Between Adolf Hitler’s continued rise to power and the Great Depression, 1938 wasn’t a lighthearted year for Jews and non-Jews alike, but the Aug. 26, 1938 Jewish Exponent features a couple of things that are almost humorous in retrospect.
While the top of the cover features a wordy article about Jewish involvement in war veterans organizations, the bottom article sports a headline more likely to be found in the National Enquirer.
It said, “I Ruled Hitler: Der Fuehrer’s Astrologer Tells All,” and the byline is by Frau X.
An editor’s note read: “You may or may not believe that the stars and the planet (sic) guide human destiny, but you will be intrigued by this fascinating expose by the woman who was Hitler’s personal astrologist. … These articles were prepared in May, 1938, and already some of the predictions have come true.”
Maybe so, but the editor’s note mentions that in a second part published the following week, Frau X “will reveal why Hitler and Hitlerism were doomed to fall in 1940.”
Sadly, no.
Frau X reveals that she met Hitler in 1919 when he was a “palefaced youth, sullen and moody, with half-baked ideas on politics, hardly any education and bitter against the scheme of things generally.”
Still, she told Hitler his astrological chart indicated that he would lead the German people.
She noted that Hitler sometimes ignored her advice — including in 1923, when she cautioned that what became known as the Beer Hall Putsch (a major setback for Hitler) was premature.
In looking ahead to part two the following week, it seems that Frau X’s proclamation that Hitler would fail in 1940 didn’t sit well with the Führer.
“He called in Gestapo officers and ordered me out of his sight forever … I am here in hiding and he goes ruinously on,” she wrote.
