Eighty Years Ago This Week

  President Roosevelt died from a cerebral haemorrage. He had been in poor health and his death came as little surprise. He had been sitting for a portrait by Elizabeth Shoumatoff. She never finished the painting and it hangs at the President's country house. His death triggered a flurry of deluded hopes amongst the Nazi leadership inspired by the reversal in Frederick the Great's  fortunes during the Seven years War when the death of Empress Catherine the Great led to Russia's withdrawal from the coalition against Prussia. The Berlin Philharmonic gave a concert  at its home, the Philharmonie, still untouched by the devastating air raids on the city. The programme featured staples of the Nazi's idealized German repertoire - Wagner, Bruckner and Beethoven - as a boost to morale although Furtwangler, the conductor deeply associated with the orchestra and its relations with the regime had fled to Switzerland. The armaments minister Albert Speer is reported to have been in ...