LUXURY HOME.

Auckland Star, Volume LXX, Issue 247, 19 October 1939, Page 5

LUXURY HOME.

HITLER'S PALACE:

"BETTER THAN BALMORAL." AUSTRALIAN ASTOUNDED. (Prom Our Own Correspondent.) SYDNEY, Octdber 14. "I was astounded at the size and luxury of Hitler's house in Berlin—it surpassed in excellence and grandeur anything you could imagine. Mr. H. P. FitzSimons, Minister of Health, said this yesterday. He was addressing members of the Industrial Arte Club.

"In England I visited i»ucldngihani Palace, Balmoral, and many of the Royal country seats," he said. "Compared with Hitlers palace, they were just ordinary homes.

"One room—l suppose it would be the sitting room—was 150 feet in length, and built on two levels. The furnishings were superb —and Hitler supervised everything himself On the floors there was a first carpet, overlaid with rubber, and then another carpet on top of that."

Mr. FitzSimons said that at the time of his visit to Hitler's Berlin house, artists of high repute were working on lsft high paintings for the walls of the house.

He described one picture or a mother holding a baby in her arms, and a child by her side.

This was to symbolise German motherhood.

Hitler complained bitterly that the; shoes on the woman were not typical,! and ordered that they be painted out—J and another pair, which he personally selected, be painted in.

Mr. FitzSimons said that when motoring through the German countryside la-st July, he stopped for petrol.

» While waiting he wandered to tihe end of a lane, and casually peered over a hedge.

"This was at a quarter to ten at night," he said.

"Imagine my surprise when I saw a military aerodrome, with 300 bombers, ready for an immediate take-off."

Mr. FitzSimons was entertained by Admiral Raeder, Chief of the German Navy, and met many of the Nazi leaders.

Mr. FitzSimons also spoke of his recent trip through France, Switzerland,' Italy, and Belgium. Italians, he said, were nearly all pro-British. "Thei." fondness for Britain is almost sentimental," he added.