Sunday, June 17, 1934

Didn't go to church or Sunday school today. In the evening Ollie came over. Played pinochle.

Lieutenant-Colonel Franz Joseph Hermann Michael Maria von Papen zu Köningen
(29 October 1879 – 2 May 1969)

The Marburg Speech (German: Marburger Rede) was an address given by German vice chancellor Franz von Papen at the University of Marburg on June 17, 1934. It is said to be the last speech made publicly, and on a high level, in Germany against Nazism.


Papen, encouraged by President Paul von Hindenburg, spoke out publicly about the excesses of the Nazi regime, whose ascent to power, 17 months earlier when Adolf Hitler became chancellor of Germany, had been assisted measurably by Papen. In his speech von Papen called for an end of the Nazi terror and the clamoring for a "second revolution" by the Sturmabteilung (SA – the Nazi Party storm troopers), and a return to dignity and freedom. He also stated: "The government [must be] mindful of the old maxim 'only weaklings suffer no criticism'".

The speech made Hitler furious, and propaganda minister Joseph Goebbels attempted to suppress it. Angered by the blocking of publication of his speech, Papen insisted he had spoken on behalf of Hindenburg, threatened to submit his resignation from Hitler's cabinet, and promised to inform Hindenburg of the suppression of his speech.


Papen resigned as vice chancellor;  he would later serve as a diplomat until 1944, and played no further political role.

Saturday, June 17, 1933

Straightened up the house today for tomorrow. It sure is hot! I went out and played with Pauline.



June 17, 1933 - Union Station Massacre AKA The Kansas City Massacre

The Union Station Massacre took place on the morning of June 17, 1933. Convicted bank robber
Frank "Jelly Roll" Nash had escaped from the U.S. Penitentiary in Leavenworth, only to be
recaptured in Hot Springs, Arkansas. He was brought by train back to Kansas City, and from there,
 federal and local law enforcement officers planned to drive him back to Leavenworth.

As Nash’s custodians led him in handcuffs across the Union Station parking lot to a waiting car,

 two Nash allies, intending to free him, waited in another car. The resulting gunfight led to the deaths
of Nash, a federal agent, two Kansas City, Missouri, police officers, and a police chief from

Oklahoma. Two more federal agents were wounded in the clash.

The car carrying Nash’s would-be “rescuers” sped away, and a subsequent federal investigation

into the events of June 17, 1933, led to the execution of co-conspirator/cop killerAdam Richetti, as well
as uncovering the involvement of Kansas City’s own hometown crime boss Johnny Lazia in arming,
harboring and aiding the killers in their escape.

Two big names emerged from the nationwide publicity surrounding the Union Station Massacre.
It has long been rumored, although never proven, that Charles “Pretty Boy” Floyd was one of the
two men who intended to rescue Nash outside of Union Station that morning. And leading
the federal investigation of the massacre was a young J. Edgar Hoover, who would later gain
 momentum and funding for the growing agency he headed, which would eventually become
known as the Federal Bureau of Investigation.