• Hitler’s nephew, William Hitler, served in the U.S. Navy during the Second World War, and changed his name after the war to William Patrick Stuart-Houston. He died in 1987.
• Hitler said of his moustache “If it is not the fashion now, it will be later because I wear it!”
• Hugo Boss designed the SS uniforms, and was a member of the Nazi party.
• Hitler said that Henry Ford (founder of the famous car manufacturers) was an inspiration to him. He even kept a framed photo of Henry Ford on his desk.
• Some Nazi rally techniques were inspired by American cheerleading squads, as seen by a friend of Hitler’s who studied at Harvard.
• You could say that Hitler invented the Volkswagen. ‘Volk’ means ‘people’ or ‘nation’, and he sought to create a ‘people’s car’, which in German would translate to ‘Volkswagen’.
• Churchill was known to do a very good gorilla impression.
• A Japanese lieutenant, Hiroo Onoda, was fighting in an island in the Philippines when the war ended, along with three other soldiers. They were unconvinced by the leaflets that were dropped from planes, believing it to be Allied propaganda. They remained on the island, and carried on fighting anyone they encountered. Onoda was the only one left by 1972. He was discovered by a Japanese man in 1974, and he surrendered after 29 years. He died in January 2014.
• During the Second World War, hamburgers were called ‘Liberty Steaks’ in America because ‘hamburger’ sounded too German.
• Japan and Russia never officially declared an end to their conflict in the Second World War. They are still disputing some islands in the Pacific.
• Both Churchill and Hitler painted as a hobby. They were also both very good at it.
• According to the ‘Weekly World News’ (April 2nd 1985), Monopoly board games were sent by the Red Cross to Prisoners of War in Germany to help them escape. These were disguised as care packages, and often had real money in them. “‘The job was to make Monopoly sets into whose boards were inserted maps showing escape routes from the particular prison to which each game was sent… Into the other side of the board was inserted a tiny compass and several fine quality files.’ Real money to be used by escapees was smuggled in – disguised as Monopoly money.” Victor Watson – chairman of the company that manufactures Monopoly in Britain (John Waddington Co.)
• Oscar winners were not given the traditional statuettes during the Second World War. They were instead given painted plaster ones, which were replaced after the war.
• The German submarine U-1206 allegedly sunk as a result of malfunctioning toilet.
• Churchill was half-American on his mother’s side, and his paternal grandmother was related to George Washington.
• The American President Roosevelt drove the limo previously owned by the American gangster Al Capone. He needed a bulletproof car, and this was the only one available.
• Churchill would often conduct important meetings and discussions from his bedroom, lying in bed.
• During the war, American radio DJs were not allowed to take requests from listeners, since the government believed foreign spies would use requests to pass secret messages.
• Hitler was a vegetarian.
Sources:
• Paul Garson, 2012, New Images of Nazi Germany: A Photographic Collection. North Carolina: McFarland and Co. Inc.
• Stephen Ambrose, 2001, The Good Fight: How World War II Was Won. New York: Athenium Books.
• Timothy Benford, 1999, The World War II Quiz and Fact Book. New York: Random House.
• Williamson Murray and Allan Millet, 2001, A War to Be Won: Fighting the Second World War. Cambridge: Belknap Press of Harvard University Press.
• Weekly World News, April 2nd 1985. (Monopoly).
• http://www.military-history.org/fact-file/wwii-interesting-facts.htm
• http://www.military-history.org/articles/winston-churchill-facts-10-little-known-facts.htm
• http://www.military-history.org/fact-file/hitler-facts-10-little-known-facts.htm
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