Hitler's Aristocrats

December 15, 2022
A character-driven chronicle of the numerous British and American elites who abetted Hitler's efforts to seize and maintain power. Many of these names (the Mitford sisters, Sir Oswald Mosley) will be well known to students of fascist history. However, British American biographer Ronald, author of Hitler's Art Thief, among other books, capably unearths the efforts of dozens of others who helped pave the way for getting Hitler's "big lie" accepted by so many. The inability to accept Germany's defeat in World War I and the ramifications of the punitive Treaty of Versailles fed the fantasy that the old order of ruptured aristocracies could be restored. Shady characters with aristocratic ties--e.g., Ernst "Putzi" Sedgwick von Hanfstaengl, a German American businessman and "Nazi English-speaking foreign press service," and Princess Stephanie zu Hohenlohe-Waldenburg-Schillingsf�rst, a wily spy and monarchist--acted as Hitler's go-betweens in wooing the British and American upper crust to advocate for the Nazi regime, write favorable stories about Hitler, and infiltrate the embassies. Putzi coached Hitler on his rhetoric, while Princess Stephanie enlisted the favors of Harold Harmsworth, Lord Rothermere, the British press baron, and got Hitler to appoint Joachim von Ribbentrop as head of the German foreign office in England. In this keen study, Ronald emphasizes the shocking extent to which American corporations like Du Pont and General Motors supported the pro-German fascist groups in the U.S., not to mention the behind-the-scenes support of Hitler's own "alchemists" like I.G. Farben. The biggest-name sympathizers were, of course, the Duke and Duchess of Windsor, ultimately exiled by Churchill to govern the Bahamas to keep them out of mischief. Even Martha Dodd, the daughter of William Dodd, the fervently anti-Nazi American ambassador to Germany, was seduced by the Nazi machine, and she went on to become an unrepentant spy. Highly readable drama of highborn traitors who enthusiastically aided the Nazi ascent to power.

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January 2, 2023
In this colorful yet familiar account, historian Ronald (The Ambassador) spotlights the “influencers and enablers who actively worked toward blinding Germany, Great Britain, and the United States to what Hitler and his fellow criminals were doing.” She profiles fascist sympathizers both well-known and obscure, including Princess Stephanie zu Hohenlohe-Waldenburg-Schillingsfürst, a Hungarian divorcée who was on the payrolls of both Hitler and Lord Rothermere, owner of the Daily Mail; American ambassador to Britain Joseph P. Kennedy; and the Duke of Windsor. Also discussed are the American Liberty League’s plan for wealthy industrialists to overthrow President Roosevelt and install “a man on a white horse” who would end the New Deal, and the successful cultivation of author Laura Ingalls Wilder’s distant cousin, aviator Laura Houghtaling Ingalls, as an unregistered foreign agent for Germany. While Ronald convincingly details a great deal of sympathy for Nazi Germany and fascism in general among English-speaking elites, she focuses on summarizing previously known connections, rather than exposing how deep, widespread, and enduring these viewpoints were. Though Ronald’s insights into how quickly anti-democratic views can take root in the popular attitudes of the wealthy are relevant today, this case study doesn’t break much new ground.

February 1, 2023

A person such as Hitler, initially lacking position or connections, does not rise to power in a vacuum. Historian and biographer Ronald (The Ambassador) meticulously documents Hitler's rise to power by focusing on the societal and political entourage he cultivated. The book shows that Hitler's true source of eventual power came from the aristocrats who were willing to become spies, the governmental officials who pushed his agenda to the British and United States, and commercial giants that secretly supplied a future war effort. According to the author, well-known supporters included Henry Ford, Charles Lindbergh, Joseph Kennedy, and British Monarch King Edward VIII. In exchange, the British elite wanted their lifestyle to continue uninterrupted, and Hitler assured them he could facilitate this outcome, although he downplayed the need for another world war. The book's claims are well documented with appendices, a glossary, notes, and a bibliography. VERDICT Recommended for informed readers who want to know more about the international clandestine machinations that enabled World War II to occur.--Jessica A. Bushore

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