(Jewish Group) 'Hitler's Girl' explores British ties with the Nazis

[Behind the Aegis]

Anew book discusses how close Britain's aristocracy was to the Nazi regime and what the situation in those times tells us about the dangers to democracy today. Anyone trying to dive deep into the history of British far-right and fascist movements in the 1930s is bound to come across the names of Unity Mitford and Oswald Mosley.

Rumored to have been Hitler's girlfriend, Unity Mitford's personality and ideas have been discussed in books such as David Pryce-Jones' "Unity Mitford: An Enquiry into Her Life and the Frivolity of Evil" (1977) and David Litchfield's "Hitler's Valkyrie: The Uncensored Biography of Unity Mitford" (2014).

Oswald Mosley, the leader of the British Fascists Union from 1932 to 1940, and his movement have similarly been analyzed in several books, including "Hurrah for the Blackshirts" (2005), Graham Macklin's "Failed Führers: A History of Britain's Extreme Right" (2020) and Richard C. Thurlow's "Fascism in Britain: From Oswald Mosley's Blackshirts to the National Front" (1998).

Now a new book on the topic, "Hitler's Girl: The British Aristocracy and the Third Reich on the Eve of WWII," has been published. The author, Yale lecturer Lauren Young, has used newly unclassified material for the work.

more...