Hitler Commemoration Slips Into Print
Calls from puzzled readers alerted a Bonn newspaper to a coded message commemorating Nazi leader Adolf Hitler’s birthday last week, a spokeswoman for the General-Anzeiger daily said Friday.
The April 20 notice, in the form of anagrams, said: “In memoriam. Alfred Thilo. Born 20 April 1889, Abu Naru. (signed) Tibor Marnmann.”
The key to the word jumbles: “Alfred Thilo” stands for “Adolf Hitler”; “Abu Naru” for Braunau, the Austrian town where he was born on April 20, 1889; “Tibor Marnmann” for Martin Bormann, Hitler’s deputy.
“An unknown man handed in the notice personally and paid in cash, so we have no way of knowing who he is,” said advertising executive Ilse Mueller.
Start your day right
Sign up for Essential California for news, features and recommendations from the L.A. Times and beyond in your inbox six days a week.
You may occasionally receive promotional content from the Los Angeles Times.
