H.V. Kaltenborn

Biography

Hans V. Kaltenborn had some colorful experiences in 1933 at the advent of Hitler becoming Chancellor of Germany and the founding of Nazism there. Being of German descent he may have had a blind admiration for the discipline and precision of the Nazi German youth. He refused to believe reports that the S.A. roughnecks routinely insulted and beat up American visitors to Germany who did not show due regard for their street parades nor lifted their arms in the Nazi salute. His adulation for Nazi Germany came crashing down in 1933 when for failing to stand still and salute the parade he was verbally insulted and his son physically assaulted. He received a rude shock and made a complaint to the American Consulate in Berlin but nothing came of it. This incident is well documented in the book titled In the Garden of Beasts by Erik Larson.