The American Plot to Kill Hitler

20 Apr 2016
History

Tablet Magazine has this amazing story about a failed plot by a group of Jewish American gangsters to kill Hitler:

“In 1933, I was approached by someone respectable, a Jew not involved in any criminal activity, and asked for my help. He wanted me to contact some of my underworld pals in a plan to kill Hitler.” I stared at the man sitting across from me. I was incredulous. A plan to kill Hitler in 1933? Involving Jewish American mobsters? Was he serious? The story seemed far-fetched, a bube meyseh (old wives’ tale). I was skeptical.

Still, I wrote down what he told me. He said the hit man or men selected for the job had to be Yiddish speakers, so they could get around any language problems in Germany. He said they would be paid $2,500 plus expenses. He said the “respectable Jew” told him, “There are people in Germany ready to assist us.” This is how he remembered the scheme to kill Hitler.

My source’s nickname was “Dutch.” He was one of the elderly “retired” mobsters I interviewed for my book, But He Was Good to His Mother: The Lives and Crimes of Jewish Gangsters. According to my notes, I met him on Aug. 15, 1988, at the Picasso Café in Herzlia Pituah, an upscale seaside suburb of Herzliya, 15 miles north of Tel Aviv. When we met, he was living in Israel. He said, “My friends call me Dutch. You seem OK, so call me Dutch, too.” This was our only face-to-face meeting, and he asked me not to use his family name while he was still breathing. I promised him I would not. He died in 1993. Later I learned his last name was Goldberg. As far as I know, I was the last person he spoke to about this.

Read more here.

The words of this author reflect his/her own opinions and do not necessarily represent the official position of the Orthodox Union.