World War II As It Happened
A MaritimeQuest Daily Event Special Presentation
Thursday, November 9, 1939
Day 70

November 9, 1939: Front page of The Manchester Evening News, Manchester, England.
(Click on the image for a readable version.)
 
The top story around the world was the assassination attempt on Adolf Hitler.
A bomb was placed at the Bürgerbräukeller in Munich in anticipation of Adolf Hitler giving a speech there on Nov. 8th, the anniversary of the Beer Hall Putsch. The Bürgerbräukeller was where the Nazi's launched their failed attempt to overthrow the government on Nov. 8-9, 1923. In the fight more than a dozen Nazis were killed and several wounded, including Hermann Göring. Hitler was later arrested and imprisoned for treason. It was while he was in prison that he, Rudolf Hess and several of their cohorts wrote the Nazi bible, Mein Kampf.

Since the Nazi rise to power an annual celebration was held at the Bürgerbräukeller, it was an easy target to pick, especially since Hitler spoke there every year. However Hitler almost did not attend because he was too busy with the war. In the end he decided he would attend, but left early in order to get back to Berlin. The bomb was placed there by Johann Georg Elser, a German communist, who was arrested, tortured by the Gestapo and sent to Dachau, where he survived until April of 1945 when he was executed.

In the aftermath Hitler and his Propaganda Minister Joseph Goebbels blamed the usual suspects, the British, the Allies and of course the Jews, none of which was true. There is no accurate accounting of how many people were arrested, tortured and murdered in the "investigation" into the plot, but it is fair to say the numbers were high. The bomb not only failed to kill Hitler, it actually emboldened him into believing that he was saved by "providence" to be the nearly immortal leader of the the Thousand Year Reich.


November 9, 1939: Front page of The Leeds Mercury, Leeds, England.
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November 9, 1939: Front page of the Press and Journal, Aberdeen, Scotland.
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Note that several reports claimed that Rudolf Hess was thought to have been killed. None of the top Nazi echelon were present when the explosion occurred, they had all left with Hitler or shortly thereafter.


November 9, 1939: Front page of The Star, Sheffield, England.
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November 9, 1939: Front page of The Lethbridge Herald, Lethbridge, Alberta, Canada.
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November 9, 1939: Front page of The Winnipeg Tribune, Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada.
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November 9, 1939: Front page of The Sydney Sun, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia.
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November 9, 1939: Front page of Het Volksdagblad, Amsterdam, Netherlands. (Dutch communist paper.)
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November 9, 1939: Front page of The Abilene Reporter-News, Abilene, Texas.
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November 9, 1939: Front page of The Bakersfield Californian, Bakersfield, California.
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November 9, 1939: Front page of The Hammond Times, Hammond, Indiana.
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November 9, 1939: Front page of The Butte Montana Standard, Butte, Montana.
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November 9, 1939: Front page of the Nevada Standard Journal, Reno, Nevada.
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November 9, 1939: Front page of The Port Arthur, News, Port Arthur, Texas.
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November 9, 1939: Front page of Briesetal-Bote, Birkenwerder, Germany.
(Click on the image for a readable version.)
1. Durch Opfer zum Sieg!
(Victory through sacrifice!)
2. Anschlag auf den Bürgerbräukeller.
(Attack on the Bürgerbräukeller.)


November 9, 1939: Front page of the Rheinsberger Zeitung, Rheinsberg District, Germany.
(Click on the image for a readable version.)
(Much the same headlines as the paper above.)


November 9, 1939: Front page of The Hamburger Neueste Zeitung, Altona, Hamburg, Germany.
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1. Feindliche Angriffe im Western abgewiesen.
(Enemy attacks in the west repulsed.)
 
2. Des Führers Wille unbeugsam!
(The Führer's will is indomitable!)
3. 8 Tote beim Münchener Sprengstoffanschlag.
(8 dead in Munich bomb attack.)



   
Page published Nov. 9, 2020