im not sure if thats true i think i remember something about British doctors doing a big research all around the Britain and finding the connection for the first time (i didn't really pay attention in epidemiology classes :(
Several people from various countries were working on this link at around the same time (1930-1960). Hitler did run an anti-smoking campaign. Here's a German poster of a cigarette eating a man:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anti-tobacco_movement_in_Nazi_Germany
- FunStats
Not sure why you were downvoted as that's true. They say that was one of Austria's great feats was to convince the world that Hitler was German and Beethoven was Austrian.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anti-tobacco_movement_in_Nazi_Germany
- FunStats