Columbus Globe for State and Industry Leaders

The Columbus World Globe for State and Industry Leaders (also called the Hitler Earth Globe ) was a globe designed especially for Adolf Hitler and the Nazi party .

It was built in Berlin during the 1930s, and remained in Hitler’s office most of the time. The globe became notorious in the United States after comedian Charlie Chaplin mocked it in his film The Great Dictator of 1940. Also the group of comedians Los Tres Freaks made fun of the balloon in two acts. One of the limited editions of the balloon was picked up by John Barsamia, a US Army soldier, in Hitler’s summer retreat shortly after the war, and sold it 60 years later in a $ 100,000 sbasta inSan Francisco .

Origin

Only two editions of the globe were made in Berlin in the mid-1930s, one for the Nazi party and one for Hitler himself. ¹ The balloon that was made for the Fuhrer was almost the size of a Volkswagen and made very expensive. In the same, Abyssinia (the present Ethiopia ) was denominated Eastern Africa Italian . The other was made from common wood without any special details. ¹ The total number of globes that were made could not be confirmed with the factory, since it and its files were destroyed during the bombings of 1943. ¹

Wolfram Pobanz, a Polish historian and enthusiast of the earth globes, considers that although the globe was in the office of Hitler, probably the Fuhrer did not have a special consideration by the globe, declaring that:

Hitler probably had no special regard for the globe. There is no photograph of Hitler posing at the side of the globe. Hitler personally controlled all the photographs taken. If the balloon had been of importance to Hitler, surely it would appear in some photograph of him. ¹

In 1938, Hitler decided that the former Chancellery of the Reich was not large enough to house the ministries of the Third Reich , and appointed his favorite architect, Albert Speer , to build the new Chancellery. ² After that in 1939 ended with major renovations, Hitler insisted that the balloon was transferred to the office of Führer located in the heart of the new Chancellery, where he remained until the Soviets occupied the building in April 1945. ²

Later history

There are numerous earth globes in different places which are said to have been owned by Hitler, although the authenticity of many of them is doubtful. ¹ There are three in Berlin, one in a geographic institute, one in the Marcher Museum , and the third in the German Historical Museum . ¹ Two more are in public collections in Munich . ¹ Many of these balloons have a bullet hole where Germany or Germany has been erased from the map, a vandalism probably by Soviet or American soldiers. ³

According to the analysis of photographic evidence, it can be affirmed that none of these earth globes is the one that was in the office of Hitler in the Chancery. ¹

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