Thepaper hanger speech refers to an address byCardinalGeorge Mundelein to 500priests of hisRoman Catholic Archdiocese of Chicago, at theArchbishop Quigley Preparatory Seminary, inChicago,Illinois, on May 18, 1937. In the speech he made observations on the transformation ofGerman public opinion.
'Perhaps you will ask how it is that a nation of 60 million intelligent people will submit in fear and servitude to an alien, anAustrian paper hanger,[1] and a poor one at that, and a few associates likeGoebbels andGöring, who dictate every move of the people's lives?' The Cardinal went on to suggest that thebrains of 60 million Germans had been removed without their even noticing it. (Hitler's Pope, p. 183)[2][3]
There is disagreement as to whetherAdolf Hitler ever worked applying wallpaper or not. John Schimmel, aWooster, Ohio, man who grew up inTransylvania, claimed to have known Hitler at the time he was learning the trade.[4]
The paper hanger term was nonetheless pejorative, suggesting a laborer performing a task which required morehand–eye coordination than intellect, and one who offered ersatz art rather than original art. Accordingly, the term became popular among those who opposed Hitler's ideas rather than among those who endorsed them.
Hitler retaliated by organizing a German family to contest the will of Fr. William Netstraeter, the deceased pastor ofSt. Joseph Catholic Church (Wilmette, Illinois) whose sum of $300,000 was currently being borrowed by Cardinal Mundelein to construct theUniversity 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.[citation needed]
The phrase was used in the song "Springtime for Hitler" from the musicalThe Producers when the flamboyant Hitler begins a satirical monologue with the phrase: "I was just a paper hanger, no one more obscurer".[5]
The story was featured in a documentary about Father Netstraeter,Cathedral of the North Shore, and in the bookRev. William Netstraeter: A Life in Three Parts.[6]