HIMMLER'S DEGREE

Auckland Star, Volume LXXVI, Issue 38, 14 February 1945, Page 7

HIMMLER'S DEGREE

AND HOW HE GOT IT

DIDN'T MURDER WALLENSTEIN

Here is the latest joke said to be whispered around Germahy about exschoolteacher Heinrich Himmler, the coming No. 1 Nazi, says Victor Schiff in the Daily Herald. Dr. Goebbels recently summoned the Dean of the Berlin University and told him: "Herr Professor, the Fatherland is going to need more than ever before the services of Reichfuehrer S.S. Himmler. The trouble is that he is not very popular with our intelligentsia. Something must be done to increase his authority among the educated people. What about conferring upon him the title of Honorary Doctor of the University of Berlin?" The dean scratched his head and replied: "Well, if it must be, for the sake of the Fatherland I'll see to it. But he will have to appear before a committee of professors and answer one or two questions—just a little formality." So Himmler went to university and was respectfully received by a committee presided over by the dean. The chosen question was one which would be answered easily by any German schoolboy conversant with Schiller's drama about Wallenstein, the warlord of the Thirty Years War—3oo years ago—who revolted against the Emperor of Austria and was finally murdered by rebel generals at his headquarters. "Who murdered Wallenstein, Herr Reichfuehrer?" the dean asked. * Himmler pulled a wry face, thought deeply and finally answered: "I can assure you, Herr Professor, I had nothing to do with it. Nor had any of my people, as far as I can tell you offhand." The dean thanked him with some embarrassment, and went to see Herman Goering, to whom he said: "You see, Herr Reichmarshal, I was perfectly willing to do my best. But how can I give the title of an Honorary Doctor to a man who assures me that he had nothing to do with the murder of Wallenstein?" "If Heinrich Himmler assures you that he had nothing to do with it, you may. take it for granted," Goering- replied most emphatically. "He is not the man to shirk any responsibility." So the dean, still more depressed, asked Adolf Hitler for an audience and for advice. . ~ Hitler listened carefully to the Dean's story and then decided , "Well, what about it? Whether or not he killed that old Jew—who cares, anyway?"