Nazi Princess (6 page)

Stephanie argued passionately for a campaign to right these injustices imposed on her adopted country. It was her first venture into international politics. She had targeted the press baron carefully to voice her views and to persuade him to give them widespread publicity in his newspapers, where she knew they were bound to achieve international impact. Rothermere was impressed by her arguments and her understanding of the problem. He was aware of the cynicism in Germany over the Treaty of Versailles and the country’s determination to evade the terms that had been inflicted upon it. He now became absorbed in the parallel problems in Eastern Europe. He believed, or maybe he was persuaded to believe, that the situation there constituted a potential ‘powder keg’, which could well threaten the hard-won peace. Inspired by the princess’ arguments, Rothermere subsequently wrote and published two editorials for the
Daily Mail
in June and August 1927. In them he pointed out in no uncertain terms the dangers of Hungary having been forced to cede land, where so many millions of native Hungarians lived, to Czechoslovakia, Romania and Yugoslavia. His editorials argued that the so-called land deals amounted to some of the worst frauds that had ever taken place in Europe. The articles called for these wrongs to be recognised and addressed before they could cause further conflict in Europe.

In the first article, headlined at the princess’ suggestion ‘Hungary’s Place in the Sun?’, Rothermere wrote:

Eastern Europe is strewn with Alsace-Lorraines. By severing from France the twin provinces of that name the Treaty of Frankfurt in 1871 made another European war inevitable. The same blunder has been committed on a larger scale in the peace treaties which divided up the old Austro-Hungarian Empire. They have created dissatisfied minorities in half a dozen parts of Central Europe, any one of which may be the starting point of another conflagration.
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His campaign had an immediate effect in Hungary and it was greeted with ecstatic gratitude. No one else with such authority and clout had raised the matter so effectively or with so much international impact. The
Daily Mail
was bombarded with letters and messages of support. At home, the Hungarian press lauded Rothermere, and people went crazy with appreciation that at last the injustices they had suffered were being recognised. The consequences were almost certainly more dramatic than Rothermere could have imagined. There were calls for the restoration of the Hungarian monarchy. A group of monarchists even offered the throne to Rothermere himself. Briefly, he took that offer seriously. But he quickly realised it was totally unrealistic.

What were Stephanie’s motives in persuading Rothermere to embark on the campaign in the first place? It is possible, given her place in the former Austro-Hungarian aristocracy, that she entertained ideas that her own son could have a claim to the throne? After all, both she and he held Hungarian nationality. In 1928 the Hungarian Parliament adopted a resolution expressing the thanks of the Hungarian people to Rothermere. The University of Szeged offered him an honorary doctorate in recognition of his selfless efforts for the Hungarian cause. Rothermere declined to attend himself; instead he sent his son Esmond to receive the doctorate on his behalf. Esmond Harmsworth was generously and widely feted throughout Hungary, and he brought back with him, as a gift to his father from the Hungarian people, a unique hand-built car. Its chassis incorporated reinforced silver and its radiator was lavishly enhanced with gold plate. The press baron was amazed that what had at first appeared to be an issue merely of current news interest had resulted in such an outburst of support and respect. In April 1928 he wrote to the princess:

I had no conception that a recital of Hungary’s sufferings and wrongs would arouse such world-wide sympathy. Now from all parts of the world I am in receipt of such a flood of telegrams, letters and postcards that the work entailed in connection with the propaganda is rapidly absorbing all my energies.
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The impact of her intervention with Rothermere made a deep impression on the princess. It would spur her on to a future role of influence in international intrigue.

Stephanie’s ambitions for her relationship with the powerful British newspaper proprietor, and what she might achieve by encouraging the partnership to grow, took second place for the next few years to travel in Europe and the incessant building of contacts with powerful people whose influence she could turn to her own advantage. Some of these contacts were members of the Nazi Party in Germany, then plotting to seize power. Others were wealthy admirers who were in a position to help her maintain her finances and to pay for the lifestyle she relished. In 1932 her position as a French resident was becoming increasingly difficult. She was getting deeper into international political intrigue. Among her contacts was Otto Abetz, a German who was claiming to work for better relations between his country and France. But there was more to the conspiratorial manoeuvring in which Abetz was involved than met the eye, as became clear when he later joined the Nazi Party, and in the fullness of time he appeared in the role of Hitler’s ambassador in occupied Paris. For his crimes against the French he was sentenced, in 1949, to twenty years’ imprisonment, dying before his term was completed.

In Paris Stephanie was increasingly becoming involved in problems which upset the French government. One issue that French ministers were particularly concerned about was her persistent campaigning for a revision of the Treaty of Trianon, with a view to Hungary being restored to its former size and power. It flew in the face of the French government’s alliance with Czechoslovakia, Yugoslavia and Romania – known as ‘The Little Entente’ – a policy which as far as the French government was concerned was designed to contain a resurgent Hungary, the very opposite of what the princess and Rothermere were working to achieve.

The former Berlin journalist Bella Fromm, who in the 1930s wrote for the prominent German newspaper the
Berliner Zeitung
and had high-level contacts which made her well placed to know the truth, insisted in an unpublished memoir years later that Princess Stephanie had been expelled from France because of her espionage activities. British intelligence files, only declassified and deposited in the Public Record Office in Kew in 2005, disclose the truth. In 1933, the year after she left Paris to take up residence in London, and the year Hitler gained power in Germany, the British secret service circulated a government report stating that files had been found in the princess’ flat in Paris showing she had been commissioned by the German authorities to persuade Rothermere to campaign in his newspapers for the return to Germany of territory and colonies ceded at the end of the First World War.
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She was to receive the then massive sum of £300,000 (equivalent to some £13 million today) if her mission succeeded. Meanwhile, the princess was on the verge of concluding a separate deal with Rothermere to become his representative or ‘fixer’ in Europe on a retainer of £5,000 a year (£200,000 at today’s values), plus additional payments for each assignment she carried out.

She had finally secured the role she had aimed for back in 1927. Via the mouthpiece of Rothermere’s newspapers, she would be in a prime position to influence British politics and British government policy. The arrangement also gave her the opportunity to influence Rothermere’s personal views, which since 1930 had been strongly in support of the rise of Hitler’s National Socialists, and steer him closer to Hitler’s inner circle. Regardless of her loyalties, playing both sides in a ‘game’ of international politics could potentially be very lucrative for her. And this was convenient, because in 1932 the Great Depression following the Wall Street Crash caught up with her. She was heavily in debt. At one time, according to her son, she had been worth some $4 million, a colossal sum at that time. Now she seriously needed to economise and to find a new and regular source of income.
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As was so often the case in Stephanie’s life, she was dealt another ace. The luxurious Dorchester Hotel in London’s Park Lane was newly opened. Its first manager had also been manager of the Hotel du Palais in Biarritz, where she had frequently stayed. Recognising that having a princess as a guest would help to attract the right sort of clientele to his new hotel, the manager offered the princess cut-price terms if she would stay there instead of Claridge’s, her usual base when she was in London and where she frequently met Annabel Kruse. Stephanie settled into a magnificent apartment on the Dorchester’s sixth floor. It had a private entrance to Park Lane, a massive sitting room overlooking Hyde Park and four bedrooms. Her latest beau, an American banker by the name of Donald Malcolm who had studied at Harvard and Oxford, also moved from Paris to London with her, joining her at the Dorchester. Malcolm was a genius in the field of finance and he took over managing and boosting her finances. It was Malcolm who advised her to negotiate a contract with Rothermere.

Clinching the contract was not difficult to achieve. She reminded Rothermere of the success of her intervention over Hungary, and persuaded the press baron to appoint her as his emissary in Europe. She argued – and this was undoubtedly true – that she had the contacts to gain admittance to many of Europe’s most powerful people, and that she could open doors to almost every exclusive social circle on the Continent. Hoping to build on his initial success in raising Hungary’s profile, and desirous to restore the Hapsburg monarchy, Rothermere now instructed Stephanie to make contact with the ex-empress Zita, widow of the last Austro-Hungarian emperor, and also with Admiral Horthy, Regent of Hungary. Rothermere was an ardent monarchist; his argument was that a monarchic constitution was the best bulwark against Bolshevism and his hopelessly optimistic ambition was to restore both the Hapsburg and Hohenzollern thrones. In reality, following war in Europe, the cause of both monarchies was beyond revival. When neither of Stephanie’s missions showed any chance of success, he next instructed her to seek a meeting with the exiled ex-Emperor of Germany, Kaiser Wilhelm II.

This was a simple assignment for her. She was a close friend of the kaiser’s eldest son, Crown Prince Wilhelm; indeed, they had been flirting for years. Crown Prince Wilhelm, who unlike his father had not been condemned to exile, lived at Potsdam outside Berlin and had been a member of the Nazi Party since 1930. In 1933 he had joined the party’s paramilitary wing. As a result of the princess’ visits to him on Rothermere’s behalf, and probably influenced by her arguments, the Crown Prince sent Rothermere a crucial letter, dated June 1934, from his office in the Unter den Linden in Berlin. It praised the actions of Hitler’s new government: ‘The rearmament of the nation was recognised as a necessity,’ he wrote. ‘The withdrawal from the League of Nations and from the Disarmament Conference announced to the world at large the determination of the new German government, behind which for the first time the whole nation was concentrated, not to tolerate any longer being treated as a second-class people.’
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The Crown Prince said his respect for, and confidence in, the personality of the Führer had gown month by month. His personal relations with Hitler were moreover friendly and enjoyable. He made it clear that he thought Hitler had come to power at the right psychological moment. The people had faith in the National Socialist movement following all the humiliations of the peace treaty of Versailles, the senseless destruction of Germany’s entire war material, the degrading war reparations which had burdened the people with insane debts, and the subsequent inflation which had ruined the most valuable parts of the nation. While the letter expressed some concern for the views and influence of Goebbels, the Reich Minister for Propaganda, in all other respects its support for Hitler and his policies must have been music to Princess Stephanie’s ears. It would prove crucial in her efforts to persuade Rothermere to put the powerful influence of the
Daily Mail
behind Hitler and the Nazi Party.

A growing number of people in England in the early 1930s agreed with Lord Rothermere that the Treaty of Versailles had been excessively harsh on Germany. Many who shared the press baron’s views on Bolshevism were also obsessed by a fear of the spread of Communism. They argued that Germany, if released from some of the more humiliating terms of Versailles, could be an important bulwark against Bolshevism and the growing power of Russia. Meanwhile, Rothermere’s own political views were becoming increasingly nationalistic and right wing. In 1929, disillusioned with the mainstream Conservative policies, he joined with fellow press baron Lord Beaverbrook to form the United Empire Party. Rothermere urged the Tory Party to dispense with its leader Stanley Baldwin and replace him with Beaverbrook. He also argued for the reform of the House of Lords to make it possible for peers to be elected to the Commons. But the row he stirred up backfired. It divided Conservative voters to such an extent that the Labour Party won the 1929 election.

As early as September 1930, when the National Socialists had just emerged in Germany as a major party from the Reichstag election, Rothermere published in the
Daily Mail
an article extremely supportive of Adolf Hitler. It was headlined ‘A Nation Reborn’ and Rothermere, someone who always preferred to seek evidence first hand and see for himself before committing his views to print, had travelled to Munich to gain information about what he described in the article as ‘the beginning of a new epoch in the relations between the German nation and the rest of the world’.
¹
He could not have imagined how correct he would be in terms of Germany’s impact on the outside world. But the impact would be far more devastating and destructive than Rothermere could possibly have imagined at that time. He wrote:

What are the sources of strength of a party which at the general election two years ago could win only 12 seats, but now, with 107, has become the second strongest in the Reichstag, and whose national poll has increased in the same time from 809,000 to 6,400,000? Striking as these figures are, they stand for something far greater than political success. They represent the rebirth of Germany as a nation.