Royals And The Reich
(Jonathan Petropoulos)
Royals and the ReichAuthor Jonathan PetropoulosAbstract from The Spectator reviewDid Hitler really toy with the idea of restoring the German monarchy? The country?s aristocracy, the major and minor princes who had all been stripped of their privileges by the Weimar Republic, thought so, and Hitler was prepared to dangle the possibility before them during congenial meetings with the German Nobel Association.But why this cozying up between the upstart leader of a new and dangerous political movement and the men and women who had ruled German lands for centuries? It seems that they needed each other. Hitler was anxious to portray himself as the natural successor to the Kaisers, with the Weimar Republic as nothing but an unfortunate interlude, while the majority of princes found the idea of Nazi master-race elitism and opposition to communism attractiveAbout half of the German nobility eventually signed up with the Nazi party, none more enthusiastically than Prince Philipp of Hesse-Kassel, who because he was married to Princess Mafalda of Italy was used as an intermediary with Mussolini to ensure there were no objections to the German annexation of Austria in 1938. However, Hitler proved to be an unreliable and eventually deadly ally and turned on the princes as the tide of World War II began to run against him. After Italy surrendered to the advancing Allies in 1943 Philipp was arrested and thrown into solitary confinement. Mafalda died in Buchenwald concentration camp.Philipp survived and spent the post-war years at one of his remaining residences, Schloss Fasanerie, arranging and purchasing art works commemorating the links his family enjoyed with the old royal houses of Europe, some remaining, others passed into history.Author Jonathan Petropoulos lets him off lightly, largely because so many original and possibly incriminating documents were destroyed in the last months of the war, while others have simply disappeared.
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