Paper hanger (Mundelein's speech): Difference between revisions

In hisThe '''Paperpaper hanger''' talkspeech refers to an address by [[Cardinal (Catholicism)|Cardinal]] [[George Mundelein]] to 500 [[Priesthood (Catholic Church)|priests]] of his [[Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Chicago]], at the [[Archbishop Quigley Preparatory Seminary]], in [[Chicago]], [[Illinois]], on May 18, 1937,. [[CardinalIn (Catholicism)|Cardinal]]the [[Georgespeech Mundelein]]he made these observations on the tragic transformation of [[Nazi Germany|German]] public opinion: .

{{cquote|'Perhaps you will ask how it is that a nation of 60 million intelligent people will submit in fear and servitude to an alien, an [[Austria]]n paper hanger,<ref>a '''Paperpaper hanger''' is a person with the occupation of applying [[wallpaper]].</ref> and a poor one at that, and a few associates like [[Joseph Goebbels|Goebbels]] and [[Hermann Göring|Göring]], who dictate every move of the people's lives?' The Cardinal went on to suggest that the [[brain]]s of 60 million Germans had been removed without their even noticing it. (''Hitler's Pope'', p. 183)<ref>[http://www.stcharleschurch.org/events/2005/piusholocausttalk.php Dialogue Toward Consensus and Healing] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070312074608/http://www.stcharleschurch.org/events/2005/piusholocausttalk.php |date=2007-03-12 }}</ref><ref>[[Archbishop Quigley Preparatory Seminary]] was the site of the talk by Mundelein. See the more accurate quote from the Chicago Tribune at that Wikipedia entry</ref>}}

There is disagreement as to whether [[Adolf Hitler]] ever worked applying wallpaper or not. John Schimmel, a [[Wooster, Ohio]], man who grew up in [[Transylvania]], claimed to have known Hitler at the time he was learning the trade.<ref>[https://web.archive.org/web/20060828030636/http://xroads.virginia.edu/~MA04/wood/mot/html/dictators.htm Marching Toward War: Humanizing Dictators]</ref>

The paper hanger term was nonetheless pejorative, suggesting a laborer performing a task which required more [[hand–eye coordination]] than intellect, and one who offered ersatz art rather than original art. This was an elitist [[ad hominem]] attack on Hitler's ideas, for he was a published author,<ref>[http://www.historyplace.com/worldwar2/timeline/kampf2.htm Mein Kampf]</ref> and a watercolorist, having produced 500–1000 paintings.<ref>[http://www.oskarschindler.com/Albums6/album.htm Hitler's artworks]</ref> Accordingly, the term became popular among those who opposed Hitler's ideas rather than among those who endorsed them. <!-- I hope that's sufficiently NPOV to satisfy everybody! -->

Hitler retaliated by organizing a German family to contest the will of Fr. William Netstraeter, the deceased pastor of [[St. Joseph Catholic Church (Wilmette, Illinois)]] who'swhose sum of $300,000 was currently being borrowed by Cardinal Mundelein to construct the [[University of St. Mary of the Lake]]. A Chicago circuit court eventually determined the will valid, and the funds were quickly used to construct the current church in Wilmette.<ref>The{{cn|date=December consequences of the Paper hanger speech and the building of St. Joseph's in Wilmette was the subject of the documentary [Cathedral of the North Shore]</ref>2016}}

[[Category:Speeches1937 speeches]]