Fellow Travellers of the Right: British Enthusiasts for Nazi Germany, 1933-39

by Richard Griffiths

Richard Griffiths's previous book was a highly praised biography of Marshal Petain, published in 1970. In his new book, he has turned his formidable powers to analysing the motivation of British people in the Thirties who, broadly speaking, were enthusiasts for Nazi Germany. They formed a significant section of opinion. By recourse to and careful study of original documents, he has built up a picture which is surprisingly different from that created by the generalisations of hindsight.

Approval of Nazi Germany was not, when at its height the prerogative of fascist and extremist groups. It affected a remarkably wide area of society, and could be found in people of all walks of life and of most political opinions. Surprisingly, its highest point was in the mid-Thirties, in the years 1936 and 1937, and not in the first flush of the new regime. Many of its proponents were among the most patriotic of British citizens.

This is not a book about 'appeasement', numerous studies of which already exist. Where those who feature centrally in this book differ from most appeasers is in their positive approval of Nazi Germany, as opposed to the mere desire to get on with her for contingent reasons. For this reason, albeit their attitudes ranged from polite acquiescence to white-hot ardour, the author has dubbed them 'enthusiasts'.

Genres: History

406 pages, Hardcover

First published September 1, 1980

About the author

Richard Griffiths, now retired, was Emeritus Professor at the University of Wales and King's College, London and has enjoyed a distinguished academic career at Selwyn College, Cambridge, Brasenose College, Oxford, University College, Cardiff and KCL.

Reviews

[David Lowther · Rating 3 out of 5]

Fellow Travellers of the Right is a well-researched and interesting account of attitudes towards Germany and Italy in the 1930s.

It will surprise no one that many members of the establishment welcomed the 'new' Germany in 1933 but the number of enthusiasts dwindled as war approached and the true nature of the Nazi regime became apparent.

Then, as now, immigration was a major issue with Jewish refugees fleeing persecution in Germany. Then as now there were numerous groups which hung their hats on opposing immigration. Mercifully, the public shunned these groups.

A very useful book.

David Lowther. Author of The Blue Pencil (thebluepencil.co.uk)

[Tim Mitchell · Rating 4 out of 5]

I bought this book when it was first published in the mid-80s and I read it again every couple of years; it's an outstanding summary of how British attitudes towards Germany adapted and changed in the period from 1933 to the outbreak of war in 1939. It remains relevant today.

The author breaks the content into three specific segments; 1933-1935, from Hitler's election as Chancellor, 1936-1937, the height of enthusiasm for the new regime, with the 1936 Olympics at its centre and 1938-1939 when it became obvious where Hitler was taking Europe. Each section looks at how and why British attitudes changed in that period, together with an overview of the key players and motivations driving them.

I re-read this book recently, in part driven by the recent rise of Donald Trump and the self congratulatory tendency of many Europeans to view him as a purely American form of lunacy. These things never happen in a vacuum - there are similar tendencies elsewhere and pretending it's 'just the Yanks' is very dangerous. Reading this book makes that point; many of the ideas adopted by the Hitler regime as state policy were reflected elsewhere.

We often overlook the fact that the Nazis started off as just another authoritarian government in a Europe dominated by them - not just Mussolini but Yugoslavia, Poland, Hungary, Romania etc. Politicians in many countries pondered whether Democracy could or should survive; the powers granted to Roosevelt in the 1930s were almost dictatorial in nature (and for any American readers, even those paled into insignificance in comparison to the ones granted Wilson when the US entered the war in 1917).

Nazi racial theories, the mystical link between blood and soil and the idea of a Darwinistic struggle between races were mirrored in many other countries. Eugenics was a widely held belief and commonly practiced in the US (a recent study by Gregory Rutecki estimates that 25% of Native Americans were forcibly sterilized between 1974-76 and there is a current legal case relating to alleged sterilization of inmates in the California penal system carried out between 2006 - 2010). Marie Stopes, the founder of planned parenthood in the UK, did so to 'reduce the number of low value breeding stock' (she disinherited her own son for marrying a girl who wore glasses). Henry Williamson (the author of Tarka the Ottter) shared Nazi blood and soil beliefs - he remained an apologist for Nazi policies until his death in 1977. TE Lawrence was another of that circle but his early death saved him from making the same mistakes as contemporaries like Oswald Moseley.

This shouldn't be overstated; these beliefs were restricted to a relatively limited circle and even then, not everyone was fooled. Political groups like the British Union of Fascists never really gained a foothold and by 1937, many people tacitly accepted that a showdown was inevitable. However, objections to Nazi 'beastliness' were very different from the assumption that it was a moral duty to confront it; the attitude 'it won't work here but not our problem' was a widely held belief.

Which is why this book remains relevant today, because you will hear similar statements in relation to many other topics eg Syria, Palestine, Russia etc.

[Mark · Rating 4 out of 5]

The rise of the Nazis to power in Germany in 1933 was met in Britain by a range of opinions that might seem difficult to imagine today. While many viewed Adolf Hitler's rise with concern and even trepidation, others greeted it with enthusiasm and became supporters of his regime. Richard Griffiths book provides readers with a study of this latter group, one that looks at their motivations, activities, and goals in supporting the Nazi regime in the years leading up to the outbreak of war in 1939.

Part of the challenge that Griffiths faces in this respect is assessing the disparate motives of people with a common agenda. He finds among them a shared admiration for Hitler, coupled with a fear for Communist expansion in Europe and a desire to see Germany developed as a bastion against it. These efforts were encouraged by the Nazis, who provided support for their activities. Though advocacy for the Third Reich during this period stretched across the social spectrum, Griffiths concentrates his study on the leaders of the groups, which included men from politics, the military and members of the aristocracy. This support grew as the decade wore on, and declined only when Germany's occupation of Czechoslovakia in March 1939 dispelled any illusions about Hitler's intentions, leaving behind only a fanatical core that was interned after the war broke out a few months later.

Griffiths's book is a welcome examination of a group of people too often on the fringes of most historical accounts. His dispassionate and respectful assessment of their views and actions helps readers better understand why they adopted the positions they did and why they maintained them even after Hitler's ambitions and the Nazis's anti-Semitic brutality became increasingly evident. Anyone seeking to comprehend why so many people came to support such a regime would do well to turn to this work, which answers these questions and more with a combination of both clarity and insight.