Nazi Germany was a nasty place to be and a horrible regime to be involved with. That much is
obvious to all but the furthest to the right on the political spectrum, but without ignoring the
crimes of the abominable administration it is possible to marvel at some of the stranger aspects
of their belief system.Here are 10 of the most surprising things we now know about Adolf Hitler
and his cronies.
1. They were animal lovers
That’s right, animal lovers. While the Nazis may have been brutal to their fellow man with absolute disregard for morality and decency, they couldn’t abide animals coming into harm’s way. Many Nazi leaders, including Hitler and Hermann Göring, were ardent supporters of animal rights and conservation. Hitler himself was a vegetarian and was said to have despised any form of animal cruelty.
Education on animal protection laws was introduced at all school levels, the Reich Hunting Law was enacted limiting hunting of animals, and animal testing was banned outright. If only they’d recognised that humans are animals too, perhaps a lot of bloodshed could have been prevented
2. They were obsessed with invading Switzerland
They did like a good invasion, that much was obvious from the Anschluss of March 1938 when the Nazis swallowed Austria. Between 1939 and June 1941 the German army invaded and occupied the Netherlands, Belgium, Luxembourg, France, Denmark, Yugoslavia, Greece, Norway and much of Poland.
One country you’ll note is missing from that list is Switzerland, which might seem odd given it’s right in the middle of Europe, and next door to Germany. Did the Nazis decide to respect their famous neutrality and leave them alone? Hardly; Hitler loathed Switzerland, calling them a “pimple of the face of Europe” in 1942 that he fully intended to eradicate. It became clear, however, that due to Switzerland being almost surrounded by perilous mountains, an invasion would be far tougher than would ultimately be worthwhile. The planned invasion was named Operation Tannenbaum but involved more German divisions than the Nazis could spare, and they eventually settled on using Switzerland as a pleasant winter retreat for the upper echelons of the army.
3. They were strongly against smoking
Ever thought of that nazi who were the cruilest of the world would be against smoking but they were as you can see in that picture
Though occasionally disputed, it is widely believed that Nazi Germany’s doctors were the first to identify the link between smoking and lung cancer. This led to the first public anti-smoking campaign in modern history, and in turn to a reduction in annual per capita smoking rates in Germany at a time when figures were sky-rocketing just about everywhere else in the world.
Several anti-smoking laws were put in place by the Nazis. In 1938, the Luftwaffe and the Reichspost imposed a ban on smoking among their members. Smoking was banned in health care institutions, several public offices and in rest homes, while midwives were restricted from smoking while on duty. In 1939, the Nazi Party outlawed smoking in all of its offices premises, and Heinrich Himmler restricted police personnel and SS officers from smoking while they were on duty. Smoking was also outlawed in schools and in trams.
4. They planned to breed giant rabbits
You’ve read that correctly: giant rabbits. Operation Munchkin was a bizarre Nazi plan to breed giant Angora rabbits in concentration camps, in order to provide fur-lined clothing for Hitler’s armed forces. Evidently correctly betting on a tough winter ahead for German troops on the Eastern Front, Heinrich Himmler came up with the idea for utilising rabbits for wool production after reading of a small-scale scheme that was started during the First World War. He wrote at the time: “Throughout Europe it is my intention to establish breeding stations in concentration camps”, and keeping with the Nazis’ love of animals decreed that they should be kept in pens where they had “plenty of space”.
A chart in his book counted 6,500 rabbits by the end of 1941 and 25,000 by 1943. Ultimately, however, the total amount of wool collected amounted to less than five tons, and the plan was dropped as the Nazis increasingly concentrated on their imminent defeat.
5. Hitler was a joker
He loved a good jape did Adolf, according to Rochus Misch, who served as telephonist in the Berlin bunker and doubled up as a bodyguard for the dictator. Misch claimed in his 2008 memoir that Hitler had “a small fund of jokes” that he adored telling repeatedly, to an increasingly weary crowd of sycophants.
They included this hilarious routine:One day, Mrs. Goering came into the bedchamber and found her husband waving his Field Marshall‘s baton over his underwear. “Hermann, darling, what are you doing?” she enquired. “I am promoting my underpants to overpants!”Nurse, my sides.
He was particularly fond of winding up colleagues in the German high command, Goering most often bearing the brunt but official photographer Heinrich Hoffmann also taking some stick. Such a shame that Hitler didn’t choose to develop his obvious comedy talents after World War I, rather than his megalomania.