RT. HON. SIR WINSTON  SPENCER CHURCHILL

ANNE FRANK

ROUND TABLE OF NEBRASKA

The Bookworm 2501 S. 90^th St

Omaha Nebraska, 68124

http://wrldhstry.com/

 

 

Omaha Chapter of the International Churchill Society

https://churchillsocietyomaha.org/

 

September 28^th

 

Sunday 1:30 pm at the Bookworm

The Bookworm Omaha

 

 

 

 

http://wrldhstry.com/WinstonChurchill_AnneFrank_Online_Resources.htm

 

Martin Gilbert’s

Winston S. Churchill Volume 6 Finest Hour 1939-1940

Chapter 15 ‘I think I’ll be Prime Minister’ (1983, pages 285-305)

 

Hannah Pick-Goslar’s

My Friend Anne Frank Chapter 5 ‘Invasion’ (2023, pages 52-70)

 

May 1940 London

 

We must have a new Prime Minister, and it must be you.

 

 

Excerpt from Martin Gilbert’s Winston S. Churchill Volume 6 Finest Hour 1939-1940 (1983, page 294)

 

Chamberlain had asked Churchill to wind up the debate for the Government. What had begun as a motion for the Adjournment of the House was now a Vote of Censure. During the evening, as the debate continued, Churchill went to the smoking room, where he saw Harold Macmillan. ‘He beckoned to me,’ Macmillan later recalled, ‘and I moved to speak to him. I wished him luck, but added that I hoped his speech would not be too convincing. “Why not?” he asked. “Because,” I replied, “we must have a new Prime Minister, and it must be you.” He answered gruffly that he had signed on for the voyage and would stick to the ship. But I don’t think he was angry with me.¹  

 

¹ Harold Macmillan, The Blast of War 1939–1945, London 1967, page 74.

 

May 10 1940 Amsterdam

 

I woke up in the pre-dawn darkness of my bedroom, confused by a low rumbling sound, growing louder, building to a roar. Is it thunder?

 

 

Excerpt from Hannah Pick-Goslar’s

My Friend Anne Frank (2023, Page 42)

 

I woke up in the pre-dawn darkness of my bedroom, confused by a low rumbling sound, growing louder, building to a roar. Is it thunder? I thought. It must be thunder. But I was frightened. At nearly 12, I was perhaps getting a little old to run to my parents when I was scared in the night. Particularly now I knew I was going to be a big sister. My mother was pregnant with a much longed-for second child, due in the autumn. But still I darted out of bed and raced to their room. I curled up close to my mother. ‘Shh, shh,’ she said, pulling me close. The morning light was just beginning to seep in. My father pulled back the curtains to look outside. The noise was not thunder.

 

‘It’s planes,’ he said.

 

I looked at my parents. They were people of action. Yet in that moment, they appeared paralysed. This was almost as frightening to me as the noise of the planes. Eventually, one of them turned on the light and then the radio in the living room. There were messages from the government: stay indoors, close the curtains, do not stand by the windows.

 

I was still only half awake but I could feel my heart pounding, full of fear.

 

It was Friday, 10 May 1940.