The Midlands folk on Hitler’s hitlist as he planned to spread terror from a Shropshire base

Imagine a very different 2024, a shackled society where the freedoms of speech, belief and expression have long been rinsed from our lives.

Imagine a totalitarian state where swastikas flutter from Black Country buildings, where portraits and statues of the Fuhrer adorn every town and city centre.

Close your eyes and imagine this country’s landscape had the Third Reich succeeded and stormed through our defences in the new year of 1941, as planned. Envisage the goose step march of triumph through cities such as Wolverhampton.

Even image the homage to Britain’s cruel conqueror during this holiday season.

Allegedly, Adolf would’ve spread terror from an unlikely power base – Apley Hall, near Bridgnorth, Shropshire.

The nightmare of Nazi rule came perilously close to becoming a reality. And the oppression, that would have still been with us in 2024, is underlined by Hitler’s “Black Book” – a chilling pamphlet of destruction.

With “Geheim!” – secret – stamped on the front cover, it is a catalogue of 2,820 “enemies of the state” to be rounded-up, incarcerated or eliminated when victory came.

It is a curious, even, at times, bizarre mix of politicians, industrialists, artists and actors. What Noel Coward did to deserve a place on Hitler’s hitlist is unclear, but the actor and playwright was rather chuffed by the honour.

Cartoonist David Low, also strangely dubbed an undesirable by the Gestapo, quipped: “That’s all right. I had them on my list, too.”

Motor racing legend Fergus Anderson’s only “crime” appears to be winning the Grand Prix world championships twice. Perhaps he pipped Germans to the chequered flag.

When referring to the Third Reich’s reign, “silly” seems an unduly kind and ill-fitting description. But it springs to mind when browsing organisations earmarked for destruction in the dossier, now translated by website Forces War Records.

They include the YMCA. Had the plan for world domination succeeded, anyone breaking into the Village People classic this New Year’s Eve would face incarceration, at the very best.

Hitler and his henchman evidently saw no fun in staying at the Y-M-C-A.

The Rotary Club, also on the list, would now have to hold meetings in secret. The boy scout movement was to be erased on the grounds it was “a powerful instrument of British cultural propaganda and ideal source of information for the British Intelligence Service”.

Its founder Robert Baden-Powell was to be arrested.

Masonic Lodges, public schools, the Salvation Army – all are among the 400 strong doomed groups.