SCARBOROUGH HERR
Hitler hoped to turn resort into Nazi HQ
ADOLF Hitler planned to rule the world from Scarborough.
The Nazi leader hoped to turn the resort’s Grand Hotel into his Third Reich HQ.
Scarborough’s famous spa waters were to be piped to his bathroom and he planned to waltz Eva Braun around the ballroom.
Long-lost documents have now revealed Luftwaffe pilots faced a court martial if they dropped any bombs on the Fuhrer’s future would-be address.
Since the 1860s, The Grand had become one of Britain’s poshest hotels having survived shelling by the German Navy in World War One.
In Hitler’s day, it was the biggest hotel – and largest brick structure – in Europe with 12 floors and 365 rooms.
It was a long-time favourite of the ruling classes and royalty including The Prince of Wales – who became Edward VIII before his abdication.
As Britain shuddered under the Blitz in World War Two, Hitler gave orders to Hermann Goering the hotel was not to be touched.
When the Luftwaffe launched its fiercest attack of the war on Scarborough on the night of March 18, 1941, the air marshal remembered his orders.
By the end of the attack, 28 civilians and military personnel lay dead and hundreds more were injured. But not a single bomb fell on The Grand. Local historian Mike Covell uncovered references to Hitler’s plans to turn the hotel into a “new Reich Chancellery” as he probed its history.
He said: “It seemed astonishing. But the more I looked into it the more it made sense.
“Hitler’s fondness for English seaside towns was well known. He also ordered the Luftwaffe to leave Blackpool alone because he planned a victory parade there.
“At the time The Grand was being advertised as the ‘largest and handsomest hotel in Europe’.’’
After the war, the hotel welcomed Prime Minister Winston Churchill as a guest for a Conservative Party conference.