Latest news with #NaziGermany
Russia Today
10 hours ago
- Politics
- Russia Today
UK government comments on incoming MI6 chief's Nazi family links
The UK Foreign Office has defended Blaise Metreweli, the first woman appointed to lead the MI6 foreign intelligence agency, after media reports revealed that her grandfather fought for Nazi Germany. The government argued that Metreweli's controversial family background has only strengthened her resolve to protect the country from external threats. On Thursday, the Daily Mail published a report revealing for the first time that Metreweli, who is set to become MI6 director in October, is the granddaughter of Constantine Dobrowolski – a Red Army defector who joined Hitler's forces and was nicknamed 'The Butcher' for atrocities committed in Nazi-occupied Ukraine. In a statement on Friday, the Foreign Office said: 'Blaise Metreweli neither knew nor met her paternal grandfather. Blaise's ancestry is characterized by conflict and division and, as is the case for many with Eastern European heritage, only partially understood.' 'It is precisely this complex heritage which has contributed to her commitment to prevent conflict and protect the British public from modern threats posed by today's hostile states, as the next chief of MI6,' the statement continued. According to the Daily Mail, Dobrowolski served in an SS tank unit and later joined the Nazi military police, which took part in the mass murder of Jews, partisans, and political prisoners. Dobrowolski is believed to have been killed in 1943. His widow later moved to the UK, where she married Georgian-born David Metreweli.
Daily Mail
3 days ago
- Entertainment
- Daily Mail
From saluting SS camps to playing with Goering's model trains - new podcast reveals how Hitler manipulated a 'deluded' Edward VIII into becoming a 'Nazi puppet'
On the final instalment of the Mail's three-part podcast miniseries examining Edward VIII and Wallis Simpson, royal biographer Robert Hardman and historian Kate Williams examine how deeply the exiled couple became entangled with Nazi Germany. After abdicating in December 1936, Edward and his twice-divorced wife Wallis found themselves seeking new allies, having been effectively ostracised by the British establishment and denied the full privileges of royalty. Buoyed by the propaganda triumph of that summer's Berlin Olympics, Hitler saw in the royal couple an opportunity to lend his regime further international legitimacy. Wanting to still appear a statesman, Edward accepted an invitation to visit Nazi Germany in 1937, a decision that prompted his brother King George VI to write to Edward's political advisor Walter Monckton that the plan was 'a bombshell, and a bad one'. By 1937, Europe was well aware of Nazi Germany's dismantling of democracy, persecution of Jews through the Nuremberg Laws, illegal rearmament, and aggressive territorial ambitions, making Edward's visit a highly controversial legitimisation of an openly authoritarian regime. The photographs from the visit and the rumours it generated would forever tarnish the former King's reputation. This episode of Queens, Kings and Dastardly Things explores what the couple did in Germany and investigates whether Edward was truly willing to collaborate with the Nazis should they occupy Britain. Edward and Wallis's 1937 Tour of Nazi Germany Beyond mere self-aggrandisement, royal biographer Robert Hardman believes Edward and Wallis agreed to the tour because they harboured fascist sympathies. In the late 1930s, this was seen as problematic but not entirely unusual among the British upper classes. Across Europe, many aristocrats viewed fascism as a bulwark against the spread of communism. 'Throughout the story of Edward and Wallis Simpson, there is a swastika', Hardman said. 'There was Nazi influence all the way through. In the run up the abdication, Hitler was issuing instructions to his diplomats in London to try and stop it. Hitler believed Edward was on his side. 'There are well documented stories Simpson's links to Nazi politicians and diplomats in London. 'It was clear by 1937, that Edward VIII would, in any given situation, lean towards the Nazi side.' Upon arrival in Germany, Edward foolishly sees himself as a 'peacemaker', as Kate Williams told the podcast. 'That vision he had of himself was hopelessly naive', Williams described. 'Because for Nazi Germany, the former King turning up and having the red carpet laid out for them is giving consent to the regime. 'It's treated like a Royal progress – crowds' wave away. The couple are greeted by the British national anthem accompanied by Nazi salutes. They dine with high-ranking Nazis including Goering, Goebbels, Ribbentrop and Speer. 'All of the Nazi charm is brought out to bear on Edward and Wallis, and they are there with their eyes closed to the reality of the situation.' During the tour, Edward is taken to munitions factories, SS training camps and Hitler's Salzburg Mountain retreat, the Berghof. An SS trooper would later recount how Edward relished in saluting the soldiers and declaring the shared racial ties between the British and German peoples. Visiting Berchtesgraden for a private meeting with Hitler, Edward reportedly killed time waiting for the Fuhrer by viewing Goering's prized model train set. Hardman explained: 'There's a hilarious lunch where Goering entertains the couple: he lays on this chorus of mountain huntsman with these horns to serenade them Get your weekly dose of Royal scandals and palace intrigue on this Mail podcast Hosted by Royal Historians Robert Hardman and Professor Kate Williams, Queens, Kings, and Dastardly Things looks at the Royal Family - the secrets, the palace intrigues, and the Crown's bloodiest moments. Listen wherever you get your podcasts now. 'Of course, they feel terribly important. At last, Edward thinks, I am being treated like the King I once was, and my wife, the Queen she should have been. 'After lunch, Goering shows them his model railway set, and they're utterly charmed by this. You get these amazing glimpses into what a bunch of crackpots these guys all were.' Exactly what the former King and Hitler discussed in their private meeting remains unknown to this day. According to his advisor Dudley Forwood, Edward told the dictator that the 'British and German races are one and they should always remain one.' In 1966, Edward told a reporter that he and Hitler had discussed the need to destroy communist Russia. Williams said: 'The King later says of the meeting that Hitler made him realise Red Russia was the true enemy. 'He convinced him that Great Britain and Europe should encourage Germany to march East and crush communism once and for all. 'The Duke of Windsor becomes obsessed with the idea that he and the Nazis can be best friends – he's impossibly naive about the realities of the regime.' Following their meeting, rumours would dog Edward that he had tacitly agreed to replace his brother as King in the event of a Nazi occupation of Great Britain. Addressing the veracity of these rumours, Hardman said: 'I do think Edward was deluded – his sympathies did lie strongly with the Nazi cause. 'But it's probably pushing it too far to suggest that there was a plot to put the Duke of Windsor on the throne. 'What is true is that when asked whether he would ever come back to Britain to be President if we ever became a republic – he said yes. 'He was happy to countenance the fall of the monarchy and taking over some sort of head of state role. 'Whether he would be willing to do that under the aegis of Nazi Germany is a deeper question.' To hear about the political fallout of the visit and how Edward and Wallis spent the war, search for Queens, Kings and Dastardly Things now, wherever you get your podcasts.
Times
18-06-2025
- Politics
- Times
Only US intervention can stop nuclear Iran — this is a 1940s moment
I srael attacked Iran because one Holocaust is one Holocaust too many. The very existence of the Jewish state is based on the solemn vow of never-again: never again will the Jews be helpless, never again will the Jews be slaughtered, never again will the Jews allow an evil empire to annihilate them. This is why the nascent State of Israel built the Dimona nuclear reactor a mere 15 years after the liberation of Auschwitz. This is why Israel created one of the most formidable air forces in the world. And this is why Israel has been so alarmed by Iran's nuclear project since the beginning of the third millennium. For over two decades, Israel has perceived the Ayatollah's Iran as a new Nazi Germany. But it was the trauma of October 7 that underlined the threat posed to the Jewish state and world order by radicals who venerate 11th-century values as they acquire 21st-century military capabilities.
Daily Mail
17-06-2025
- Entertainment
- Daily Mail
James Bond villains were based on REAL Nazis Ian Fleming encountered in WWII, German fan group claims
Ian Fleming's experiences in the Second World War are long known to have inspired his James Bond novels. The author's role in naval intelligence saw him help plan key operations and create an elite unit of commandos tasked with seizing enemy documents. But now, a group of German fans of the Bond franchise have argued that Fleming based Moonraker villain Hugo Drax on a real military industrialist he encountered in Nazi Germany. The group, whose name translates as the 'Bond Club', say that Fleming obtained top secret papers which he used to craft fictional versions of men he came across. In the Moonraker novel Drax poses as a British army veteran working on a rocket project for Britain, before he is unmasked as Graf Hugo von der Drache - a Nazi seeking revenge for his country's defeat. The villain is depicted as having worked for Rheinmetall-Borsig, a real Dusseldorf-based firm which manufactured artillery and ammunition for the German war effort. The Bond Club believes Fleming saw filed seized from Rheinmetall and other firms, such as Krupp. Tobias Schwesig, the club's chairman, said: 'In the films you have these characters - they look like normal Englishmen or industrialists, and then it turns out they're bad guys, Nazis, who want to destroy England or America.' Ian Fleming's role in naval intelligence saw him help plan key operations and create an elite unit of commandos tasked with seizing enemy documents 'He often had a real, probably a real person back in mind, I think.' On Drax, he added to The Times: 'The villains in Bond feel so real because Fleming knew exactly how Nazi companies operated. 'This is particularly clear in the character of Hugo Drax in Moonraker.' The Bond Club's members also believe that the town in which they are based, Wattenscheid in western Germany, was the fictional Bond's birthplace. Fleming himself was always vague on the subject. While working in his clandestine role, Fleming founded what was known as 30 Assault unit (30AU). In early 1945, as Allied forces were fighting their way through Germany, the group were ordered to seize enemy documents and gathering any more information that might prove useful. Fleming also worked in another unit, T-Force, which captured German scientific and technical know-how and brought it to the Allies. They also brought Nazi rocket scientists to Britain before they were captured by the advancing Russians. The special unit was lightly armed, highly mobile and, following the D-Day landings, tasked with seizing anything of military value. The Bond Club also claim that one of the key henchman in Moonraker - Dr Walter - was based on the real scientist Dr Hellmuth Walter, who ran the Walterwerke factory in Kiel, Northern Germany, which was secured by T-Force in 1945. It was responsible for the design of the engines used in V1 and V2 rockets. The link was previously highlighted by military historian Sean Longden, who revealed many other resemblances between Fleming's work and the plot of Moonraker. He also highlighted how, in the book, 50 German scientists – described as 'more or less all the guided-missile experts the Russians didn't get' – are working on the Moonraker project. T-Force had extracted Nazi rocket scientists from the Soviet zone and Dr Walter assisted in this. The 1979 film, starring Roger Moore as 007 and Michael Lonsdale as Drax, bears little resemblance to Fleming's book. The Walter character does not feature at all.
Yahoo
15-06-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Fathers Don't Just Protect—They Prepare
The Atlantic Daily, a newsletter that guides you through the biggest stories of the day, helps you discover new ideas, and recommends the best in culture. Sign up for it here. My grandfather was born in 1882 in the small Ukrainian town of Zawale, which was part of the vast, multiethnic Austro-Hungarian empire. In 1914, this mega-state, like so many European nations, threw itself into a world war with frenzied enthusiasm. My grandfather later told my father how puzzled he had been to watch thousands of happy young men—really still just boys—boarding trains in Vienna, cheering as they went off to what was almost certainly their death. He did not volunteer, he avoided conscription, and he survived. His son, my father, was born in Vienna in 1927. He was 6 years old when Adolf Hitler became the chancellor of Germany. Austria still had a few years of freedom left, and my grandfather used them well: Because an archive had burned down, several of his family documents had to be reissued. Through skillful manipulation, he managed to turn himself from a Jew into what the Nazis would later classify as a 'half Jew.' And as Germany's annexation of Austria became inevitable, he came up with an especially daring idea: In a court proceeding, he had his wife, my grandmother, declared the illegitimate daughter of the janitor in her parents' building. He bribed witnesses who testified that her mother had had an affair with that janitor. It worked: My grandmother was officially declared the daughter of an Aryan. And as a result, my family survived. This Father's Day, I find myself reflecting not only on paternal love but on paternal foresight—the clarity and focus it takes to see what others might not, to act before the danger has a name. Raising children is always a challenge, but never more so than in times of deep insecurity about what the future will look like. To meet that challenge, it can help to look at the generations that came before. [Anne Applebaum: This is what Trump does when his revolution sputters] Despite my grandfather's efforts, life for my father quickly changed under the Nazis. In swimming school, two boys nearly drowned him while the lifeguard looked on, grinning. When my father finally emerged, gasping for breath, the lifeguard laughed and said, 'Can't swim, Jew?' Around the same time, the man who lived in the neighboring house began watching my father and his sister with dark, brooding looks. But only after Hitler's army had entered Austria did he begin shouting, each and every time they passed: 'Jewwws!' My father would recount these events with amused detachment. He had already learned as a teenager to recognize the profound absurdity of Nazism—the deep, grotesque nonsense of what Charlie Chaplin and Ernst Lubitsch were turning into dark political comedies at the same time in Hollywood. A few months later, two men came to my grandparents and ordered them to leave their house with their children. They moved into a small apartment, and their home was 'bought'—at a tiny, symbolic price—by the 'Jewww'-shouting neighbor. Corruption is the most corrosive force in a democracy, but in a dictatorship it can save you. Once a month, a Gestapo officer would appear at my grandparents' apartment and take something valuable—a piece of furniture, a porcelain plate, a painting. In return, the file on my grandparents would sink a little lower in the stack on his desk. At my father's school, the boys had to line up, and all those tall enough were asked—in fact, ordered—to volunteer for the SS. My father raised his hand and said, 'Requesting permission to report—I'm one-quarter Jewish!' To which the SS man shouted in disgust, 'Step back!' And so my father was spared from becoming a war criminal in Hitler's service. In almost every situation, having Jewish ancestry was a mortal danger. But in this one instance, it became his salvation. In the final months of the war, my father was arrested after all and spent three months in a concentration camp close to Vienna, constantly at risk of death. But after the war had ended, there was still a striking atmosphere of leniency toward the perpetrators. When he went to the local police station to give a statement about his time in the camp, he was met with scornful dismissiveness. 'It wasn't really that bad, was it?' the officer asked. 'Aren't we exaggerating a little?' It was then that my father decided to move from Austria to Germany, paradoxically—because there, under pressure from the occupying powers, some reckoning with the past was taking place. Austria, meanwhile, had successfully cast itself as the war's first victim. [Timothy W. Ryback: Hitler used a bogus crisis of 'public order' to make himself dictator] I tell my son, who never met his grandfather (as I never met mine), that my father was obsessed throughout his life with the idea that what had happened once could happen again—not just to Jews, but to anyone. Of course, my son, raised in a seemingly stable world, feels profoundly safe. And that's a good thing. But we are currently living in the United States, a country that for my grandfather was a refuge impossible to reach, but that is currently in the throes of what some serious scholars now describe as an authoritarian power grab. And even in Germany, where we could easily return, a right-wing extremist party is now so strong that it might come in first in the next election. So I think about the responsibility of raising a child in a time when the future is impossible to predict. I think, more and more, of my grandfather, who in 1914 watched people plunge into war hysteria and decided to resist their excitement, and who would later take very unconventional steps—steps that would, after history took a turn for the worse, ensure his family's survival. My grandfather understood the psychology of fanaticism very early; my father understood the stupidity and mediocrity of the people whom the dictatorship empowered, without mistaking them for harmless clowns. Now, as we watch society once again take a dangerous turn—as books are banned, people are sent to foreign prisons without even a court order, and soldiers are deployed against protesters—I wonder what stories my future grandchildren will one day need to remember. Memory is not a picture book; it's a tool. And fatherhood, especially in times like these, is not just about protection. It is about preparation. Article originally published at The Atlantic
