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‘An idyllic and unruffled atmosphere of complete Anglo‐German misunderstanding’: Aspects of the Operations of the Dienststelle Ribbentrop in Great Britain, 1934–1938
Author(s) -
Waddington G. T.
Publication year - 1997
Publication title -
history
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.12
H-Index - 15
eISSN - 1468-229X
pISSN - 0018-2648
DOI - 10.1111/1468-229x.00027
Subject(s) - german , nazism , friendship , nazi germany , german government , political science , economic history , law , promotion (chess) , world war ii , history , government (linguistics) , politics , sociology , social science , archaeology , philosophy , linguistics
In the mid‐ and later 1930s Hitler attached particular importance to the cultivation of good relations with Britain, and Germany attempted to influence British opinion by the use of direct and indirect propaganda. One of the most important agencies for the dissemination of propaganda and the promotion of Anglo‐German friendship was the Dienststelle Ribbentrop. This organization cultivated relations between British and German war veteran associations and with aristocratic Britons such as Lord Lothian and Lord Mount Temple, ‘fellow‐travellers of the right’ who seemed well disposed to the Nazi regime. Ribbentrop also established German–British friendship societies. For a time, these efforts appeared to convince the German government that good relations could be established with Britain; but the Foreign Office remained suspicious of German intentions and the Nazis miscalculated the degree of approval in Britain for their policies. By 1938–9 they had finally despaired of the possibility of an Anglo‐German understanding which would buttress Hitler’s policies in Germany and in Europe.