Third Reich Day by Day: April 1937

Germany and Italy had not always been close allies; indeed, during the early 1930s Mussolini had moved troops up to the Austrian border to deter Hitler from influencing events in Austria. However, Hitler had supported Mussolini’s war in Ethiopia and both dictators found themselves supporting the anti-communist cause in Spain. It was, therefore, perhaps logistical that they should ultimately become allies. That process was cemented by the Duce’s historic trip to Germany in 1937, when the Nazis pulled out all the stops to win over Italy’s leader.

April

Germany, Local Government

Minister of the Interior Wilhelm Frick, who carried out a cosmetic exercise to prevent aid to Franco.

Carl Gördeler resigns as Mayor of Leipzig. Formally a Nazi supporter, he has become disillusioned by rearmament and growing anti-Semitism.

20 April

Nazi Party, Personalities

The dour Walther Funk, who replaced Schacht. Schacht described him as "a harmless homosexual and alcoholic".

On the occasion of his 48th birthday, Hitler receives the good wishes and an expensive hand-crafted SS sword bearing the inscription: “In good times and bad, we will always be the same”, from the leadership corps of the SS.

26 April

Spain, German aid

The bombers of the German Luftwaffe are sent to help Franco destroy Guernica, the cultural and spiritual home of the Basques. It is market day and the square is crowded when the bombers, Heinkel He 111s and Junker Ju 52s, escorted by fighters, appear and pound Guernica with high explosives. They then set the town alight with incendiary bombs and strafe it with machine-gun fire. Eyewitnesses later tell of the death that rained down on them. The bombing has shocked the world.

There were military targets in Guernica: it was a communications centre and it had a munitions factory. But there is no evidence that the German bombers aimed for them. They simply unloaded their bombs indiscriminately on this undefended town.