, if not actually astonished, by what I saw (remember that the world and I have seen all this before on film many times) ; namely, that Hitler saluted in the universal manner (you know; arm crooked at the elbow, with hand to eyebrow), rather than with the Nazi salute, with arm shooting straight out at the usual upward angle.
I cannot remember Hitler ever having saluted in public before in the traditional manner. Is there another time that history has filmed such a salute from him? I know of no such picture.
Was Hitler feeling so avuncular at that moment(we know that he was in a joyous mood on that day, having reached what ultimately turns out to be the apex of his successes), that he did this purposely to"reach out" to the French for their "gallantry", or was it simply a reflex action going back to his days as a runner in World War I?
I can only speculate; however, it most assuredly was an unexpected gesture from a tyrant possessed with such vertical and obdurate ideology.
posted by LH at
1:19 PM
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