1,459 words
Hitler’s Britain
Echo Bridge Home Entertainment, 2008
Hitler’s Britain (AKA Hitler’s Victory) is a 2002 British television documentary created by London-based Lion Television, an independent production company, describing the consequences of a hypothetical German victory over Britain in World War II. It is narrated by actor Diego Matamoros and directed by television director-producer-writer Richard Bond. The original telecast was on five (now Channel 5) in Great Britain, History Television in Canada, and the Public Broadcasting Service (PBS) in the United States.
Hitler’s Britain is part of a large corpus of “alternative history” films, television specials, novels, and video games speculating about the outcome of a German victory. Using WWII newsreel footage, modern dramatizations, and interviews, the documentary details its producers’ vision of how a German takeover of Britain would likely have unfolded.
Through the Looking-Glass
The initial assumption is that Germany wins the Battle of Britain in 1940 and successfully executes Operation Sea Lion (Unternehmen Seelöwe), its real-life plan to invade and occupy Great Britain.
The royal family is evacuated to Canada while the English government, devoid of Winston Churchill who is killed in the initial bombing, retreats to Worcester. The Germans march into London.
The head of the invasion force is Army commander in chief General Field Marshal Walther von Brauchitsch (1881–1948).
The film postulates an initially “polite” occupation, using German behavior in the Channel Islands as a model, as it was the only English territory actually occupied during the war.
The filmmakers suggest that Germany would not have installed British fascist leader Oswald Mosley as head of the government, but instead worked with pragmatic mainstream politicians like ex-Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain (even though he died in November 1940) and Lord Halifax.
As King, the Germans would have attempted to re-install the Duke of Windsor, formerly King Edward VIII. They even discussed kidnapping him if he would not agree to serve voluntarily. Although Edward had abdicated the throne in 1937 to marry American socialite Wallis Simpson, the Germans believed the abdication really occurred under duress, forced by elite, behind-the-scenes elements because Edward had pro-German sympathies.
Under the Iron Heel
After occupation, the film says, the Germans would have tightened the screws.
The able-bodied male population between the ages of seventeen and forty-five, an estimated 2 million men, would have been deported to the Continent. As slave laborers and virtual hostages, their detention would render the remaining populace more tractable.
Two primary documents relied upon by the filmmakers for the depiction of German rule are the so-called Black Book (identified by other sources as Sonderfahndungsliste G.B. [English translation: Special Search List G.B]), a list of over 2,000 prominent individuals to be interned, and the Informationsheft G.B., described as a “blueprint” for the occupation. Both were compiled by SS official Walter Schellenberg.
The Black Book targeted leading Communists, Leftists, Freemasons, and Jews. Names included Noël Coward, E. M. Forster, H. G. Wells, Virginia Woolf, Paul Robeson, Aldous Huxley, Sigmund Freud, and Bertrand Russell.
The rounding up of individuals on the list was to be carried out by Einsastzgruppen (SS task forces) led by Dr. Franz Six.
This roundup that never occurred might usefully be compared with one that did, though it is not mentioned in the film—the wartime internment, in camps and prisons, of citizens with right-wing views (Oswald Mosley, A. H. M. Ramsay, and others) under Defence Regulation 18B. This regulation suspended the right of habeas corpus. Citizens were imprisoned without charge, trial, or right of judicial appeal.
The actual number of detainees is hard to determine. Some sources indicate 1,000, others 1,769. It appears that the true number may not be known with certainty even today. After the war Jews published an article applauding this massive subversion of due process. (“The Story of Regulation 18B: Freedom’s Defence Against Subversion,” Wiener Library Bulletin, December 1955.)
Universities and libraries were to be tightly restricted. An academic interviewee claims there would have been bonfires of books outside the Bodleian Library at Oxford. Coming as this does from a proud member of a class of highly successful, enthusiastic censors of speech (including books), principled viewers will remain unmoved by such self-righteous grandstanding.
Masonic lodges would be shut down, as occurred in the Channel Islands (which is shown). The Freemasons have always been Leftist, anti-white, and anti-Christian—anti-Catholic in particular. So it is not surprising that the secret brotherhood was also intensely anti-German. (None of which is mentioned here.) Interestingly, despite the fact that Masonry was also suppressed by the Communists, and for a much longer period, Freemasons have never been anti-Communist.
Other organizations to be dismantled or tightly controlled were the trade unions, the Church of England, Communists, the Salvation Army, the Young Men’s Christian Association (YMCA), and the Boy Scouts. Art museums were to be “looted,” and the most valuable treasures shipped to the Continent, or to Germany proper.
The official figure for the number of Jews in Britain was 300,000, but Germany believed the actual Jewish population to be much larger. A distinction was made between refugee Jews (those who had recently fled the Continent) and native Jews; the former were to be rounded up first. Ultimately, audiences are assured, all Jews would have been shipped to the Continent and killed en masse as part of the “Final Solution.”
The conquest of Britain would signal the vanquishment of anti-Germanism in Europe, inasmuch as Hitler’s invasion of Russia would also have been successful.
With the acquisition of nuclear know-how from Britain, Germany would have constructed nuclear weapons. In conjunction with new transatlantic bombers and battleships, nukes would comprise the “big technology” with which to “take America on”—the old propaganda trope of Germany’s “one all-embracing aim,” world conquest. It is allowed, however, that an American-German “cold war,” along the lines postulated by “Robert Harris’s wonderful book” (the bestselling novel Fatherland, 1992), was an alternative possibility.
With a German victory in Europe, rocket chief Wernher von Braun would never have gone to the United States. Therefore, Germany would have won the moon race. A photo of an American astronaut on the moon is shown, with the U.S. flag digitally replaced by the Nazi flag (Nationalflagge). Subliminally or not, the photo represents elites’ secret view of the moon landing by white Americans. It’s impossible to miss the psychological symbolism.
The Auxiliary Units
The final third of the film, a surprisingly large segment, is devoted to a discussion of Churchill’s secret homegrown terrorist force, the “auxiliaries.”
Although members of auxiliary units were brutal-minded middle-class automatons to be sure (several surviving oldsters are interviewed), one doubts that they would have proven much of a hindrance to the occupying forces. Indeed, the film itself states that they expected to be (and would in fact have been) wiped out within two weeks. Members were informed of this when they joined.
The auxiliaries consisted of about 5,000 people (men and women) scattered across the country and organized into cells. About 500 crude, concealed underground bunkers served as bases for the 4-5 man units. Although cells communicated by means of dead drops and concealed radio sets—i.e., there was a rudimentary infrastructure—no cell had knowledge of any other cell. Each cell operated within a 15-mile radius of its home area. The local Anglican vicar was head of the village resistance.
Interviews with surviving members reveal the auxiliaries to be a vicious lot. They were supplied with a variety of dangerous explosives, sniper rifles, and hand-held weapons with which to kill their enemies. They were taught to gut their victims—to spill their entrails onto the ground.
It was also explained to them that the Germans would retaliate by randomly killing large numbers of the auxiliaries’ neighbors (and, presumably, family members), and might even obliterate entire villages in retaliation for their terrorist acts. But this did not faze the volunteers.
Nor were their targets only Germans. They were instructed to murder English women—or anyone else—who “fraternized” with Germans. In an ironic twist, cell members were vetted by a senior local police official who, according to sealed orders given to the Operational Patrols to be opened only in case of invasion, would later be assassinated to prevent the membership from being revealed. Naturally, this hapless individual would also be a lifelong friend and neighbor.
My opinion of the auxiliaries after listening to surviving members’ cold-blooded tales is that their elimination by the Germans would have meant good riddance of bad rubbish.
Conclusion
Hitler’s Britain, despite a seemingly intriguing premise marginally differentiating it from the growing rubbish heap of anti-German propaganda, is ultimately pedestrian and uninvolving.
The continuous, triumphal reliving of WWII is a curious cultural phenomenon for which no other parallel exists. The simplistic glorification of the Allies and demonization of Germany serves an anti-white agenda. Such exercises are less about WWII than about today. They stoke the fire of racial fury and reinforce the cult-like status of the existing caste system.
11 Comments
The flip side of what you correctly identify as the strange obsession our culture has with the idea of a Nazi victory – approached in popularity, perhaps unsurprisingly, only by speculation about what might have happened if the Confederacy had won the Civil War – is, why are people so intrigued by this idea? Is it that many people wonder if there might not have been a world in some ways better than what we have today? I haven’t seen too many books or movies about the world after it’s completely taken over by the USSR or about what would have happened if the Kaiser had won the First World War. I don’t view the Third Reich as my ideal, personally, but it certainly offered some things that have been completely lacking in Western civilization since 1945.
An interesting corollary to this film is the 2004 film “C.S.A.,” which purports to be a documentary made in the same year in an alternative universe where the Confederacy had won the Civil War 140 years earlier. It’s not as well-thought-out as “Hitler’s Britain” but the same political subtext is there. We are told that history was changed when France and Britain decided to enter the war on the Southern side at the Battle of Gettysburg. That in itself is not so far-fetched, although in the next sequence we find out that somehow the CSA managed to occupy and subdue the rest of the U.S. shortly after this victory. That’s completely absurd, not just in strategic terms but also because it’s the exact opposite of what the CSA was fighting for. Still, it cleverly allows the filmmakers to make the South look like the aggressor in the war when the exact opposite was the case. From there it proceeds in a predictable pattern, culminating in the revelation that a Senator who is running for President of the CSA is part Black, being descended from a slave woman whom his father had raped, since we all know that any ethnically aware White civilization must be the product of overcompensation for feelings of guilt and inferiority. What made me think of the connection was your description of the shot of the famous flag-planting on the Moon with the Nazi flag digitally inserted, since they use the exact same trick in this film with the Confederate flag.
Fascinating question, and I have two working hypotheses.
One, NSDAP Germany was unquestionably MASCULINE.
Two, NSDAP Germany was unquestionably Traditional (de facto Patriarchy) in philosophy and culture, as well as focused on disciplined ACHIEVEMENT.
We openly scorn both, to our loss.
Remember the remarkable strides Germany took economically, culturally, and politically from the demoralized, FIFTY percent unemployment Uncle Adolf faced, to virtually no unemployment, and a people filled with the joy of fulfilling, and manifesting, a transcendental Destiny.
We can learn a lot from this, if he have the courage to do so.
This Time, The World.
Focus Northwest.
More nonsense to vilify Germany. Let’s review the facts. It was Britian and France that declared war on Germany. It was Britian that invaded Norway,Crete,Greece,France and North Africa. After Chamberlin was thrown out and that drunkard bloodthirsty war monger Churchill place as PM he imedietly started bombing German cities and killing civilians. The was was unpopular with the British people and the only way to get public support was for Germany to bomb English cities and kill civilians. So Churchill started bombing German cities with hopes Germany would retaliate and bomb English cities. Germany reluctently did and Churchill got his war.
Once Churchill was placed in power he rounded up thousands British Nationalist threw them in prision because they were against the Internationalist wagging a war of extermination aganist the German people. Why is that not a story that is told. It is not a what if scenario it is a fact. Millions of German soliders were in fact made into slave labor after the war by the U.S,France,Britian and Russia. This is also a fact not a what if scenario.
Operation Sea lion was a ruse to fool the Russians. A. Hitler woulkd have never of dreamed of invading England. He often said the world is a much better place because of England and the culture they bring. The fact is A. Hitler wanted nothing but peace with England and tried many times to bring about the end of the war, including giving back all of the territory conqured in 1940. A. Hitler knew the real enemy of the free world was Judeo-Communism and in 1920 so did Churchill when we wrote the piece “Zionism vs. Bolshevism a struggle for the Jewish soul” it is a shame he sold out to the devil and forget who the true enemy is.
The west thru their controled media has been guilty of blaming Germany for the crimes that they actually have done. In every instance or case you can see that the allies really did what they say the Germans were supposed to have done. Germany and in fact continetial Europe was invaded by foreign armies with their best and brightest killed, their culture and history changed and subverted. After the war they had all the civilians go thru a so called de-nazification programs. They were told how evil they were. This is another fact, not a what if scenario. Again more lies saying Germany was going to do this, when in fact it was them that this in fact happened to.
Exactly, GNQ, exactly. It’s the classic case of the pot calling the kettle black. What two-faced hypocrites the so-called Allies actually were. Worse yet, the lies and deceit continue to this day. In fact, the lies and myths of that war continue to under-gird the current Western establishment to this day. The destruction of nationalist Europe appears, with contemplated hindsight, to have been the premeditated gang rape of NS Germany.
And when I think of how many Whites(in and out of Europe) have dutifully fallen in line behind this diabolical scheme – all under the rubric of this grand Allied crusade, the “Good War” of “liberation” and all that manure – I am sickened and appalled!! The social-circles I run in are filled with folks who fancy themselves history-buffs and the like…yet virtually every one to a man buys into this unadulterated propaganda of the heroic Allies, the “greatest generation” and, of course, the irredeemably wicked “Nazis.” Even some who may otherwise criticize Jewish social and political meddling still cling to their childishly one-sided version of WW2 orthodoxy! It is pathetic to behold.
One cannot overstate just how deep this particular intellectual blindness runs and just how difficult it is to get even those who SHOULD know better to see the proverbial light.
The recent discussions here of the “Burden Of Hitler” phenomenon even within WN circles dovetail perfectly with the state of mind mentioned above.
Great points, Uncle!
Key Quote: “…yet virtually every one to a man buys into this unadulterated propaganda of the heroic Allies, the “greatest generation” and, of course, the irredeemably wicked “Nazis.”
In the Great Depression, Europe and America were failing, while NSDAP Germany was succeeding, by returning to First Principles.
We could not see their success, or we would ask a very inconvenient “Why?”
The sideshow of the ONLY “achievement” of the Self-Proclaimed Greatest Generation was all that mattered.
After all, they were fighting for “democracy.”
Just like their ally Stalin.
This Time, The World.
Focus Northwest
Germany and in fact continental Europe was invaded by foreign armies with their best and brightest killed, their culture and history changed and subverted. After the war they had all the civilians go thru a so called de-nazification programs. They were told how evil they were.
Isn’t this true of us?
Isn’t this the demoralization Bezmenov spoke of?
Shouldn’t we play a little less Charlie Brown, and return to First Principles, like the NSDAP?
What can we learn from them, and why aren’t we doing that?
NEVER Apologize, ALWAYS apply Whitaker’s Mantra ruthlessly.
This Time, The World
Focus Northwest
@ John Morgan, C.S.A. is available on netflix. Reading the description provided made me skip past it, but since you brought it up, I’ll give it a look.
Any titles, be it books or movies that look either without extreme bias against the traditional bad guys that we’ve been led to dislike? I’d like to see some movies or read books primarily WWII that showed the positive aspects of National Socialism, same goes for the Confederate South. It a tightly controlled media and publishing environment, the titles I seek are few and far between, especially English books and movies.
Steven:
There is an entire genre called alternative history – forums, GREAT boards with smart people, and books dealing with just this topic. A major thread on the major alt-hist forum deals with just this topic, especially the “What If” threads for the NSDAP Cultural Moment.
Many interesting books, with an objective analysis, are available, dealing with the NSDAP Cultural Moment.
Joe Smith made a great comment on another thread here; we must focus on ideas, not symbols. The symbols reflected the ideals manifesting in their place and time.
This time, it’s different.
This time, the world.
Steven (2):
After you’ve looked at this sites and books, why not write a couple of paragraphs in diary form, to your Posterity in 2050? Add some more paragraphs, and you’ve got the outline for chapters. Add some more chapters, and you’ve got a book.
If the Northwest Republic is mentioned, so much the better!
Next time, the world.
Focus Northwest
Hitler admired, maybe even adored, Great Britain. In his foreign policy he wanted to make a deal with Britain: If Germany got free reins in Russia and Ukraine, Britain would be given free reins on the world seas. This is a recurring theme in both Mein Kampf, Second Book and Table Talks.