Some of the headlines and news stories are truly fascinating, and you really get a glimpse of what people were thinking, their fears and uncertainties from the time, while they were experiencing it.
Germany was definitely seen as a legitimate threat leading up to the war, but nobody could have predicted that they would take over most of Europe, as well as quite a chunk of Northern Africa, and that after entrenching themselves all across this corner of the globe, they would then have to be weeded out in a painful and time-consuming process. But, as we know now, that is exactly what happened.
I got these newspapers years ago, thinking that this would be very much like owning a piece of history. You get the actual news headlines from very specific dates, many decades ago. As I have said before, the events of history sometimes feel like they are etched in stone, as if there was no other way that history could have gone. That sometimes seems particularly true of huge, monumental events that went a long way towards shaping modern world history.
Such is the case with World War II. The names and events have been immortalized for such a long time, and it is hard to give serious wonder now, for those of us born after the fact, to truly grasp how it could have gone the other way.
It really could have, though.
And looking through these old newspapers, reading the headlines, and in a sense, seeing the events unfold, gives you a greater appreciation for that reality.
Of course, by the date of this particular newspaper, the events were fast coming to a decisive conclusion in the war in Europe. Germany was collapsing in on itself, the noose set up by the Allies pounding their way into the Reich from all directions. The Nazi war machine was still running, and the Wehrmacht was still fighting. But, by then, it was clearly a losing battle. At least it was clear to all but the staunchest Nazi idealogue.
Germany had been backed up from the outskirts of Moscow right back to the capital of the Reich itself, Berlin, which is described as a "Dead City". Vienna is mostly controlled by Soviet forces, and the Reich is losing ground in almost every direction. Hitler's gold has been found, and in many of the Nazi death camps had already been liberated by that point, with the biggest crime known in recorded human history being exposed to a shocked world.
We know all of this, of course.
Yet, look at this newspaper. Read the headlines, and look a little bit deeper into the stories. Take a look at the pictures, as well.
You can catch a glimpse of a country and a war weary world just wanting to see this thing end, already.
Also, you see a defeated Germany clinging to whatever it can, in the wake of the inevitable. It is truly on it's last legs by this point, with the Fuhrer in his final abode, deep in his Bunker under the nation's capital.
You can also glimpse a different age in American history. This was was a triumph through and through for Americans. In many ways, I think it can be said that this was America's finest hour.
The Americans newspaper refers to their fellow countrymen as "Yanks". There is a sense that the preparation is for the peace following Germany's nconditional surrender, which has not yet happened at the time of this particular newspaper, but even then, you definitely get the sense that they knew that it was coming. That it was an inevitability, just a matter of time.
Germany would hold out almost one full month before signing the unconditional surrender to officially end the war in Europe.
Rocky Mountain News, April 11, 1945
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