Hitler's Press Officer Plans to Return Here For Reunion of Class

Ernst Hanfstaengl '09, once Hitler's foreign press chief, is planning to return here for the fiftieth anniversary of his class next year.

Nicknamed "Putzi," Hanfstaengl has described himself as Hitler's "court jester." He fled Germany in 1937 when, as he said in a recent interview, Hitler stopped listening to his advice.

During the war, Hanfstaengel served in this country, waging psychological war against the Nazis.

His entry in the 25th year report of his class, written in 1933, ends: "In 1921 I returned to Germany finding the country 'flourishing' under the blessings of the Versailles Treaty. A year later I ran into the man who has saved Germany and civilization--Adolph Hitler."