Posted on 03/25/2006 3:11:13 PM PST by freedom44
Prince Philip has broken a 60-year public silence about his family's links with the Nazis.
In a frank interview, he said they found Hitler's attempts to restore Germany's power and prestige 'attractive' and admitted they had 'inhibitions about the Jews'.
The revelations come in a book about German royalty kowtowing to the Nazis, which features photographs never published in the UK.
They include one of Philip aged 16 at the 1937 funeral of his elder sister Cecile, flanked by relatives in SS and Brownshirt uniforms.
One row back in the cortege in Darmstadt, western Germany, was his uncle, Lord Mountbatten, wearing a Royal Navy bicorn hat.
Another picture shows his youngest sister, Sophia, sitting opposite Hitler at the wedding of Hermann and Emmy Goering.
Explaining the attraction of the Nazis, 84-year-old Prince Philip told an American academic: "There was a great improvement in things like trains running on time and building. There was a sense of hope after the depressing chaos of the Weimar Republic.
"I can understand people latching on to something or somebody who appeared to be appealing to their patriotism and trying to get things going. You can understand how attractive it was."
The revelations are in the book Royals and the Reich
He added that there was 'a lot of enthusiasm for the Nazis at the time, the economy was good, we were anti-Communist and who knew what was going to happen to the regime?'
Philip stressed that he was never 'conscious of anybody in the family actually expressing anti-Semitic views'. But he went on to say there were 'inhibitions about the Jews' and 'jealousy of their success'.
Philip was born Prince of Greece and Denmark on Corfu in 1921, the youngest of five children and the only son of Prince Andrew of Greece and Princess Alice of Battenberg. All four of his sisters married German princes and three - Sophie, Cecile and Margarita - became members of the Nazi party.
Sophia's husband, Prince Christoph of Hesse, became chief of Goering's secret intelligence service and they were frequent guests at Nazi functions.
Philip went on to fight with distinction for the Allies in the Second World War before marrying the young Princess Elizabeth in 1947, five years before she became Queen. He served with the Royal Navy where, by 1945, he had risen to the rank of first lieutenant on a destroyer and was mentioned in despatches.
All of his sisters and brothers-inlaw are now dead but he keeps in contact with his German relatives.
His comments on the family's Nazi connections appear in Royals and the Reich, by Jonathan Petropoulos, to be published in Britain in May.
His wife's history as WHAT? Please provide some historical links - Mrs. Simpson was ostracized enough - but this is a slander I have never heard....
Other than that, Mrs. Lincoln, how did you enjoy the play?
Then of course you support the re-writing of history books, as practiced by the commies in this country as well as elsewhere?
Or just in putting your head in the sand and yelling 'lalalalala' when inconvenient historical facts are admitted to ALONG WITH THE HISTORICAL CONTEXT THAT THEY OCCURED IN, which is NOT the same as trying to justify them....
And Osama Bin Laden builds hospitals.
I would suggest reading some history and not judging how people behaved 80 years ago through "20-20 hindsight"....
Chamberlain had a relative (I think it was his brother) who was an all-out Nazi sympathizer.
Quite correct...most prominently one Charles Lindbergh, probably considered the greatest living American hero between the wars..
Before Hitler Germany, compared to most of the rest of Europe, was probably one of the least anti-semitic countries. Especially compared to Britain and France.
Dude, this was BEFORE the persecutions started in earnest...Kristalnacht did not occur until 1938...learn some history...
"Philip went on to fight with distinction for the Allies in the Second World War...."
Interesting and honest revelations in the story.
Probably had waning enthusiasm for the Reich once the bombings of London started
I am not educated enough to dispute your statement above, but I will say that, IF it is true, then the Krauts sure "went balls to the wall" when they decided to change, didn't they??
What is your problem? My comment was in response to Philip's QUOTE about his family's jealousy of successful Jews.
There was an interesting story on the History Channel this week. It was about Churchill.
England was ready to surrender to Germany in 1940 or 41. In a heated discussion and a passionate, long speech, Churchill convinced Parliment not to surrender to Germany.
As Maxwell Smart used to say, "They were that close".
Well, I read it as being unduly harsh towards him, given how long ago it was - unless your purpose is to equally slander the majority of well-meaning people on both sides of the pond who nonetheless held similar views BEFORE 1938, yet did not condone discrimination in any way...in which case I would just repeat that one should study history in context, not through "Monday morning quarterbacking"...
Your mention of Charles Lindbergh and the mention of Wally Simpson on the thread is interesting as both of them at different times lived in the same apt. bldg. a mile up the street from me here in San Diego.
It really is an amazing phenomena. I think it was a case of a few distorted individuals taking advantage of the German penchant for obeying orders without question. Hitler was able to seize on Germans' frustration with their loss in stature after their WWI defeat. It made them more open to accepting the Nazi's crazy racial theories, or at least quietly acquiescing to them. I've read William L. Shirer's works on life in Germany before the war, and it really is amazing how quickly a people was transformed. People who just a few years before wrote Hitler off as a lunatic, now praised him to the gills, and it wasn't out of intimidation, they really meant it.
True. Henry Ford, for one.
You're not getting my comment at all. It has nothing to do with who thought what when on which side of the pond in 1938.
Do you see the absurdity of royals - privileged, wealthy people - being jealous of successful others simply because they're of a certain religion/ethnicity?
And please stop jumping all over people in this thread!
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