THE SECRET OF HIS SUCCESSOR

Hitler’s attempt to handpick the next ruler of Germany didn’t work out quite as planned.

This March 1955 issue of The National Police Gazette is beat all to hell, but then again so are the Gazette’s stories about Adolf Hitler. In a previous post we showed you nine Hitler covers from the 1950s and 1960s, and we know of at least a dozen more. As it happens, the story inside this particular issue isn’t only about Hitler, but about his naval commander Karl Dönitz.

Dönitz was due to be released from prison in 1956 and Gazette writer George McGrath sounds the alarm that, once sprung, the admiral planned to revive the Nazi empire. Dönitz had indeed been specifically mentioned in Hitler’s last will and testament as a successor, but a lost war, a discredited movement, and ten years behind bars will tend to have a detrimental effect on even an admiral’s ambitions.

After his release Dönitz settled in the village of Aumühle and lived out the rest of his life in tranquility. He wrote two books and corresponded with memorabilia collectors, but basically stayed out of the limelight. He died in December 1980 aged eighty-nine and was buried having made no attempt to conquer the world (again). So the Gazette got that one wrong. It wasn’t the first time, and it wouldn’t be the last. 

Fast Layne ends, merges with slower traffic.

We love The National Police Gazette’s bloody, photo-illustrated boxing covers, which means we were happy when we located this March 1951 issue featuring Rex Layne, an ex-Army staff sergeant and beet farmer, who tried his luck as a professional boxer. The Gazette touts him as the ring’s next big thing, and why not? He started 17-0. Unfortunately he would lose more than half of his remaining bouts, including one with Rocky Marciano in which a lethal right by the Rock sent Layne’s mouthpiece across the canvas and broke off four of his teeth at the gumline. Needless to say, that was the end of the fight. See a photo from the bout below, along with a couple more Gazette pages. 

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HISTORY REWIND

The headlines that mattered yesteryear.

1924—Dion O'Banion Gunned Down

Dion O’Banion, leader of Chicago’s North Side Gang is assassinated in his flower shop by members of rival Johnny Torrio’s gang, sparking the bloody five-year war between the North Side Gang and the Chicago Outfit that culminates in the St. Valentine’s Day Massacre.

1940—Walt Disney Becomes Informer

Walt Disney begins serving as an informer for the Los Angeles office of the FBI, with instructions to report on Hollywood subversives. He eventually testifies before HUAC, where he fingers several people as Communist agitators. He also accuses the Screen Actors Guild of being a Communist front.

1921—Einstein Wins Nobel

German theoretical physicist Albert Einstein is awarded the Nobel Prize for his work with the photoelectric effect, a phenomenon in which electrons are emitted from matter as a consequence of their absorption of energy from electromagnetic radiation. In practical terms, the phenomenon makes possible such devices as electroscopes, solar cells, and night vision goggles.

1938—Kristallnacht Begins

Nazi Germany’s first large scale act of anti-Jewish violence begins after the assassination of German diplomat Ernst vom Rath by Herschel Grynszpan. The event becomes known as Kristallnacht, and in total the violent rampage destroys more than 250 synagogues, causes the deaths of nearly a hundred Jews, and results in 25,000 to 30,000 more being arrested and sent to concentration camps.

1923—Hitler Stages Revolt

In Munich, Germany, Adolf Hitler leads the Nazis in the Beer Hall Putsch, an unsuccessful attempt to overthrow the German government. Also known as the Hitlerputsch or the Hitler-Ludendorff-Putsch, the attempted coup was inspired by Benito Mussolini’s successful takeover of the Italian government.

1932—Roosevelt Unveils CWA

U.S. President Franklin D. Roosevelt unveils the Civil Works Administration, an organization designed to create temporary winter jobs for more than 4 million of the unemployed.

A collection of red paperback covers from Dutch publisher De Vrije Pers.
Uncredited art for Hans Lugar's Line-Up! for Scion American publishing.
Uncredited cover art for Lesbian Gym by Peggy Swenson, who was in reality Richard Geis.

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