Third Reich Day by Day: October 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.

22 October

Germany, Diplomacy

Nazi supporters the Duke and Duchess of Windsor arrive in Berlin to ingratiate themselves with Germany’s leaders.
Nazi supporters the Duke and Duchess of Windsor arrive in Berlin to ingratiate themselves with Germany’s leaders.

Nazi leaders, including Hitler’s adjutant, SA-Obergruppenführer Wilhelm Brückner, are among the party who wait on the platform to meet the Duke and Duchess of Windsor as they arrive in Berlin. Flowers and cries of “Heil Edward” greet the couple from the large crowds that throng the station to watch. Dr Robert Ley, leader of Hitler’s Labour Front, hands the Duchess a bouquet of pink and yellow roses. The Duke and Duchess of Windsor later meet the Führer. They are ostensibly in Berlin to “study social conditions and housing problems”. They visit the first “National Socialist model factory”, where they lunch with the workers before attending a concert given by the Nazi district orchestra.