Long-lost diary of top Hitler aide offers window into Nazi soul

By Myles Miller

WILMINGTON, Delaware (Reuters) - U.S. officials on Thursday unveiled the 400-page diary of Alfred Rosenberg, a top aide to Adolf Hitler, who oversaw the genocide against Jews and others during World War Two.

The diary disappeared after the Nuremberg trials in 1946, sparking a nearly 70-year hunt that ended on April 5 in the upstate New York town of Lewiston, at the home of an academic named Herbert Richardson.

The diary pages, hand-written in German and not yet completely translated into English by scholars, offers a broader look at the Third Reich's policies and practices, as well as an unvarnished account of a Nazi leader's thoughts, authorities said at a news conference on Thursday.

"These 400 pages are a window into the dark soul of one of the great wrongs in human history," said John Morton, director of U.S. Immigrations and Customs Enforcement, which investigates cases of missing cultural property. "It's significant because, as time marches on, there are fewer living witnesses of what happened during the Holocaust. We still don't know the full extent."

Pages of the diary, which will eventually be turned over to the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum in Washington, D.C., were shown to reporters, including one entry dated April 1941.

Rosenberg describes walking alone after "an important meeting" with Hitler, who told him: "Your great hour has come."

Museum senior adviser Henry Mayer, who had been searching for the diary for 17 years, noted Rosenberg did not elaborate in the entry.

"What Hitler described was so great, he couldn't put it down," Mayer told reporters.

U.S. officials have long suspected that a prosecutor, Robert Kempner, smuggled the diary back to the United States after the Nuremberg trial.

Born in Germany, Kempner fled to America in the 1930s to escape the Nazis, only to return for post-war trials. He is credited with helping reveal the existence of the Wannsee Protocol, the 1942 conference during which Nazi officials met to coordinate the extermination of the Jews, which they termed "The Final Solution."

Kempner cited a few Rosenberg diary excerpts in his memoir and in 1956 a German historian published entries from 1939 and 1940. But the bulk of the diary never surfaced.

After his death in 1993, heirs to his estate agreed to forfeit his possessions to the U.S. holocaust museum, but that agreement hit road blocks and the diary was never found.

However in 1999, when cleaning out Kempner's home in suburban Philadelphia, a man found 40 boxes of documents, including papers outlining the Nazi's "aggressive war against and the plundering, spoliation and the economic exploitation of the Soviet Union by the Nazi regime," according to a 2003 court filing. But the diary was not among the materials.

"That was what we were looking for, that's what was so frustrating," said Robert Wittman, the founder of the FBI's Art Crime Team, and now a private art security consultant.

In recent months, Wittman and his son, Jeffrey, helped ICE locate the diary in New York.

The diary offers Rosenberg's recollections from the spring of 1936 to the winter of 1944, according to an analysis by the Holocaust museum. Most entries are written in Rosenberg's looping cursive, some on paper torn from a ledger book and others on the back of official Nazi stationery, according to a U.S. government analysis obtained by Reuters.

"Although it is a reminder of a dark time, the Rosenberg Diary is important to our understanding of history," said U.S. Attorney Charles M. Oberly. "Our hope is that it will provide valuable insight to historians."

(Additional reporting by John Shiffman in Washington.; Editing by Barbara Goldberg and Andre Grenon)

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Commuters say teakettle billboard looks like Hitler

Do you see Adolf Hitler in the shape of this teakettle? (JCPenney.com)A billboard along the 405 Freeway in Southern California is generating all sorts of buzz. But the cause of the attention does not exactly align with the intended effect. That’s because a number of people are saying the new JCPenney teakettle bears a striking resemblance to Adolf Hitler.

The teakettle in question is formerly known as the “Bells and Whistles Stainless Steel Tea Kettle” and is part of JCPenney’s Michael Graves-designed kitchenware line.

CBS LA reports that the billboard has caught the attention of some Reddit users who say the curvature of the handle resembles the hairline of the former Nazi leader.

“I stare at this from my office building every day and now I can tell my co-workers that I’m not the only one who saw the Hitler in the bells and whistles sign!” wrote user Tishacombs.

In fact, a number of comments are actually suggesting that the company intentionally made the teakettle resemble Hitler just to stir up attention. That, of course, makes very little sense. But it hasn’t stopped people from speculating.

“Well, look at us - we're all looking at and sharing a picture of an advertisement,” writes user LevTolstoy. "If it was done on purpose to get people's attention, but keep the ability to deny doing it on purpose, it's brilliant.”

Of course, most people aren’t taking the billboard too seriously. Americablog author John Aravosis says it looks more like the Eric Cartman character from “South Park” dressed as Hitler. Which, given Cartman’s endless series of anti-Semitic commentary, might make more sense.

JCPenney has yet to comment on the advertisement. Perhaps it's letting the product speak for itself. After all, the teakettle is currently getting overwhelmingly positive reviews from customers on the JCPenney website.

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Adolf Hitler stumping for votes in Indian elections

GAUHATI, India (AP)-Adolf Hitler is running for elections in India. So is Frankenstein.

Small Northeast State of Meghalaya has a special charm for interesting names and sometimes controversial and ballot for state elections Saturday, is proof.

Among the 345 candidates running for the State Assembly are Frankenstein Momin, Billykid Sangma, field Marshal Mawphniang and Romeo Rani. Some, like Kenedy Marak, Kennedy Khyriem and Jhim Carter Cornelius Sangma, are clearly hoping for the electoral success of their American Presidents.

Then there is Hitler.

This 54 year old father of three has won three elections for the State Assembly with little controversy over being named after the Nazi dictator.

His father had served with the British army, but apparently developed enough of a fascination with the archenemy of Britain to name his son Adolf Hitler — although gave him the middle name Lu, Hitler said.

"I realize at some point of time that Adolf Hitler was the most hated person on Earth for the genocide of the Jews. But my father added ' Lu ', naming me Lu of Adolf Hitler, and that is why I am different, "Hitler told the Associated Press from the small village of Mansingre, 200 kilometers (125 miles) West of Gauhati, the capital of the neighboring state of Assam.

Hitler said that his name has not ceased to travel the globe, including United States and Germany.

"I've never had problems obtaining a visa, but I have been asked many times during immigration as to why I should have a name. I said the immigration staff who possibly did not have a role in my name, "he said.

India had thousands of troops fighting alongside the allies in World War II, especially in North Africa and Burma, but many Indians View Hitler not as the personification of evil, but as a figure of fascination. Hitler's book "Mein Kampf" is clearly visible in many Indian libraries. The owner of a men's clothing store named his shop "Hitler" and has expressed concerns last year after Israel complained.

Musfika Haq, a teacher in the capital of Meghalaya, Shillong, said that these names are common in the State.

"Parents obviously get fascinated by well-known names or great leader, but should be aware that some of them, like Hitler, was highly controversial," he said.

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