British visitors to pre-war Germany

[ahlexe]

Dear readers,
who can advise whether there was any research on a topic of British visitors and tourists to Nazi Germany before the beginning of WWII? These people could saw much and wrote their comments on German life then.
Kind regards,
ahlexe

[Carl Schwamberger]

All I have is a article in the Journal of Royal Artillery from pre 1938. The author spent several weeks or months in Germany as a official observer of the German army. He had a series of general comments on operations in field exercises.

[Sheldrake]

I am not aware of any systematic report. No British officer seems to have attended the German staff college, unlike the US Army whose graduates then wrote extensively about German military doctrine and training methods. One of these was Wedemeyer the author of the victory plan.

There are two anecdotes about British military visitors Edmund Ironsiide is supposed to have sported the German decoration he had been awarded in 1904 while spying on the Germans in SW Africa. Bulgy Thorne met Hitler and discussed their experiences at the battle of Gheluveldt in October 1914 where they have both served.

Are you by any chance looking for a dissertation topic?

[Vikki]

Dear readers,
who can advise whether there was any research on a topic of British visitors and tourists to Nazi Germany before the beginning of WWII? These people could saw much and wrote their comments on German life then.
Kind regards,
ahlexe

Not British, but several Americans whose works I'm familiar with commented on life in pre-war Germany, and did indeed include a lot of details on everyday life. For example, Dr. Lothrop Stoddard, who visited Germany in 1939 as a reporter for the North American Newspaper Alliance; Howard K. Smith, who worked in Berlin for the Columbia Broadcasting System during the last half of 1941; and William Russell, who worked at the American Embassy in Berlin until 1941.

Just a couple of the topics they wrote about:

The debasement of the quality of food and other items even before the war, as Germany began to go on a war footing: http://forum.axishistory.com/viewtopic. ... 9#p1240429

The NSV and the Winterhilfswerk: http://forum.axishistory.com/viewtopic. ... 18#p837318

~Vikki

[Roches]

Lothrop Stoddard's entire book, Into the Darkness, is on Project Gutenberg Australia: http://gutenberg.net.au/ebooks03/0300731.txt
I read the whole book on Scribd, but it may be gone from there now.

[Inselaffe]

Two well known British writers with published accounts that are worth a look;

Christabel Bielenberg (18 June 1909 – 2 November 2003) was a British writer who was married to a German lawyer, Peter Bielenberg. She described her experiences living in Germany during the Second World War in two books: The Past is Myself (1968) and The Road Ahead. She was educated at St Margaret's School, Bushey, Hertfordshire.

They married in 1934 and she took German citizenship, which required her to relinquish her British citizenship. The Bielenbergs lived initially in Hamburg, then moved to Berlin and had three sons, Nicholas, Christopher and John. The heavy Allied bombing raids led Mrs Bielenberg and her children to leave the city, and they eventually settled in the village of Rohrbach in the Black Forest.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bielenberg

Christopher William Bradshaw Isherwood (26 August 1904 – 4 January 1986) was an English novelist. Rejecting his upper middle class background and indulging his attraction to men, he remained in Berlin, the capital of the young Weimar Republic, drawn by its reputation for sexual freedom.

He worked as a private tutor in Berlin and elsewhere while writing the novel Mr Norris Changes Trains (1935) and a short novel called Goodbye to Berlin (1939), often published together in a collection called The Berlin Stories. These works provided the inspiration for the play I Am a Camera (1951), the 1955 film I Am a Camera (both starring Julie Harris), the Broadway musical Cabaret (1966) and the film (1972) of the same name.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christopher_Isherwood

[Vikki]

I'd forgotton about those two. I have, and have read, both, and they're great.

~Vikki

[gambadier]

Didn't Patrick Leigh-Fermor pass through Germany?

I recently came across someone who visited Germany in the 1930s and on his return to UK promptly joined the Territorial Army.

[ahlexe]

Thank you all for these replies.

We see that such evidence is rare but can be extracted from the past.
Albert Speer mentioned in his book ('Inside the Third Reich') that an Englishman named 'Lord Wolton' was Fritz Todt's guest in autumn 1937.
Can anybody confirm that another Englishman who became Lord Woolton and British Minister of Food during WWII really had been Fritz Todt's guest? (In 1937 there was not such peerage yet.)

Thanks again,
ahlexe

[ylla]

An english prince was barred from coming back to England, he remained in germany being close friends with Adolf. Married german woman and had three sons. All sons look very british in appearance. Two flew in the Luftwaffe. One died near end of wwII.

King Edward, after giving up the throne went to germany for a visit pre WWII (maybe during WWII)? He was fond of Adolf hitler.

[ahlexe]

An english prince was barred from coming back to England, he remained in germany being close friends with Adolf. Married german woman and had three sons. All sons look very british in appearance. Two flew in the Luftwaffe. One died near end of wwII.
King Edward, after giving up the throne went to germany for a visit pre WWII (maybe during WWII)? He was fond of Adolf hitler.

ylla, could you find any British/German newspaper posts related to this ex-king Edward's visit to Germany?

Kind regards,
ahlexe

[ylla]

No but however, its facts. Sorry i have no clipping. How does one find online newspaper clippings? Him and his wife visited germany and even meet up with hitler. Loads of documentaries on the hitler history channel. I believe he had two choices. Not to wed his wife or give up the throne. There was a reason why but just can't remember. He choose his wife and visited germany. He firmly believed in Hitler and hitler's ns. More like an admirer.

[ylla]

Sorry forgot to mention this. Hitler did quote after king gave up the throne; something on the lines of this "losing the king was a great lose for ns germany". I watch many documentaries.

[ahlexe]

Thank you ylla. Let us hope that someone will find, copy and upload newspaper articles about ex-king Edward's visits to pre-war Germany.
I can assume that he might be Fritz Todt's guest (along with mysterious 'Lord Wolton')...

ahlexe

[Deakin]

'The Duke of Windsor: Arrival in Berlin ' The Times 12 October 1937
http://find.galegroup.com/ttda/infomark ... ersion=1.0
They had Dinner With Ribbentrop on 12 October.
On the 13 the Duke & Duchess visited the Burg Crosinsee camp in Pomerania then flew to Burgen to see the Strength through Joy holiday camp.
They were intending to begin a tour of the Rhineland beginning in Bielfield on the 14 Oct but postponed until the 15 and stayed with Goring at his country house, Karinall instead
They then stayed in Essen accompanied by Robert Ley for 2 days visting Krupps and a mine in Lintfort
On the 18 Oct they visited both Lepzig & Dresden
On the 22 they visted Herr H. himself at the Berghof
http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article55070931

Somewhere along the line after their visit to Essen this also happened.

In 1937 Ley was visibly drunk while hosting a visit by the Duke and Duchess of Windsor, and after driving them in his Mercedes straight through a set of locked factory gates, was hurriedly replaced on Hitler’s orders by Herman Göring for the rest of the visit .

Evans, Richard J. (2012-07-26). The Third Reich in Power, 1933 - 1939: How the Nazis Won Over the Hearts and Minds of a Nation (Kindle Locations 8512-8514). Penguin Books Ltd. Kindle Edition.