Found this while flicking through a copy of Homes and Gardens from November 1938. Shows how not all corners of the UK were against the Fuhrer at that time.
I was struck by this: the prose of the article makes one think that Hitler is just another politician or captain of industry. The mention of a “Fun Fairs” where he hosted the local children is almost too much to believe, as is the fawning praise of his watercolors.
In my final year of university, I wrote a paper analyzing how Country Life magazine, the journal of England’s landed gentry, handled the First World War. It was interesting to read how little mention it got at all, until the summer of 1916, when bloodbaths like the Battle of the Somme were likely to be felt everywhere, in every class and community.
This seems consistent, that people at a certain status level think things can be worked out reasonably. I think that was a problem for George H W Bush and the former ruler of Iraq. He couldn’t really get his mind around the brutality, being fundamentally a genteel and well-bred fellow.
So I just checked out Country Life and found this posting. [text follows, in case the link goes away]
Well, I trust that they have decapitated the two runts of Hussain’s [sic] loins, this whole episode will now end. I remember fighting the last Gulf War and it was not exactly pretty- however if the Yanks had let us fininsh [sic] the job last time that Country would be a rich little oil well with some rather nice places to play a la the old Lebanon.
Oh well, such is life..anyone else think this whole thing is a ridiculous affair and has been organised rather like a village fate [sic] ..most vicar’s [sic] could have done a better job and at half the cost.
Must fly.
TTFN
Evidently, not everyone has gotten the news that the sun has set on the British Empire . . . . it’s obvious the education system isn’t what it was.
I have often wondered about reviving that paper and seeing where else it could lead.