This is the untold story of how some of Germany's top aristocrats contributed to Hitler's secret diplomacy during the Third Reich, providing a direct line to their influential contacts and relations across Europe -- especially in Britain, where their contacts included the press baron and Daily Mail owner Lord Rothermere and the future King Edward VIII. Using previously unexplored sources from Britain, Germany, the Netherlands, the Czech Republic, and the USA, Karina Urbach unravels the story of top-level go-betweens such as the Duke of Coburg, grandson of Queen Victoria, and the seductive Stephanie von Hohenlohe, who rose from a life of poverty in Vienna to become a princess and an intimate of Adolf Hitler. As Urbach shows, Coburg and other senior aristocrats were tasked with some of Germany's most secret foreign policy missions from the First World War onwards, culminating in their role as Hitler's trusted go-betweens, as he readied Germany for conflict during the 1930s -- and later, in the Second World War. Tracing what became of these high-level go-betweens in the years after the Nazi collapse in 1945 -- from prominent media careers to sunny retirements in Marbella -- the book concludes with an assessment of their overall significance in the foreign policy of the Third Reich.

About the Author
Karina Urbach is a Longterm Visitor at the Institute for Advanced Study, Princeton. She has published several books on nineteenth and twentieth-century history, including Bismarck's Favourite Englishman: Lord Odo Russell's Mission to Berlin (I.B.Tauris, 2000) and Secret Intelligence in the European States System, 1918-1989 (Stanford University Press, 2013), co-edited with Jonathan Haslam. She has also contributed to several British and German TV documentaries, and was the historical advisor for BBC Two's Royal Cousins at War (2014).

Reviews
A fascinating page-turner about Hitler's secret diplomacy in the 1930s, which was intended to secure British amity and then neutrality when he led Germany to war ... Urbach combed her way through archives across Europe to construct this image of a decaying aristocracy using their connections in the cultivation of appeasers in Britain. They were not without influence. * Lawrence Goldman, Books of the Year 2015, History Today *
[An] excellent book... Urbach has alighted upon a little studied and rather fascinating phenomenon; that of the aristocratic amateur ambassador, the titled back-stairs diplomatist. * The Times, Roger Moorehouse *
Just when one thinks every possible aspect of this war has been covered, along comes a surprise. Such is Karina Urbach's highly original new book, Go-Betweens for Hitler... an unsurpassable work on this intriguing subject. * Daily Telegraph, Simon Heffer *
engrossing and well-researched * Richard J Evans, London Review of Books *
Urbach has written a book that is as stimulating as it is entertaining, and one which deserves a wide readership. * Christopher Dowe, Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung *
To be sure, Go Betweens For Hitler may essentially be based within the parameters of a scholarly undertaking, but it almost reads like that of a John Le Carre or Robert Littell novel. In and of itself, this speaks volumes. * David Marx, Book Reviews *
From peace-feelers in the First World War to appeasers on the eve of the Second World War, this unique book makes fascinating reading * Coryne Hall, European Royal History Journal *



Book Information
ISBN 9780198703679
Author Karina Urbach
Format Paperback
Page Count 400
Imprint Oxford University Press
Publisher Oxford University Press
Weight(grams) 474g
Dimensions(mm) 215mm * 134mm * 22mm