What's really cool about this brief Journal entry is Giro the Nazi Dog. You'd walk right past it if you didn't know it was there. Under a tree and barely noticeable, we find London's only Nazi memorial.
It sounds like a scenario in a Robert Harris novel, but it isn't — Hitler's Nazi party really did have a foothold in London, in this building near the Foreign Office. It was used by the Nazis as their embassy from 1936 to the outbreak of war in 1939. In 1936 it was revamped by Hitler's representative, the ambassador Joachim von Ribbentrop, who modernised it with characteristic Teutonic efficiency. After the makeover, No 7 was used as a base to house German military attachés. Hitler's architect, Albert Speer, was then sent from Berlin with a brief from the Führer to design a grandiose embassy that would convey some of the portentous glamour of the Third Reich. Speer was also responsible for a staircase, made from Italian marble, donated by Mussolini. The Sunday Times
Dr Leopold von Hoesch, was the German ambassador from 1932 to 1936. Giro died in 1934 when he made a fatal connection with an exposed electricity wire. He was given a full Nazi burial and his grave lies in what was once the front garden to No 9, now a small space between the Duke of York steps and a garage ramp. His tombstone features the German epitaph "Giro: Ein treuer Begleiter" ("Giro: A true companion"). This is London's sole Nazi memorial, situated somewhat inappropriately in an area filled with monuments to heroes of the British empire.
So yes, I had to climb a fence to get a good picture. And yes, after I got out, an old couple came to look at what was so special about me hopping the fence. I find it fascinating that, like the Sunday Times reported, there's a subtle nazi memorial among british heroes.
This makes me feel funny, not sure if it's good or bad, just funny.
