LONDON: (By Cable) The London ‘Evening Star’ said Rudolf Hess, the day France was invaded, broke down and cried when he heard over the radio that the Allies had made a landing in Normandy. Hess, who is living in a bungalow “somewhere in England” is at last completely disillusioned after stubbornly maintaining that an invasion was impossible, the paper says. “When Eisenhower overran France, Hess sank into a strange apathy. He would go for days without speaking and hardly eat his rations. [He] said, ‘Germany is beaten forever’.

“The plot against Hitler was another shock. He did not know which side to take — that of the generals for wishing to save life by making peace or that of Hitler and Himmler for wanting to save Nazism. Hess is now anti-Himmler, who, he says, has betrayed Hitler.”

[Meanwhile,] the Fourth Session of the All-India and Ceylon Mayors’ Conference began at the Central Municipal Office [in Calcutta]. Mr. Anandi Poddar, Mayor of Calcutta, in his inaugural address said the time had come when Mayors in India and Ceylon should feel that they were no more decorated dignitaries but one of the major factors in shaping the future of the country. (Dawn, Delhi)

Published in Dawn, November 27th , 2014