Nazi Sympathisers

[Gromit]

The papers today carry a story of a 'genius' spycatcher who infiltrated nazi sympathisers during the war. The story is interesting, as is its conclusion.

The sympathisers came from the aristocrisy and the establishment. And none of the traitors were ever prosecuted for helping the enemy, they remained free.



// He gathered information on the aristocracy, the military and the intellectual elite, with one sympathiser claiming to have influence over Herbert Morrison, the home secretary at the time.
He also shed light on the fascist plans of Sir Oswald Mosley and “Hitler worshippers” such as George Pitt-Rivers, Churchill’s cousin.

MI5 was unable to prosecute those involved for fear it would be accused of entrapment, and it was decided that telling the sympathisers they had been duped would push them further underground. //

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/history/world-war-two/10665482/The-spy-who-turned-Hitlers-British-supporters-into-unwitting-double-agents.html

Do you think they escaped jjustice because of their connections?

[sp1814]

AOG

Yeah sure.

[DrFilth]

aog there were plenty of others not just commies and jewish people

>Various plaques and a giant mural pay tributes to the thousands of Jewish residents, communists, trade unionists and Irish dockers who gathered on 4 October 1936 to stop Sir Oswald Mosley's Blackshirts marching through the East End <

> a crowd of up to 300,000 people waiting at Gardiner's Corner, the gateway to the East End,

[anotheoldgit]

DrFilth

>Various plaques and a giant mural pay tributes to the thousands of Jewish residents, communists, trade unionists and Irish dockers who gathered on 4 October 1936 to stop Sir Oswald Mosley's Blackshirts marching through the East End <

I wonder who found a need to erect these plaques etc, did they do anything more heroic that to stop a march in a free country?

[sp1814]

AOG

Don't you think that people who fight against fascism deserve recognition?

I mean, I'm sure many of us would have been horrified at the anti-Semitic rhetoric of the blackshirts, and likewise would've done what we could to say, "Not in my name".

Was Moseley a supporter of Hitler?

[sp1814]

One has to wonder why the fascists chose to march through the East End of all places.

Strange how tactics don't change even decades later.

[sandyRoe]

Did Mosley really share a house with his wife in the grounds of a prison during his internment? Lesser mortals wouldn't have had it so good.

[anotheoldgit]

Steve.5

/// Any sign of Edward VIII "every drop of blood in my body is German" ///

/// should he also have been hung with Mosley AOG ///

Well he did have German ancestry, so if that was a reason to be hanged then there would be a long queue of people with him lining up at the scaffold.

And I ask again why should Mosley have been hanged?

[sp1814]

AOG

I don't think Edward VIII's ancestry was the issue, but his attitude to the Nazis.

Apparently, he was very sympathetic to the movement.

After his accession, the German embassy in London sent a cable for the personal attention of Hitler.

In part, it read: "An alliance between Germany and Britain is for him (the King) an urgent necessity."

Alan Lascelles, Edward's private secretary, gave his own harsh judgment of the situation.

"The best thing that could happen to him would be for him to break his neck."

Whether this is true or not is up for question, but I've seen at least one documentary (Channel Four I believe), which revealed him to have some very dodgy views.

And to have a king supporting Nazis when British blood was being shed in fighting them would have been untenable.

[EDDIE51]

There was huge support for Hitler among the 'Aristocracy' in the 1930s.
One of the most prominent was Nancy Mitford .who was unwavering in her support for Hitler. It has even been reported that she offered to be a surrogate Mother and carry his child.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Unity_Mitford

[anotheoldgit]

sp1814

/// I don't think Edward VIII's ancestry was the issue, ///

It was the issue, because I was answering Steve.5's point.

*** Any sign of Edward VIII "every drop of blood in my body is German" ***

[anotheoldgit]

sp1814

/// And to have a king supporting Nazis when British blood was being shed in fighting them would have been untenable. ///

He was not the King when WW2 broke out in 1939.

Before then who could foresee how the German Nazi party would have so much effect on people around the world, didn't the British team give the Nazi salute in the German Olympics of 1936, which would not have been thought of only 3 year later?

[jno]

wrong Mitford, Eddie: Unity was a Nazi, Diana married Mosley, Nancy was the writer of Love in a Cold Climate

[jno]

aog, that's the point: if he hadn't resigned the job, he would have been king in 1939; whose side would he have been on?

[DrFilth]

aog even later 1938

>Berlin's Olympic Stadium; the date: 14 May 1938.
As the English players lined up alongside their German counterparts
for pre-match ceremonies captain Eddie Hapgood and his men issued
a Nazi salute to the crowd.

It was a Foreign Office order that the England team, which
included the legendary Stanley Matthews, perform the salute.

Neville Chamberlain's government

[LazyGun]

"didn't the British team give the Nazi salute in the German Olympics of 1936, which would not have been thought of only 3 year later?"

They did not. The GB Olympic team and the USA team refused to offer the Nazi salute, although the French did.

You might be confusing the GB Olympic Team with the England Football team, who did offer a Nazi salute prior to the game itself, held at the Berlin Olympic stadium in 1938, under pressure from british diplomats who were at the time following the appeasement policy of Chamberlain.

[LazyGun]

Oh, and just to add - I am surprised that anyone in this day and age,particularly with the benefit of hindsight, would be offering support either for the discredited political ideology of Fascism and/or the Nazi regime or elements of its ideology.

[EDDIE51]

Yes Unity was the main one , I got it wrong , but the entire Mitford family were prominent Nazi supporters.

[LazyGun]

@Eddie - Apart from Jessica, who was a communist ;)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mitford_sisters#Mitford_sisters

[DrFilth]

you can watch them walk past here
.
.
.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6YlyAEGjZP0