Susan Ronald - Hitlers Aristocrats: The Secret Power Players in Britain and America Who Supported the Nazis, 1923–1941

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For

Auntie Baba

and

in memory of

Uncle Larry

truly great, greatly loved

(Main characters only, in alphabetical order.)

Astor, Viscountess Nancy Witcher Langhorne , American-born British politician and first woman to take her seat in the House of Commons (Conservative-Plymouth). Always outspoken, she was anti-Semitic and anti-Catholic and looked sympathetically on Hitlers Nazi Party until the invasion of Czechoslovakia in March 1939. She was not a fascist.

Astor, Waldorf, 2nd Viscount Astor , American-born British politician and husband of Viscountess Astor who was compelled to give up his seat in the Commons on inheriting his title. He sat in the House of Lords and made sympathetic statements about Hitler hoping appeasement would work. He was not a fascist. In May 1940 he urged Chamberlain to resign and backed Winston Churchill as prime minister.

Baldwin, Stanley , served as prime minister three times in the interwar period (May 1923January 1924, November 1924June 1929, June 1935May 1937). He must bear some burden for Britains lack of preparedness in dealing with the dictators.

Bedaux, Charles , French-born American efficiency engineer and millionaire who developed close relationships with the Nazis and the Windsors. He was arrested and charged with treason in the United States and committed suicide before standing trial.

Bohle, Ernst , British-born German chief of the Auslands Organization (AO). He surrendered in May 1945 and was tried and convicted at the Ministries Trial at Nuremberg, serving four years of his five-year sentence before receiving a full American pardon.

Carl Edouard, Duke of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha, English-born royal who took up his grandfathers German titles at the behest of his grandmother Queen Victoria. Stripped of his British titles after the Great War, he became an early and ardent Nazi and head of the German Red Cross. He is the grandfather of King Carl of Sweden, its current monarch.

Chamberlain, Neville , British prime minister from 1937 to 1939 and main proponent of appeasement.

Channon, Henry Chips , Chicago-born British diarist, socialite, and Conservative member of Parliament whose diaries give a stunning portrait of his own and others Nazi sympathies. When Hitler invaded Czechoslovakia, like many, he changed his viewpoint.

Churchill, Winston , British prime minister, 194045 and 195155. In the wilderness for ten years prior to the outbreak of war.

Ciano, Galeazzo , son-in-law of Benito Mussolini and Italian foreign minister from 1936 to 1943. After the fall of Mussolini, he was tried and convicted of treason and executed in 1944.

Cooper, Alfred Duff, 1st Viscount Norwich , Conservative politician, diplomat, political and military historian, and writer. He was a supporter of Churchill and against appeasement. After the war, he became ambassador to France.

Cooper, Lady Diana, 1st Viscountess Norwich , English aristocrat, actress, socialite, and wife of Duff Cooper.

Coughlin, Father Charles E. , Canadian-born American-Catholic radio priest whose base was in Detroit. Initially a supporter of Roosevelt and the New Deal, he became an implacable enemy, anti-Semite, and supporter of Hitler. He also accepted money from Hitlers bankers.

Cunard, Lady Maud Emerald , San Franciscoborn socialite and aristocrat who championed Joachim von Ribbentrop and Wallis Simpson in her social set.

Dirksen, Herbert von , aristocratic German diplomat who served in Warsaw, Moscow, and Tokyo before becoming the German ambassador to the Court of St. Jamess from 1938 to 1939. He pretended to be ambassador Joseph P. Kennedys friend to keep America out of the war.

Dodd, William E. , U.S. ambassador to Berlin, 193337. Dodd was an historian and author. He tried to accurately portray the excesses of the Nazi regime to the State Department and the president.

Dodd, Martha , journalist daughter of Ambassador Dodd and a Soviet sympathizer and spy.

Eden, Anthony , foreign secretary under Chamberlain and again under Churchill. Eden later became prime minister during the Suez Crisis in 1956. He was pro-American and anti-appeasement.

Ford, Henry , inventor of the assembly line in automobile manufacturing, Ford was wildly anti-Semitic in the 1920s and 30s and wrote pamphlets against the Jews. (He recanted, too late.) He was the man Hitler most admired in America.

Freeman-Mitford, Edward, 2nd Baron Redesdale , English aristocrat and landowner who was the father of the six Mitford girls (Nancy, Diana, Pamela, Jessica, Unity, and Deborah). He was a Nazi sympathizer who saw his error in 1939 and turned against Hitler.

Freeman-Mitford, Unity Valkyrie , English aristocrat known for her extremism as a fascist and anti-Semite. She inserted herself into Hitlers inner circle in the forlorn hope of marrying him and shot herself when Britain declared war on Germany. She died of her wounds in 1948.

Gienanth, Ulrich von , German cultural attach to the United States who oversaw all print propaganda for the Nazis in the United States. He worked in conjunction with I.G. Farbens New York subsidiary Chemnyco and was asked to leave the country with the German consuls in 1941. He did not serve time as a war criminal.

Goebbels, Dr. Paul Joseph , Hitlers head of propaganda who masterminded changing public sentiment within Germany to make the population believe Hitlers lies.

Gring, Hermann , head of the Luftwaffe, Gring was the only top Nazi with a significant military background. He was behind much of the looting and vied against Goebbels and Hess to become Hitlers number two.

Grandi, Count Dino , Italian aristocrat and fascist diplomat who served as minister of justice, minister of foreign affairs, and president of the Italian parliament. He escaped to Spain in 1943 and then to Portugal and several places in South America before returning to Italy in the 1960s.

Hanfstaengl, Ernst Putzi Sedgwick von , outspoken German-American businessman and head of the Nazi English-speaking foreign press service.

Harmsworth, Harold, 1st Lord Rothermere , press baron and monarchist who believed in restoring the European monarchies after the Great War and was an early supporter of Hitler in the hope he would restore the Hohenzollerns.

Hesse, Prince Christoph of , nephew of Kaiser Wilhelm II and brother-in-law of Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh. He was killed in a plane crash in October 1943.

Hesse, Prince and Landgrave Philipp of , head of the electoral house of Hesse from 1940 to 1980. Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh, was named after him. He was married to Princess Mafalda, the daughter of King Victor Emmanuel II of Italy, and acted as the intermediary between Hitler, Mussolini, and the Italian king.

Hitler, Adolf , chancellor and dictator of the Third Reich from January 30, 1933, to May 8, 1945.

Hohenlohe-Waldenburg-Schillingsfrst, Princess Stephanie zu (ne Stephanie Richter) , Viennese-born Christian of Jewish origin who sold information to maintain her luxurious lifestyle and became a spy for Hitler. She was interned in the United States during the war, but completely rehabilitated afterward.