Germany : Friday, 7 January 2011 (Local Time)
Newly discovered WWII documents show that Germany's Nazi government was so furious over a dog trained to imitate the "Heil Hitler!" salute that it mounted a campaign against the mutt's Finnish owner and even tried to destroy his company.
Klaus Hillenbrand, an expert on the era, writes about the bizarre diplomatic row in the newspaper Die Tageszeitung based on documents recently found by a historian.
The dog, name Jackie, was owned by Tor Borg, a businessman from the Finnish city of Tampere. Borg's wife, Josefine, a German citizen known for her anti-Nazi sentiments, dubbed the dog Hitler because of the odd way it raised its paw high in the air like the famous Nazi salute.
Hillenbrand says the German Foreign Office ordered its diplomats in Nazi-friendly Finland to gather evidence on the mutt and that the Economic Ministry plotted to cut off German chemical supplies to Borg's wholesale pharmaceutical company.
"Just months before the Nazis launched their attack on the Soviet Union, they had nothing better to do than to obsess about this dog," Hillenbrand said.
In one document dated Jan. 29, 1941, German Vice Consul Willy Erkelenz in Helsinki writes that "a witness, who does not want to be named, said ... he saw and heard how Borg's dog reacted to the command 'Hitler' by raising its paw."
Borg was even ordered to the German Embassy and questioned about his dog's habits.
In the end, Hillenbrand says, the Foreign Office failed to bring Borg to trial for insulting Hitler when none of the potential witnesses would agree to testify in court.
Story and Foto from : www.content.usatoday.com
