This is part of the timeline I'm working on, with the main POD being the British victory in America in 1777.
In Europe, Britain's Queen Victoria became the first Electoress of Hanover and so Hanover is part of the United (British) Empire. It's position was the main reason for Britain's alliance with France in the Franco-Prussian war of 1870. The result was a Franco-British victory, which saw Hanover add Oldenburg and Hamburg. Bismarck's dream of German unification was shattered, although the North German confederation continued, and was to eventually unify. The south German states of Bavaria and Baden-Wurttemburg are Franco-British allies.
Franco-Prussian hostilities over Morocco help to spark the War of 1915 and following another defeat, the (North) German Confederation suffers Socio-Economic problems, bringing Franz Seldte's far-right Vaterland Partei to power.
Across the Atlantic, a minority of the CBA's sizable German-American population are inspired by Seldte's Pan-Germanism.
Hitler, Adolf (1889 – 1960)
Born: Paterson, New Jersey, Confederation of British America, April 20, 1889.
Adolf Hitler was the third child of his parents Alois Hitler and Klara Pölzl. The first two siblings, Gustav and Ida died as infants, although two younger siblings, Edmund Hitler and Paula Hitler followed. This was Alois’ third marriage, and although his first to Anna Glass, ended in a separation without children, his second to Franziska Matzelsberger meant that Adolf had two older half-siblings, Alois Hitler and Angela Hitler.
In June 1887, the Hitlers left their home in Braunau-am-Inn on the frontier between Austria and Bavaria, where Alois had been employed as a customs official since 1855 and emigrated to the Confederation of British America, settling in Paterson, New Jersey. As a child, Adolf had a difficult relationship with his father who died in 1903 when Adolf was 14 years old. His school reports indicate that Adolf was an imaginative pupil, but that his initial enthusiasm soon evapourated due to a short attention span. One former teacher described Adolf as having an arrogant personality and accused him of “fancying himself as a leader”.
Following his graduation from Grammar School in 1907, Adolf enrolled at the City College of New York, on an Architecture Degree. However he dropped out at the end of his first year due to poor grades.
Adolf spent much of the following six years as a casual labourer in New York City, where he lived in men’s Hostels, and occassionally returned to nearby Paterson to visit his mother. He often made money by selling crude landscapes, which he had painted himself. Those who knew him at this time describe a shy and moody young man who never smoked nor drank. It is known that he spent a lot of time visiting public libraries, where he would read on topics as diverse as Ancient Rome, Eastern Religions, Yoga, Occultism and Astrology. During this period, his hatred of Jews also began to grow. He wrote a letter which was published in the New York Times on March 12, 1911, berating them as “scheming, money-grabbing, blood-sucking zionists…whose aim it is to bastardise the entire white race.”
The outbreak of war in 1915 angered Hitler, who regarded it as:
“an attempt by foreign nations, controlled by Jewish interests to turn German against German. Austrian against Saxon, Prussian against Bavarian, Rhinelander against Württemburger…with the aim that any feeling and any notion of Germaness shall be completely destroyed.”
Hitler was later to attribute this time as one which crystalised his belief that all German peoples should be united under one Reich.
Although no troops from the CBA were sent to Europe, they remained on standby to be sent at any time. As a result, all men between the ages of 16 and 40 were required to undergo part time military training and were held in reserve. Hitler demonstrated his contempt for the war by continuously failing to attend military training classes and as a result was eventually sentenced to three months in Rahway Prison in New Jersey.
Following his release, Hilter found work in a German bookshop in Paterson, owned by a family friend. It was here that Hitler met a young student named Josef (Joey) Goebbels, who had emigrated to Paterson from Rhineland at the age of 5. Goebbels shared Hitler’s anti-Semtism and became influenced by his pan-German nationalism.
As Prussia became gripped by social, poltical and econmonic problems following its defeat in the War of 1915, Hitler’s political activities increased. Both he and Goebbels revelled at the newspaper accounts of the violent supression of the German Spartacists by the Freikorps, whom he described as “men of honour”. Inspired by Franz Seldte’s formation of the extreme-right wing, anti-Semitic, Pan-German, Vaterland Partei, Hitler formed the Deutsches Volk von Amerika, or German People of America movement (DVA) in October 1920, with Goebbels as his deputy, and like the Vaterlanders and Freikorps, he adopted the Swastika as its emblem. Goebbels had encouraged Hitler to speak, and with his new found gift as an orator and Goebbels sense of drama, membership of the DVA rose steadily, particularly amongst young men of Prussian origins. However it should be noted that the vast majority of the German community in America came to hate and despise the DVA and what it stood for.
Following Franz Seldte’s infamous visit to the CBA in 1924, as a private citizen attending some private speaking engagements, both Hitler and Goebbels were invited to Berlin, where they were asked by Seldte to act as the American wing of the Vaterland Partei. Back in America, Hilter was found guilty of ‘inciting hatred’ following a DVA rally in Philadelphia which ended in a riot during July 1927. He was sentenced to 18 months in prison, along with Goebbels and several other DVA members. On October 6, 1930, Hitler survived an assassination attempt by a 20 year old Jewish student, Joshua Goldberg, during a speech in Staten Island, New York. A reprisal attack followed on December 15, 1930, the first day of Hanukkah, when Erich Stogel, a DVA member planted a bomb in a packed synagogue in Brooklyn, killing 167 people and injuring over 400 others. The following day a special session of the Confederational Parliament in Potomac City immediately banned the DVA movement and their property and possessions were impounded, including Hitler’s home.
In February 1931, Hitler and Goebbels assumed fake identities and were able to flee the CBA to Berlin, via Madrid and Zürich. Both were given high ranking positions within the Vaterlanders, Hitler as one of the party’s key speakers, and Goebbels as the party head of Propaganda.
In 1934, Hitler travelled to Austria where he met with Vaterlander allies, Arthur Seyss-Inquart, leader of the Deutsche Osterreich Partei (German Austria Party) and Konrad Henlein leader of the Sudetendeutsche Partei (Sudeten German Party). The trip gave Hitler the opportunity to visit Spital, his ancestral home, and Braunau-am-Inn where his parents had emigrated from.
Following the 1937 coup, which brough Seldte and the Vaterland Partei to power, Hitler’s rallying speeches became a regular feature of the state-controlled radio, and following the outbreak of war, he began to broadcast English language propaganda aimed at a British audience. His broadcasts became famous throughout Britain, Ireland and the CBA and his catchphrase was mimicked by millions – complete with his distinctive New Jersey accent: “Dis is Joimany callin’”.
As the Allied forces began closing in on Berlin, Hitler and several other leading Vaterland officials fled to Madrid, where he was protected by the right wing regime of Spanish dictator, José Antonio Primo de Rivera. In 1952, Hitler left Madrid for the Spanish colony of Cuba, where he became a close friend of Cuba’s governor, General Francisco Franco.
On the evening of May 18, 1960, Hitler was amongst the guests of a dinner party held by Franco at the Governor’s mansion in Havana. Hitler, Franco and all those present were killed by the bomb which had been planted by the Allied-backed Cuban Freedom Fighter, Fidel Castro.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
Canning, Andrew, Hitler: Seldte’s Man from Jersey, New York, 1998
Castro, Fidel, ¡Cuba Libre!, Biscayne, 1982
Churchill, Winston S., The World War: The Gathering Storm, London, 1948
Clinton, William, Hitler’s Life in New Jersey, Princeton, 1970
Devlin, Patrick, I Knew Hitler, New York, 1951
Emmerling, Torsten, Hitler in Havana: Adolf Hitler in Exile, 1944-1960, Philadelphia, 2001
Hitler, Adolf, My Struggle, New York, 1929
Jackson, Robert, Dis is Joimany Callin’: A Biography of Adolf Hitler, New York, 2003
Kershaw, Ian, Seldte’s Germany, London, 1997
Kershaw, Ian, Seldte’s Henchman: Hitler, London, 2003
Saville, James, A History of Germany: 1848-1944, Potomac City, 1991
Schnitzler, K.E., The Black Channel: Germany’s Radio Propaganda, New Hanover, 1960
In Europe, Britain's Queen Victoria became the first Electoress of Hanover and so Hanover is part of the United (British) Empire. It's position was the main reason for Britain's alliance with France in the Franco-Prussian war of 1870. The result was a Franco-British victory, which saw Hanover add Oldenburg and Hamburg. Bismarck's dream of German unification was shattered, although the North German confederation continued, and was to eventually unify. The south German states of Bavaria and Baden-Wurttemburg are Franco-British allies.
Franco-Prussian hostilities over Morocco help to spark the War of 1915 and following another defeat, the (North) German Confederation suffers Socio-Economic problems, bringing Franz Seldte's far-right Vaterland Partei to power.
Across the Atlantic, a minority of the CBA's sizable German-American population are inspired by Seldte's Pan-Germanism.
ADOLF HITLER (Alternative Biography)
Born: Paterson, New Jersey, Confederation of British America, April 20, 1889.
Adolf Hitler was the third child of his parents Alois Hitler and Klara Pölzl. The first two siblings, Gustav and Ida died as infants, although two younger siblings, Edmund Hitler and Paula Hitler followed. This was Alois’ third marriage, and although his first to Anna Glass, ended in a separation without children, his second to Franziska Matzelsberger meant that Adolf had two older half-siblings, Alois Hitler and Angela Hitler.
In June 1887, the Hitlers left their home in Braunau-am-Inn on the frontier between Austria and Bavaria, where Alois had been employed as a customs official since 1855 and emigrated to the Confederation of British America, settling in Paterson, New Jersey. As a child, Adolf had a difficult relationship with his father who died in 1903 when Adolf was 14 years old. His school reports indicate that Adolf was an imaginative pupil, but that his initial enthusiasm soon evapourated due to a short attention span. One former teacher described Adolf as having an arrogant personality and accused him of “fancying himself as a leader”.
Following his graduation from Grammar School in 1907, Adolf enrolled at the City College of New York, on an Architecture Degree. However he dropped out at the end of his first year due to poor grades.
Adolf spent much of the following six years as a casual labourer in New York City, where he lived in men’s Hostels, and occassionally returned to nearby Paterson to visit his mother. He often made money by selling crude landscapes, which he had painted himself. Those who knew him at this time describe a shy and moody young man who never smoked nor drank. It is known that he spent a lot of time visiting public libraries, where he would read on topics as diverse as Ancient Rome, Eastern Religions, Yoga, Occultism and Astrology. During this period, his hatred of Jews also began to grow. He wrote a letter which was published in the New York Times on March 12, 1911, berating them as “scheming, money-grabbing, blood-sucking zionists…whose aim it is to bastardise the entire white race.”
The outbreak of war in 1915 angered Hitler, who regarded it as:
“an attempt by foreign nations, controlled by Jewish interests to turn German against German. Austrian against Saxon, Prussian against Bavarian, Rhinelander against Württemburger…with the aim that any feeling and any notion of Germaness shall be completely destroyed.”
Hitler was later to attribute this time as one which crystalised his belief that all German peoples should be united under one Reich.
Although no troops from the CBA were sent to Europe, they remained on standby to be sent at any time. As a result, all men between the ages of 16 and 40 were required to undergo part time military training and were held in reserve. Hitler demonstrated his contempt for the war by continuously failing to attend military training classes and as a result was eventually sentenced to three months in Rahway Prison in New Jersey.
Following his release, Hilter found work in a German bookshop in Paterson, owned by a family friend. It was here that Hitler met a young student named Josef (Joey) Goebbels, who had emigrated to Paterson from Rhineland at the age of 5. Goebbels shared Hitler’s anti-Semtism and became influenced by his pan-German nationalism.
As Prussia became gripped by social, poltical and econmonic problems following its defeat in the War of 1915, Hitler’s political activities increased. Both he and Goebbels revelled at the newspaper accounts of the violent supression of the German Spartacists by the Freikorps, whom he described as “men of honour”. Inspired by Franz Seldte’s formation of the extreme-right wing, anti-Semitic, Pan-German, Vaterland Partei, Hitler formed the Deutsches Volk von Amerika, or German People of America movement (DVA) in October 1920, with Goebbels as his deputy, and like the Vaterlanders and Freikorps, he adopted the Swastika as its emblem. Goebbels had encouraged Hitler to speak, and with his new found gift as an orator and Goebbels sense of drama, membership of the DVA rose steadily, particularly amongst young men of Prussian origins. However it should be noted that the vast majority of the German community in America came to hate and despise the DVA and what it stood for.
Following Franz Seldte’s infamous visit to the CBA in 1924, as a private citizen attending some private speaking engagements, both Hitler and Goebbels were invited to Berlin, where they were asked by Seldte to act as the American wing of the Vaterland Partei. Back in America, Hilter was found guilty of ‘inciting hatred’ following a DVA rally in Philadelphia which ended in a riot during July 1927. He was sentenced to 18 months in prison, along with Goebbels and several other DVA members. On October 6, 1930, Hitler survived an assassination attempt by a 20 year old Jewish student, Joshua Goldberg, during a speech in Staten Island, New York. A reprisal attack followed on December 15, 1930, the first day of Hanukkah, when Erich Stogel, a DVA member planted a bomb in a packed synagogue in Brooklyn, killing 167 people and injuring over 400 others. The following day a special session of the Confederational Parliament in Potomac City immediately banned the DVA movement and their property and possessions were impounded, including Hitler’s home.
In February 1931, Hitler and Goebbels assumed fake identities and were able to flee the CBA to Berlin, via Madrid and Zürich. Both were given high ranking positions within the Vaterlanders, Hitler as one of the party’s key speakers, and Goebbels as the party head of Propaganda.
In 1934, Hitler travelled to Austria where he met with Vaterlander allies, Arthur Seyss-Inquart, leader of the Deutsche Osterreich Partei (German Austria Party) and Konrad Henlein leader of the Sudetendeutsche Partei (Sudeten German Party). The trip gave Hitler the opportunity to visit Spital, his ancestral home, and Braunau-am-Inn where his parents had emigrated from.
Following the 1937 coup, which brough Seldte and the Vaterland Partei to power, Hitler’s rallying speeches became a regular feature of the state-controlled radio, and following the outbreak of war, he began to broadcast English language propaganda aimed at a British audience. His broadcasts became famous throughout Britain, Ireland and the CBA and his catchphrase was mimicked by millions – complete with his distinctive New Jersey accent: “Dis is Joimany callin’”.
As the Allied forces began closing in on Berlin, Hitler and several other leading Vaterland officials fled to Madrid, where he was protected by the right wing regime of Spanish dictator, José Antonio Primo de Rivera. In 1952, Hitler left Madrid for the Spanish colony of Cuba, where he became a close friend of Cuba’s governor, General Francisco Franco.
On the evening of May 18, 1960, Hitler was amongst the guests of a dinner party held by Franco at the Governor’s mansion in Havana. Hitler, Franco and all those present were killed by the bomb which had been planted by the Allied-backed Cuban Freedom Fighter, Fidel Castro.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
Canning, Andrew, Hitler: Seldte’s Man from Jersey, New York, 1998
Castro, Fidel, ¡Cuba Libre!, Biscayne, 1982
Churchill, Winston S., The World War: The Gathering Storm, London, 1948
Clinton, William, Hitler’s Life in New Jersey, Princeton, 1970
Devlin, Patrick, I Knew Hitler, New York, 1951
Emmerling, Torsten, Hitler in Havana: Adolf Hitler in Exile, 1944-1960, Philadelphia, 2001
Hitler, Adolf, My Struggle, New York, 1929
Jackson, Robert, Dis is Joimany Callin’: A Biography of Adolf Hitler, New York, 2003
Kershaw, Ian, Seldte’s Germany, London, 1997
Kershaw, Ian, Seldte’s Henchman: Hitler, London, 2003
Saville, James, A History of Germany: 1848-1944, Potomac City, 1991
Schnitzler, K.E., The Black Channel: Germany’s Radio Propaganda, New Hanover, 1960
