Description
Book SynopsisThe link between Hitler''s Third Reich and European royalty has gone largely unexplored due to the secrecy surrounding royal families. Now, in Royals and the Reich, Jonathan Petropoulos uses unprecedented access to royal archives to tell the fascinating story of Queen Victoria''s great-grandsons, the Princes of Hesse, and the important role they played in the Nazi regime. Petropolous tells the fascinating tale of how, lured by prominent positions in the Nazi regime and highly susceptible to nationalist appeals, the princes became enthusiastic supporters of Hitler and helped make the Nazis socially acceptable to wealthy, high-society patrons. Permitted access to Hessen family private papers and the Royal Archives at Windsor Castle, Petropoulos follows the story of the House of Hesse through to its tragic denouement - the princes'' betrayal and persecution by an increasingly paranoid Hitler, followed by prosecution after the war.
Trade ReviewMeticulously researched, 'Royals and the Reich' is a densly written but completely fascinating account of a family and its fortunes. * Peter Burton, Beige, Vol. 2, Issue 4 *
Jonathan Petropoulous's 'Royals and the Reich: The Princes von Hessen in Nazi Germany' is to be welcomed. * Peter Burton, Beige, Vol.2, Issue 4 *
Table of ContentsIntroduction ; 1. The Interconnectedness of the Nobility: Strategies to Preserve Privilege Through the Great War ; 2. The Princes von Hessen during the Weimar Republic: Tribulations, the High Life, and Fascist Flirtations ; 3. Nazi High Society: Making Hitler "salonfahig" and Helping the Nazis to Power ; 4. A Place in the Reich: Princely Careers in the Nazi State ; 5. Roles in an Increasingly Radical Regime ; 6. Miscalculation and Misfortune ; 7. Postwar Justice: Denazification and (Partial) Dispossession ; 8. Rebuilding a Life: Schloss Fasanerie, Financial Viability, and Burdens of the Past ; Conclusion: Understanding German Princes in the Twentieth Century ; Appendix I: Princes in the Nazi Party ; Appendix II: Family Tree of the Princes von Hessen-Kassel ; Bibliography ; Introduction ; 1. The Interconnectedness of the Nobility: Strategies to Preserve Privilege Through the Great War ; 2. The Princes von Hessen during the Weimar Republic: Tribulations, the High Life, and Fascist Flirtations ; 3. Nazi High Society: Making Hitler "salonfahig" and Helping the Nazis to Power ; 4. . A Place in the Reich: Princely Careers in the Nazi State ; 5. Roles in an Increasingly Radical Regime ; 6. Miscalculation and Misfortune ; 7. Postwar Justice: Denazification and (Partial) Dispossession ; 8. Rebuilding a Life: Schloss Fasanerie, Financial Viability, and Burdens of the Past ; Conclusion: Understanding German Princes in the Twentieth Century ; Appendix I: Princes in the Nazi Party ; Appendix II: Family Tree of the Princes von Hessen-Kassel ; Bibliography
