‘Holiday’ reading, for me, is a chance to dip into those guilty pleasure books that you know you will be looked down upon as being kinda ‘low brow’ for your choices….
True confession time then – these ‘holidays’ I consumed not one, not two, but THREE Wilbur Smith (9 January 1933 to 13 November 2021) books.
Side Note: Wilbur Smith attended Rhodes University in Grahamstown and graduated with a Bachelor of Commerce Degree in 1954. Following graduation, he joined the Goodyear Tires and Rubber Co in Port Elizabeth, where he worked until 1958.
Continuing the Port Elizabeth connection – Smith was working for his father when he married his first wife, Anne Rennie, a secretary, in a Presbyterian Church on 5 July 1957 in Salisbury, Southern Rhodesia. The marriage ended in 1962. Smith had a son and daughter, Shaun and Christian, with Rennie who continues to reside in Port Elizabeth.
And, in Courtney’s War – the last Wilbur Smith book I re-read this holiday there were two references to Hitler being a vegetarian.
Now, as a Vegan, I must confess to feeling somewhat disturbed that a historical butcher of millions would be a vegetarian along with all that implies with respect for animals and fellow humans.
So the answer to whether Adolf Hitler (1889–1945) was a vegetarian or not is also a little clouded with online sources being pretty divided.
The question of whether Adolf Hitler was a vegetarian is a topic of debate among historians and biographers.
According to Wikipedia Hitler’s doctors put him on a meat-free diet in 1938, and his public image as a vegetarian was fostered. From 1942, he self-identified as a vegetarian.
Personal accounts from people who knew Hitler and were familiar with his diet indicate that he did not consume meat as part of his diet during this period, as several contemporaneous witnesses—such as Albert Speer (in his memoirs, Inside the Third Reich)—noted that Hitler used vivid and gruesome descriptions of animal suffering and slaughter at the dinner table to try to dissuade his colleagues from eating meat. An examination carried out by French scientists on a fragment of Hitler’s skull in 2018 found no traces of meat fibre in the tartar on Hitler’s teeth.
Dietary Preference: Hitler is often described as having adopted a vegetarian diet, especially later in his life, due to his reported love for animals and a dislike for meat. However, this assertion varies in clarity.
Health Reasons: Some sources suggest that Hitler’s shift towards vegetarianism was influenced by health issues, including digestive problems, which made it difficult for him to digest meat.
Contemporary Accounts: Many people who interacted with him, including his close associates, claimed he was a vegetarian.
Discrepancies: However, there are accounts indicating that he occasionally consumed meat, particularly in the earlier part of his life.
Propaganda Use: Hitler’s vegetarianism was sometimes used as propaganda to portray him as a more humane leader, especially in light of his brutal regime and the atrocities committed during the Holocaust.
While there is considerable evidence to suggest that Hitler identified as a vegetarian, especially in his later years, the extent and consistency of this dietary choice are still subjects of historical discussion.
Despite Hitler’s plans to convert Germany to vegetarianism after the war, some authors have questioned Hitler’s commitment to the vegetarian cause due to the Nazi ban on vegetarian societies and the persecution of their leaders. However, the Nazi ban of non-Nazi organisations was widespread: all opposition political parties were banned, independent trade unions were replaced by Nazi equivalents, while non-government organisations and associations ranging from women’s groups to film societies were either dissolved or incorporated into new organisations under the control of the Nazi leadership. The Nazi regime also introduced animal welfare laws which were unparalleled at the time.
Alan Straton
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