"TOO BEAUTIFUL"

Wairarapa Times-Age, 10 May 1938, Page 8

"TOO BEAUTIFUL"

HERR HITLER ON HIS VISIT TO ITALY Most Enthusiastic Reception in Florence

BUT STRICT PRECAUTIONS TAKEN

By Telegraph—Press Association.—Copyright. (Received This Day, 12.30 p.m.) , LONDON, May 9. The “Telegraph’s” Florence correspondent says: “The former capital of United Italy accorded Herr Hitler the most enthusiastic reception since his arrival in Italy. Thousands of Black Shirts cheered wildly in the streets through which Herr Hitler and Signor Mussolini travelled to the palace. The crowds clamoured until the Dictators appeared on the balcony, to which they were recalled ten times. “The precautions taken to ensure Herr Hitler’s safety, however, were more stringent than in Rome and Naples, owing to the distribution of a large number of leaflets announcing that Florence would be the Fuehrer’s tomb. Helped by the Gestapo, the Italian police, who long ago had arrested all suspects, arrested a large number of other people and sent back discharged mental patients to the asylums. Nobody without a permit was allowed to enter the city. All cellars were carefully inspected and locked up.” Herr Hitler, on the eve of entraining for Munich, issued the following statement: “It has been too beautiful. I was moved by the remarkable friendliness and sympathy of the population and rejoiced at the intimate understanding between Fascism and Nazism. Ours is certainly- the same world. Ours is a friendship not artificially constructed.” The Berlin correspondent of the “Times” says Germany is confident that Herr Hitler’s visit to Italy has strengthened the RomeBerlin axis. Signor Mussolini, having passed Herr Hitler en route, welcomed him at Florence, where the Dictators were given a reception at the Pitti Palace.