On July 19, 1940, fresh from his victorious campaigns on the Western Front, German Führer and Reich Chancellor Adolf Hitler delivered his “peace speech” to the Reichstag in Berlin’s Kroll Opera House. Among those present was American Columbia Broadcasting System radio journalist William L. Shirer.
Fascist Entertainment, Italian-Style
In his memoir, Berlin Diary, Shirer recalled, “Count [Galeazzo] Ciano, who was rushed up from Rome to put the seal of Axis authority on Hitler’s ‘offer’ of peace to Britain, was the clown of the evening. In his gray and black Fascist militia uniform, he sat in the first row of the diplomatic box, and jumped up constantly like a jack-in-the-box every time Hitler paused for breath, to give the Fascist salute.
Hitler quashed the rescue of Count Galeazzo Ciano from Fascist execution, allowing the publication of his controversial diaries.
“He had a text of the speech in his hand, but it was probably in Italian, so that he was not following Hitler’s words. Without the slightest pretext, he would hop to his heels and expand in a salute. Could not help noticing how high-strung Ciano is. He kept working his jaws, and he was not chewing gum.”
