The 1947 Hollister Motorcycle Riot
A note for visitors here: These interviews were conducted in late 1998. All participants were eye
witnesses to the events which came to be known as the Hollister motorcycle riot'. Excerpts of these
interviews were published in Classic Bike, but the full transcripts are presented here, to fully
document this important event in motorcycling history.
On July the 4th 1947, 4,000 'straightpipers' rode into Hollister. Their plan was to spend the long
weekend partying and watching the races, but the partying got a little out of control. Even the local
police admitted that the bikers "did more harm to themselves than they did to the town" but the press
blew the story out of proportion. When the events were dramatised by Hollywood in 'The Wild One',
America's image of motorcycling changed forever. Now you can read what really happened, in the words of people who were really there.
At the end of World War II, the central California town of Hollister had a population of about 4,500. The gently rolling farmland surrounding the community was well-suited to motorcycle riding; there were facilities for scrambles, hill climbs, and dirt-track racing at Bolado Park (about 10 miles away) and at Memorial Park, on the outskirts of town. Through the 1930's, Hollister had been the site of popular races sanctioned by the American Motorcyclist Association, and promoted by the Salinas Scramblers (correction - Salinas Ramblers). Spectators rode in on A.M.A. organised 'Gypsy Tours', and as attendances grew, the Memorial Day races became as important to Hollister as the livestock fair or the rodeo.
Racing was postponed after America's belated entrance into World War 2, When it was organised again for 1947, local merchants welcomed a major source of revenue back to the Hollister economy.
"TITTER YE NOT".
*********************
Paddy, Niall and Liam are
riding home from the pub on Paddy's motorbike when they're stopped by a traffic cop.
"This motorcycle is only licenced to carry two people," says the cop.
"There's three of you, so someone will have to get off and walk.
"Three of us?" says Paddy, turning to Liam.
"What the Feck happened
to Mick and Rory?"
*********************
A professor was lecturing about "Involuntary Muscle Contractions" when he
noticed no one was paying attention.
Angrily, he asks a girl on the front row,
"Young lady, do you have
any idea what your asshole is doing while you are having an orgasm"?
"Why yes", she answered.
"He is usually in the garage polishing his Harley".
********************
"I Predict a Riot" by The Kaiser Chiefs.
JIM Cameron Jim is still a motorcycle racer, riding a Jeff Smith
built BSA Gold Star in vintage motocross events. "Because of myage,"
he laughs, "AHRMA will only let me compete in the 'Novice' class!"
"I was a Boozefighter. The Boozefighters were formed a year or so
earlier. Wino Willie had been a member of the Compton Roughriders.
They had gone to an AMA race, a dirt track, in San Diego.
In between heats, Wino Willie, he'd been drinking, of course, started
up his bike and rode a few laps around the track, just for laughs.
Eventually they got him flagged off. The Roughriders sort of kicked
him out of the club for that; they felt he had embarrassed them. Willie
decided that if they couldn't see the humour in that, he'd start his own
club.
Back then a bunch of us hung out at a bar in South L.A., called the All
American. Several clubs met there:
the 13 Rebels, the Yellow jackets,
anyway, Willie was talking to some other guy about what to name the
club, and there was an old drunk listening in. This old drunk pipes up "Why don't you call yourselves the Boozefighters'. Willie thought that was funny as hell, so that was the name. The name Boozefighters was misleading, we didn't do any fighting at all. It was hard to get in; you had to come to five meetings, then there was a vote, and if you got one blackball, you were out. We wore green and white sweaters with a beer bottle on the front and 'Boozefighters' on the back. Back then, I was 23 or 24 I guess, I had just come out of the Air Force. I'd been in the Pacific, but Willie and some of the others had been paratroopers over in Europe. They'd had it pretty rough in the war.
I had an Indian Scout, and a Harley '45 that I used as a messenger. Back then, the AMA organised these 'Gypsy Tours'. One was going up to Hollister on the Independence Day weekend. That sounded good, so a bunch of us decided to ride up there. We left L.A. Thursday night, and rode through the night. I think my Scout only went about 55 miles an hour, so it took quite a while. I think we rode until we were exhausted, and stopped to sleep for a few hours in King City. It was about 6 a.m. when I woke up. It was pretty cold, and when the liquor store opened, I bought a bottle, which I drank to try to get warm. Then I rode on to Hollister.
It was about 8:30 a.m. on Friday morning when I arrived there. I was riding up the street, and I see this guy, another Boozefighter come out of a bar, and he yells 'Come on in!'. So I rode my bike right into the bar. The owner was there, and he didn't seem to mind at all. He could see I was already pretty drunk, so he wanted to take my keys; he didn't think I should go riding in my condition. The Indian didn't need a key to start it, but I left it there in the bar the whole weekend.
I don't think there were more than maybe 7 of us from the L.A. Boozefighters there. There were some guys from the 'Frisco Boozefighters, too. One of our guys had a 36 Cadillac. He used that to tow up our trailer. We had a trailer with maybe fifteen or sixteen bunks in it; stacked three high on both sides. Basically, we'd drink and party until we crapped out, then we'd go in there and sleep it off.
They claimed there were about 3,000 guys there. I think most of them went out to the dirt track races outside of town, but we didn't. We were having fun right there. The street was lined with motorcycles, and the cops had blocked it off. Basically, guys were just showing off; drag racing, doing power circles, seeing how many people they could put on one bike, and we were just watching and laughing.
The leader of the 'Frisco Boozefighters was a guy we called Kokomo. He was up in the second or third floor window of the hotel, where there was a telephone wire that went out across the street. He was wearing a crazy red uniform, like a circus clown, and he was standing in the window pretending like he was going to step out onto the wire, like a tightrope walker. It was funny as hell.
There were a couple of cops there, but they were playing it cool. Basically, they didn't arrest anybody unless they did something to deserve it. The one Boozefighter I can think of that got arrested was a 'Frisco guy. Some of them had come down in a Model T Ford. It was overheating, and while they were driving down the street, he was trying to piss into the radiator. Anyway, they arrested him, and Wino Willie went down to try to get him out; he was pretty drunk at the time, so they arrested him, too. But they let them both out after a few hours. Around Saturday night I started to sober up. After all, I had to ride home on Sunday. I guess I got my bike out of the bar and headed home at about 4pm on Sunday. It definitely wasn't as big a deal as the papers made it out to be.
Bob Yant Bob owned an appliance store on Hollister's main street. Back then, appliances were built to last, and so was
Bob:
He still works at the store every day. In 1947, I had just bought into my Dad's electrical contracting and appliance business. We had a store right on San Benito (street). There were motorcyclists everywhere; they were even sleeping in the orchards. Our store was open that Saturday. Guys were riding up and down Main Street, doing wheelies. The street was full of bikes, and the sidewalks were crowded with local people that had come down to look. Actually, it was bad for my business; my customers couldn't get to the store. It was so slow that I left early, and let my employee lock up.
On Sunday, I went to the hospital, to visit a friend. There were a bunch of guys injured on gurneys in the hallway, but I think they were mostly racers. There must've been about 15 of them, it was a sight in such a small hospital.
There was no looting or anything; I was never afraid during the weekend. You know
we had a few little hassles even when the motorcyclists weren't in town. I think some
guy rode a bike into 'Walt's Club' (a bar) or something, and somebody panicked.
The day after everyone had left, near my store, there were two guys taking a
photograph. They brought a bunch of empty beer bottles out of a bar, and put them all round a motorcycle, and put a guy on it. I'm sure that's how it was taken,because
they wanted to get high up to take the shot, and they had borrowed a ladder from me. That photo appeared on the cover of Life magazine. (Author's note:
I do not have
any evidence that Life ever ran the Hollister story) Not long after that, they turned the
little racetrack into a ballpark.
Catherine Dabo Catherine Dabo and her husband owned the best hotel in Hollister. When bikers were being demonized in the media, she always defended them. "My husband and I owned the hotel, which also had a restaurant and bar. was the first big rally after the war. Our bar was forty feet long, and a biker rode in the door of the bar, all along the bar, and through the doors into the hotel lobby!"
We were totally booked. Every room was full, and we had people sleeping in the halls, in the lobby, but they were great people; we had more trouble on some regular weekends! I was never scared; if you like people, they like you. May be if you try telling them what to do, then look out! The motorcycles were parked on the streets like sardines! I couldn't believe how pretty some of them were. It was great for our business; it gave us the money we needed to pay our debts, and our taxes. They all paid for their rooms, their food, their drinks. They ( the press ) blew that up more than it was. I didn't even know anything had happened until I read the San Francisco papers. The town was small enough that if there had been a riot anywhere, I'd have known about it! I had three young children, we just lived a few blocks away, and I was never scared for them. I think the races were on again in '51. My husband and I always stood up for the bikers; they were good people.
Hells Angels on Wheels is a 1967
American biker film directed by
Richard Rush and starring Adam Rourke,
Jack Nicholson, and Sabrina Scharf.
Gil Armas Gil Armas still rides a 1947 Harley 'Knucklehead'. He competed in dirt track events, and later sponsored a number of speedway riders.
Back then, I was a hod carrier; I worked for a plastering outfit in L.A.. I had a '36 Harley, and rode with the Boozefighters.
We used to hang out at the 'All American' bar at Firestone and Central. Lots of motorcycle clubs hung out there, including the 13 Rebels, and the Jackrabbits.
Basically, we just went out on rides. Some of us went racing, or did field meets,
where there events like relays, drags; there was an event called missing out'
where you'd all start in a big circle, and if you got passed, you were out. At first,
most of our racing was 'outlaw' races that we organized ourselves, but a few
years later, a lot of us went professional, and raced in (A.M.A. sanctioned) half
miles and miles. I retired (from racing) in '53.
I just went out to Hollister for the ride. A couple of my friends were racing. My
bike was all apart, and I threw it on a trailer and towed it up there; I didn't want
to miss out on the fun. I ended up sleeping in the car.
We started partying. There were so many motorcycles there that the police
blocked off the road. In fact, they sort of joined in. There were four of them in
a jeep. We sort of had a tug of war, when somebody stole a cop's hat, but it
all blew over. There was racing in the street, some stuff like that, but the cops
had it under control.
Later on, the papers were telling stories like we broke a bunch of guys out of
jail, but nothing like that happened at all. There were a couple of arrests,
basically for drunk and disorderly; all we did was go down and bail them out.
In fact, a few of the clubs tried to force the papers to print a retraction. They
did write a retraction, but it was so small you'd never see it.
The bar owners were standing out front of the bars saying 'Bring your bike in!'.
They put mine right upon the bar. On Sunday, the cops came back with riot
guns, and told us all to pack up and leave. At first, we just sat on the curb and
laughed at them, because there was no riot going on, but we all left anyway. In
those days, if you rode a motorcycle, then anybody that rode a motorcycle was
your buddy. We (Boozefighters) were just into throwing parties.
August 'Gus' Deserpa Gus lived in Hollister. He is the smiling young man
seen in the background of the famous 'Life Magazine' photo. I was a
projectionis by trade. I worked at the Granada Theatre, which was on the corner of Seventh and San Benito. I would have got of work around 11 p.m. My wife came to pick me up, and we decided to walk up Main Street to see what was going on.
I saw two guys scraping all these bottles together, that had been lying in the street. Then they positioned a motorcycle in the middle of the pile. After a while this drunk guy comes staggering out of the bar, and they got him to sit on the motorcycle, and started to take his picture.
I thought 'That isn't right', and I got around against the wall, where I'd be in the picture, thinking that they wouldn't take it if someone else was in there. But they did anyway. A few days later the papers came out and I was right there in the background. They weren't doing anything bad, just riding up and down whooping
and a hollerin; not really doing any harm at all.
Marylou Williams Marylou Williams and her husband owned a drugstore on Hollister's main street. "My husband and I owned the Hollister Pharmacy which was right next door to Johnny's Bar, on Main Street". We went upstairs in the Elks Building, to watch the goings on in the street. I remember that the
sidewalks were so crowded that we had to squeeze right along the wall of the building.
Up on the second floor of the Elks Building, they had some small balconies.They were too small to step out onto, but you could lean out and get a good view of the street. I brought my kids along; I had two daughters. They were about 8 and 4 at the time. It never occurred to me to be worried about their safety. We saw them riding up and down the street, but that was about all; when the rodeo was in town, the cowboys were as bad.
Bertis 'Bert' Lanning Bert Lanning was 37 years old when the '47 Gypsy tour rode into
Hollister. As a mechanic in a local garage, he had direct contact with many of the bikers
involved. "I worked in Hollister, at Bernie Sevenman's Tire Shop, right on the main street".
I had motorcycles myself, a Harley '45, and a Triumph. I'm 88 now and my eyes aren't
good enough to ride anymore, but I've still got a bike in my garage!
There was a mess of 'em. Back then, beer always came in bottles, and there were quite
few of them broken in the streets, so the bikers were getting flat tires. They'd bring them
into the shop, either to get them fixed, or they'd want to fix them themselves. Eventually it
got so crowded in and around the shop that guys were fixing tires out in the street, running
in and out to borrow tools. Maybe a couple of tools went missing.
Anyway, my boss got nervous and told me to close up the shop. I thought that was great,
because I wanted to get out there myself. "Main Street was packed, but it wasn't nearly as
bad as the papers said. There was a bunch of guys up on the second floor of the hotel,
throwing water balloons. I didn't see any fighting or anything like that.I enjoyed it. Some
people just don't like motorcycles, I guess."
HOLLISTER, California 2013. — Two Hells Angels bikers are wanted for attacking a
23 year old man in a popular and historic bar during the 2013 Hollister Motorcycle Rally.
On the first day of the rally, a group of Hells Angels entered Johnny's Bar at 526 San
Benito Street. One biker in the group walked up to a man who was hanging out with
friends and punched him in the face, police Captain Carlos Reynoso said.
"The victim fell to the ground from the unexpected punch. Then another man also
wearing a Hells Angel jacket approached the victim and kicked the man in the head,"
Reynoso said. "The two suspects pushed their way through security guards and fled
out the back gate of the bar," Reynoso said. The victim and witnesses said they had
no idea what motivated the attack. Hollister police asked for the public's help identifying the brawlin bikers. Police are also analyzing video surveillance that was provided by the owner of Johnny's Bar, Charisse Tyson. Despite the bar's rowdy history, Tyson said she is committed to making her patrons feel safe and welcome. Police said she has been working closely with them to find the victim's attackers.
Anyone with information on Saturday's attack can contact Hollister police. The first suspect was described as 5 foot 8 inches tall, heavy set, has a gray mustache, and was wearing a Hells Angels Patch. The second suspect was described as a white man, 6 foot 2 inches tall, weighs 250 pounds, has many tattoos, and was also wearing a Hells Angels jacket.
During the two-day rally, Hollister police arrested 12 drivers for DUI, arrested 30, and issued citations to 32. Most of the arrests were for public intoxication. There was also a hit-and-run collision on Saturday that damaged five motorcycles.
The Top Hatters Motorcycle Club (THMC) is based in Hollister California and is one of the oldest motorcycle clubs in the United States, established in 1947. Our club is exclusively Harley Davidson motorcycles, and will stay that way until the end of time.
The Top Hatters Motorcycle Club is a strong brotherhood of only serious motorcycle riders, and is not for everyone. We are not a social, weekender riding club, we are a brotherhood of bikers that take riding and flying our colours very serious. Membership can be a very long and demanding process, requiring pure dedication and loyalty. This is a process that not everyone can fulfil.
The Top Hatters Motorcycle Club spends a majority of our time doing club functions that
benefit our comm unity. Riding and strengthening our brotherhood in the biker community is our number one priority. The Top Hatters Motorcycle Club also maintains a strong
regard for family, brotherhood and motorcycling. Our club members are bikers from the heart, and are proud to be members in the brotherhood of the Top Hatters Motorcycle Club.
The Hells Angels Motorcycle Club (HAMC) is a world wide one
percenter motorcycle club whose members ride Harley Davidson
motorcycles. The organization is considered an organized crime
syndicate by the U.S. Department of Justice. In the United States
and Canada, the Hells Angels are incorporated as the Hells Angels
Motorcycle Corporation. Common nicknames for the club are the
"H.A.", "Red & White", and "81".
The Hells Angels were started on March 17, 1948 by the Bishop
family, American war immigrants in Fontana, California followed by
an amalgamation of former members from different motorcycle
clubs, such as the Pissed Off Bastards of Bloomington. The Hells
Angels' website denies the suggestion, that any misfit or malcontent
troops are connected with the motorcycle club.
The website also notes that the name was suggested by Arvid
Olsen, an associate of the founders, who had served in the Flying
Tigers' "Hell's Angels" squadron in China during World War II. The
name "Hell's Angels" was inspired by the typical naming of American
squadrons, or other fighting groups, with a fierce, death defying title
in World Wars I and II, e.g., the Flying Tigers (American Volunteer
Group) in Burma and China fielded three squadrons of P-40s and the third Squadron was called "Hell's Angels". In 1930, the Howard Hughes film Hell's Angels displayed extraordinary and dangerous feats of aviation, and it is believed that the World War II groups who used that name based it on the film.
The Hells Angels are often depicted in semi mythical romantic fashion, like the 19th century James Younger Gang:
free spirited,
iconic, bound by brotherhood and loyalty. At other times, such as in the 1966 Roger Corman film The Wild Angels, they are depicted as violent and nihilistic, little more than a violent criminal gang and a scourge on society.
"Angels Forever, Forever Angels"
"When we do right, nobody remembers.
When we do wrong, nobody forgets."
Galloping Goose Motorcycle Club (GGMC is a one percenter motorcycle club that
began around a motorcycle racing team and friends based out Los Angele California in
the United States in 1942. The group was informal and not chartered until 1946. Soon after, the organisation spread out from southern California, establishing chapters in Illinois, Missouri, Montana, Indiana, Wyoming, Kansas, Mississippi, Louisiana and Florida.
Members of The Galloping Goose MC were at the 1947 Hollister Rally which was the
basis for the 1954 film The Wild One. This led to the beginning of the highly visible and structured 1% or outlaw motorcycle clubs, along with the Boozefighters MC when the
AMA forbade club members to participate in AMA events unless they took off their
patches.
Original members of the club had a MC shop in Jacksonville and raced in numerous events including the Daytona race when it was still run on the beach. The club has a close relationship with El Forastero Motorcycle Club.
An expert on outlaw motorcycle gangs from Missouri State Highway Patrol said the Galloping Goose were expanding into territory formerly controlled by the Pharaohs motorcycle club during the 1980s and 1990s. He described them as a "one percenter club", which took over another club, the Midwest Drifters, and uses them to run errands and provide cash. He said Galloping Goose's rules of behavior sometimes include violent crimes.
"Often Tested, Always Faithful"
The Pissed Off Bastards of Bloomington (POBOB) is a motorcycle club that, along with the Boozefighters and the Market Street Commandos, participated in the highly publicized Hollister riot (later immortalized on film as The Wild One). After the Hollister incident, a prominent Pissed Off Bastard named Otto Friedli (28 Jun 1931-17th of Mar 2008) split with the club and formed his own group on March the 17th, 1948 in Fontana, just west of San Bernardino. He called it the Hells Angels Motorcycle Club.
In 1954 Otto's new club merged with the Market Street Commandos to become the Hells Angels San Francisco Chapter. The POBOB were one of the earliest motorcycle and car clubs. A few miles south of San Bernardino, California, in the small town of Bloomington in 1945, a particular group of veterans and POBOB founder Otto
Friedli who was too young to have served in the war, found civilian life to be too
slow and set out to get more thrills by riding motorcycles and hot rod cars.
Hollister, California where the American Motorcycle Association (AMA)
sanctioned the Gypsy Tour Run, the Boozefighters, POBOB and the Market
Street Commandos took over the town for nearly three days. The POBOB
members played an integral role in the Hollister riot, on which the movie The
Wild One was based, starring Marlon Brando.
Two months later, the same clubs went to Riverside, California for the Labor Day
weekend, another AMA-sanctioned event. The same thing happened again as it
did in Hollister.
Over four thousand people, bikers and citizens, took over the town's main street.
Riverside sheriff, Carl Rayburn, blamed a bunch of punk kids for disrupting his
town, saying "They're rebels, they're outlaws."
1%1%1%1%1%1%1%1%1%1%1%1%1%1%1%1%1%1%
The Boozefighters Motorcycle Club (BFMC) is a motorcycle club, formed in California just
after World War II. Today, the BFMC has chapters across America with its national
headquarters located in Fort Worth, Texas. The first European Chapter was founded in France
in 2006. Other international chapters include Canada, Japan, Philippines, South Korea, Italy,
Germany, and Belgium.
The Boozefighters MC first gained notoriety at the Hollister riot in Hollister, California the
weekend of July the 3rd-6th, 1947, later portrayed in the movie The Wild One starring
Marlon Brando. Their mottoes are, "The Original Wild Ones" and "A drinking club with a
motorcycle problem."
An article featuring actor Robert Patrick, current charter holder of Boozefighters MC Chapter
101, describes the club as "a non profit organisation that raises money to help vets, children
and the poor". The Boozefighters have chapters worldwide but claim no territory, just history.
The main focus that holds any motorcycle club together is the concept of “love and respect.”
This concept comes right from the trenches of war when “love and respect”
for those fighting beside you means survival on physical and mental levels. It
also means a true brotherhood; when common feelings and emotions become
something so much more than just socialising they become a shared way of
life.
Wino Willie Forkner knew this in the core of his soul. That’s why the club he
founded has lasted for over six decades. The Boozefighters Motorcycle Club is
truly one of the elite organisations in the motorcycle community; with proven
longevity and a serious passion for this way of life.
The famous Boozefighters green and white patch the bottle with three stars
is a legend in itself. There has been a great deal of speculation as to the origin
but shortly before her death, Wino’s widow, Teri explained that the design was
based on the vintage Hennessy’s cognac bottle label: “Willie liked the looks
of those three stars so much that he put them across the barrel of the bottle.”
The use of the bottle in the patch speaks for itself; he wasn’t called Wino for
nothing.
On my tombstone they will carve,
"IT NEVER GOT FAST ENOUGH FOR ME.”
― Hunter S. Thompson, Kingdom of Fear
Riding a motorcycle on today's highways, you have to ride in a very defensive manner. You have to be a good rider and you have to have both hands and both feet on the controls at all times.
Evel Knievel
Hells Angels Membership Requirements We could start off this article by saying that the Hells Angels Membership Requirements included needing to do 12 drug deals, commit 1 murder and
then bludgeon 4 baby harp seals …but then we would be lying, that’s not
how to become a Hells Angel. The membership requirements, at least
officially, for the Hells Angels MC as well as almost all other one percenter
motorcycle clubs are relatively straight forward. Below is what you want to
know if you one day wish to be on the list of the famous Hells Angels
members.
We can safely start with saying that if you are interested in joining the Hells Angels MC, the Outlaws MC, the Bandidos MC or any other one percenter motorcycle club for that matter and you are really on Google to tell you how to do it, then you probably won’t be joining them any time soon. The first in the list of Hells Angels membership requirements is to have the right personality. You will have similar interests and therefore probably also friends in common. People with similar interests usually gravitate.
An important step if you want to learn how to join the Hells Angels, then the next in the list of Hells Angels membership requirements is a motorcycle, but not just any motorcycle. It should be a Harley Davidson motorcycle, however some other makes including Buell motorcycle (which is owned by Harley Davidson) may also be acceptable. In general, any of the major one percenter motorcycle clubs will not allow non American motorcycles. Some of the reasoning behind this links back to the period when many of the clubs were started, World War II was fresh on the mind and supporting the enemy nations was not high on the list of priorities. Riding American made bikes shows strong patriotism.
Next in the list of Hells Angels membership requirements is that you will need to ride, a lot. Don’t even think about buying a Harley Davidson fresh from the showroom floor, parking it out the front of a clubhouse and thinking that means you are a biker. Clubs including the Hells Angels MC go pretty much everywhere by motorcycle, they aren’t just the toy that comes out on the weekend if the sun has come out.
A fully patched member will have voting rights, of which they are expected to utilise. The Hells Angels MC has a number of meets throughout the year and it is expected that all members should attend whenever possible. If you start missing several of these meets then questions will be ask about your dedication to the club.
One last point to close out this article about Hells Angels membership requirements, is that you can’t leave the Hells Angels
Motorcycle Club easily. It’s much easier to complete the steps of how to join the Hells Angels than it is to leave without having major problems.
Committing to join the club should be thought of as a life commitment.
If you do try and escape the club then
you must hand your patches back, or they will be taken by force.
We are very patriotic & support the
US Military.
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WHAT IF?
"During times of universal deceit,
telling the truth becomes a revolutionary act."
George Orwell
25 June 1903 –
21 January 1950
Fatherland is a best-selling 1992 thriller by the English writer
and journalist Robert Harris. It takes the form of a detective
story in an alternative history in which Nazi Germany won
World War II. The lead protagonist is an SS officer investigating
a murder of a Nazi government official who was one of the
participants at the Wannsee doing, he discovers a plot to
eliminate all attendees to help Germany gain better political
accommodations with the United States.
The novel was an immediate bestseller in the UK. It has sold
over three million copies and has been translated into 25
different languages.
The story begins in Nazi Germany in April 1964, in the week
leading up to Adolf Hitler's 75th birthday. The plot follows
detective Xavier March, an investigator working for the
Kriminalpolizei (Kripo), as he investigates the suspicious death
of a high-ranking Nazi, Josef Buhler, in the Havel on the outskirts of Berlin. As March uncovers details, he realises that he is tangled up in a political scandal involving senior Nazi Party officials, who are
apparently being systematically murdered under staged circumstances. In fact, as soon as the body is identified, the
Gestapo claims jurisdiction and orders the Kripo to close its investigation
What if? we go to Heaven and all our lives, we have treated the Negro as an inferior, and God is there,
and we look up and He is not white? What then is our response? Robert Kennedy
BOBBY KENNEDY
AND
MARTIN LUTHER KING JUNIOR
BOBBY AND MARTIN
WHAT IF?
The material on this site does not necessarily reflect the views of What If? Tees.
The Images and Text are not meant to offend but to Promote Positive Open Debate and Free Speech.
The material on this site does not reflect the views of What If? Tees.
The Images and Text are not meant to offend but to Promote Positive Open Debate and Free Speech.