Downs Reports from West Germany
 |
| "The hunger-winter of 1947, thousands protest in West Germany against the disastrous food situation (March 31, 1947). The sign says: We want coal, we want bread." (source) |
MADE IN GERMANY
Bill Downs, who went back over the American invasion route through Europe to gather human interest material for the C.B.S. Documentary Unit's "We Went Back," heard the following Nazi propaganda "anecdote" from various individuals in the American Zone of Germany:—
A hungry burgher heard that suspected Nazis, being held for questioning by the denazification courts, are relatively well fed. So he decided to get himself arrested.
On his first try he entered a baker's shop and intoned: "Heil Hitler." The baker silenced him, then whispered: "So you're one of us! Here's a loaf of bread."
The bread gone, the burgher repeated his effort in a butcher's shop. The butcher shouted: "Silence, you fool," then whispered: "Here are some sausages, sieg heil."
On his third try the now baffled burgher approached a policeman and shouted: "Heil Hitler." The policeman glowered, and growled: "It is forbidden to say such things." Then quietly he added: "There's a meeting to-night. Will you join us?"
