The distinguish Greg Peterson took the stage to introduce probably one of, if not the best World War II historians in the country, Dr. Gerhard Weinberg. Dr. Weinberg is an international authority on Nazi Germany and wrote the bible on World War II. Weinberg is the William Rand Kenan, Jr. Professor Emeritus of History at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.
Dr. Weinberg was born in 1928 in Hanover, Germany. In recounting his experiences as a child in Nazi Germany, Dr. Weinberg remembered how school was very unpleasant. He would get taunted and beaten because he was Jewish. He wanted to learn to swim but swimming places were closed to Jews. Downtown restaurants would not serve Jewish people. Most social gatherings were closed to Jews. Jews were not even able to drive either. Restrictions were increasing as the Nazis gained more power. Decided they had no future in Germany and were able to immigrate to the United States via the United Kingdom in 1941.
Dr. Weinberg was born in 1928 in Hanover, Germany. In recounting his experiences as a child in Nazi Germany, Dr. Weinberg remembered how school was very unpleasant. He would get taunted and beaten because he was Jewish. He wanted to learn to swim but swimming places were closed to Jews. Downtown restaurants would not serve Jewish people. Most social gatherings were closed to Jews. Jews were not even able to drive either. Restrictions were increasing as the Nazis gained more power. Decided they had no future in Germany and were able to immigrate to the United States via the United Kingdom in 1941.
Dr. Weinberg Weinberg has studied the foreign policy of National Socialist Germany and the Second World War for his entire professional life. He has also written close to a dozen books on World War II history and Nazi Germany. Dr. Weinberg was involved in much research and had exclusive access to documents from Nazi Germany. In the Summer of 1958 when working on a research project, Dr. Weinberg ran across what others were declaring was a partial draft of Mein Kampf. The manuscript was another book Adolph Hitler had been working on in 1928. A typed draft of dictated notes had been kept in the Nazi Party publishing house in a safe. Hitler had never given permission for publication. The book was published in 1962 in German. And, for 20 years, Dr. Weinberg attempted to have the book published in English, which he was finally successful at doing.
What a fascinating and informative talk!