Keeping the British Liberal Party flag flying high

[pipisme]

Some years later an SS officer involved in the plot by Heydrich to kill Goering, and in the Konigsberg Jewish hospital burning and massacre, had a crisis of conscience and from remorse and guilt revealed what happened.

The Heydrich regime ordered the Jewish community in Nazi Germany to pay a fine of one billion marks as a punishment for the assassination of Goering. [1] Here is my rough estimate for the Jewish population in Nazi Germany based on OTL figures from various websites and my estimates from these figures:

East Prussia [1925]: 11,337. In 1939 say 4,000.
Pomerania [1933] 7,600. On 12 and 13 February 1940 the remaining 1,000-1,300 Pomeranian Jews were deported to German occupied Poland. In 1939 say 1,500-1,800.
Silesia [1939] 11,251 of which 10,309 were living in Breslau.
That gives a rough total of 17,750-18,050.
In the land east of the river Oder taken by the Nazis in their offensive, the Jewish population of Frankfort-on-Oder in 1890 was 775. In 1939 say one hundred to two hundred. In 1939 the Jewish population of Berlin was 75,000. I don't know how many lived in the districts in the north-east and east of the city taken by the Nazis in their advance. I would say several thousand but many would have fled westwards.

[1] In OTL after the assassination of Ernst vom Rath, a diplomat at the German embassy in Paris, by Herschel Grynszpan, on 7 November 1938, the Jews in Germany were made to pay a fine of one billion marks as punishment.

 

[pipisme]

An article in the British daily newspaper the Daily Telegraph towards the end of March 1939 suggested Prussia as a name for Nazi controlled Germany. The idea was taken up by other newspapers and the media in general. By the middle of April it had become common in popular and political discourse, though the British government's official term was the Konigsberg Entity and the Nazi regime was the Konigsberg Authority. Prussia had the advantage of shortness and had strong associations of militarism and authoritarianism. The use of the term Prussia also spread to other democracies, though not to free Germany. There Nazi controlled Germany was called Nazi Germany or occupied Germany.

In this TL I will use the terms Germany for free Germany and 'Prussia' for Nazi occupied Germany. The quotation marks framing Prussia indicate that it was not its official name.

 

[pipisme]

Both in OTL and in this TL the Free City of Danzig was under League of Nations protection and in a binding customs union with Poland. From 1937 Carl Jakob Burckhardt was the League of Nations High Commissioner for Danzig.

The area of the Free City comprised the port of Danzig and the area surrounding it with more than two hundred towns, villages and hamlets. Here is the relevant wikipedia entry:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Free_City_of_Danzig.

According to the 1929 census 95 percent of the population of Danzig was German. Since 1933 it had been governed by the National Socialists. On 23 November 1934 Arthur Greiser became President of the Danzig Senate, and therefore head of state. From 1933 the Jews in the Free City were persecuted by the Nazi government. By early 1939 about 3,500 Jews were still living there.

In this TL Greiser and his administration gave their enthusiastic allegiance to the Nazi 'Prussian' regime headed first by Goering and then by Heydrich.

On 13 April the Great Synagogue in Danzig was demolished by the Nazis.

 

[pipisme]

In a departure from the current storyline this post looks ahead to housing policy in Britain in this TL.

Unlike OTL there were very few tower blocks built. Instead of houses being demolished and their inhabitants being sent to live in new housing, often in tower blocks, grants were given by national and/or local government to renovate and repair houses.

The Town Planning Act 1941 stipulated a maximum height for newly built residential property of four storeys. It was repealed by a subsequent Conservative government, but reinstated by a Liberal government, which also limited the maximum height of commercial property to twelve storeys.

At the present time [2012] in this TL, there is a mixture of housing tenure: owner occupation, public and private sector renting, and co-operative housing schemes.

In London and other cities so-called slum housing has been renovated in the popular neo-Georgian style, and formerly run down neighbourhoods have become attractive places to live in, while still being predominantly working class.

 

[Van555]

In a departure from the current storyline this post looks ahead to housing policy in Britain in this TL.

Unlike OTL there were very few tower blocks built. Instead of houses being demolished and their inhabitants being sent to live in new housing, often in tower blocks, grants were given by national and/or local government to renovate and repair houses.

The Town Planning Act 1941 stipulated a maximum height for newly built residential property of four storeys. It was repealed by a subsequent Conservative government, but reinstated by a Liberal government, which also limited the maximum height of commercial property to twelve storeys.

At the present time [2012] in this TL, there is a mixture of housing tenure: owner occupation, public and private sector renting, and co-operative housing schemes.

In London and other cities so-called slum housing has been renovated in the popular neo-Georgian style, and formerly run down neighbourhoods have become attractive places to live in, while still being predominantly working class.

Fuck yeah housing only you can make that exciting.

 

[pipisme]

Fuck yeah housing only you can make that exciting.

Thank you very much.

 

[pipisme]

The House of Commons debated the situation in Europe from 3pm to 11 pm on Thursday 13 April 1939, and from 11 am to 4pm on 14 April. The debate was opened by the Prime Minister, Isaac Foot. Here are the main points of his speech:

His Majesty's Government views with the greatest concern the sezure of power by Herr Heydrich as head of the Konigsberg Authority. We have grave suspicions that Herr Jozef Steiner was solely responsible for the death of Herr Goering. We think that it may be possible that the SS played a significant role in his assassination, though with our very limited knowledge any ideas must remain at the level of conjecture.

We strongly deplore the burning of the Jewish hospital in Konigsberg and the death by burning and shooting of 132 people. We hold the Konigsberg Authority, and specifically the SS, fully responsible for their deaths.

We condemn the bombing of Berlin, and in particular the Lehrter railway station, by the airforce of the Konigsberg Authority.

We pledge our full support to the German government and have given them our guarantee that, should they request it, His Majesty's government will immediately give them all the support in their power to resist the armed forces of the Konigsberg Authority.

He then spoke about the Italian invasion and occupation of Albania, to which the British government strongly objected. He told the House about the government's guarantee to Greece that:

In the event of action being taken which clearly threatened the independence of Greece and which the Greek government accordingly considered it vital to resist with their armed forces, His Majesty's government pledge themselves to immediately provide the Greek government all support in their power.

He said that the government was pleased that the two-week Easter ceasefire in Spain appeared to be holding.

 

[pipisme]

Points from the House of Commons debate on the European situation.

The Prime Minister said that any act of aggression by armed forces of the Konisberg Entity against the Free City of Danzig or Poland would be regarded as a hostile act and would be regarded as a casus belli by the British government. [1] He said that the government would recognise the results of the forthcoming plebiscites in Austria and the Sudentenland to decide whether or not their citizens want to be part of a free Germany.

Sir Samuel Hoare, the Conservative Party leader, criticised the government for all the guarantees it was giving - to Germany, Greece, Danzig and Poland, and asked whether Britain would be able to honour them. He suggested that a royal visit to Germany by Albert, Duke of York and Prince Regent, [2] and his wife Elizabeth, Duchess of York, would show that Britain supported Germany in its defence of freedom, and would strengthen the ties of restored friendship between the two nations.

Philip Noel-Baker, the leader of the Socialist Labour Party, said that his party supported the government's European policy.

Sir Stafford Cripps [Socialist Labour] called for the banning of recruitment of British volunteers for the Nazi armed forces and of Nazi front organisations in the UK. The Home Secretary, Leslie Hore-Belisha, said that as long as Britain was not at war with the Konigsberg Entity he would not ban such recruitment or those organisations. He expected that there would be no more than a few dozen of these volunteers. A recruitment rally in Trafalgar Square the previous Monday [Easter Monday], addressed by Sir Oswald Mosley, had attracted only three to four hundred people, the majority of whom were either curious or hostile.

Back benchers from the three main parties and independents asked if the government would ever recognise Prussia [that is the area of Germany under Nazi control].

Points from the speech winding up the debate by the Foreign Secretary, Sir Archibald Sinclair. Arrangements would be made for a royal visit to Germany in the near future. British interests in Konigsberg were being dealt with by the British interests section of the Swiss Embassy in that city. If the Konigsberg Entity exercised effective control over part of Germany within its 1937 borders, and if it renounced all aggressive intent towards its neighbours, then the British government would give it full diplomatic recognition.

The debate ended without a vote being taken.

[1] The Konigsberg Entity was the British government's official name for those parts of Germany controlled by the Nazis.

[2] In OTL he was better known as King George VI. In this TL King Henry IX was only six years old and had cerebral palsy.

 

[Archangel]

Keep it up, pip!

 

[pipisme]

Arvid Harnack was the German ambassador to the United States, and Mildred, his American-German wife, was the cultural attache in the German embassy in Washington. Before the overthrow of the Hitler regime they had been members of the German Resistance. [1]

In the battle of Berlin intense fighting continued in the Plankow district with German forces retreating slowly in face of the Nazi advance. By midnight on Friday 21 April 1939 the front line was the Osloer Strasse. See http://www.maplord.com/berlin/pankow-map, and scroll down.

In the evening of 21 April the Rykestrasse Synagogue [2] in the Prenzlauer Berg neighbourhood of Pankow was destroyed by Nazi aerial bombing. No one was killed because it had been closed several days previously and all the contents removed to safe keeping.

[1] Here are their wikipedia biographies: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arvid_Harnack and http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mildred_Harnack.

[2] See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rykestrasse_Synagogue.

 

[pipisme]

In the German cabinet there was disagreement about the method of voting to be used in the federal election to the Reichstag on 16 July 1939. The Chancellor, Carl Goedereler, and the more conservative members wanted First Past The Post [FPTP] to ensure that one party would most probably have an overall majority; the Social Democrat and Centre Party members wanted proportional representation [PR] to ensure fair representation to minority opinions, and to prevent one party becoming dominant.

The electoral performance of the Nazis in free elections was used by both sides to prove their point. On the one hand under FPTP they would probably not have achieved their breakthrough in 1930 when they jumped from 12 to 107 seats. On the other hand under FPTP they might have secured an overall majority in the July 1932 federal election in which they became the largest party with 230 seats and 37.27% of the vote.

As a compromise it was decided that the mixed-member proportional system would be used. It is explained here: http://en.wikipedia.org./wiki/Mixed-member_proportional_representation.
Such a system had been used in the kingdom of Wurtemberg from 1906-1918, and a similar one was proposed by C. H. Bornemann in 1931.

The Reichstag would have 650 members of which 390 [60%] would be elected in single-member constituencies by FPTP, and 240 [40%] would be elected by party lists based on states [in Austria provinces and Sudentenland districts]. Each elector would have two votes. The first vote wouild be for the constituency representative, the second vote would be for the party list. The number of members each party would be entitled to in the party list vote would depend on its percentage of the total vote. But a party would have to receive at least 5 percent of the total vote to be elected by party list. However any candidate could be elected as a constituency member. The end result would be that the representation of the parties in the Reichstag would be proportional to their votes. Leaving aside the technical details it was similar to the method described here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Electoral_system_of_Germany.

Theoretically the elections would be for the whole of Germany, including those areas controlled by the Nazis. There could not be any constituency members elected in those areas, but a proportion of the members elected on the Prussian State lists would be deemed to represent them.

The same system would be used in the municipal elections on 14 May, and the elections for the German states, Austrian provinces and Sudentenland districts on 28 May.

It was also decided that a Chancellor could only be forced out of office if there is majority support for a prospective successor. This provision, known as a constructive vote of no confidence, was implemented by Otto Braun, who was Social Democrat Prime Minister of Prussia almost continuously from 1920-1932. See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Constructive_vote_of_no_confidence.

 

[The Professor]

Interesting update.
Is there (any kind of )a map showing the German situation? Just was to see it in my head more clearly

 

[pipisme]

Interesting update.
Is there (any kind of )a map showing the German situation? Just was to see it in my head more clearly

I can't do maps. In the early morning of Saturday 22 April 1939 the Nazis controlled the following areas:
Germany in its OTL 1937 borders east of the rivers Oder and Neisse, plus Memelland, plus the city of Frankfurt on Oder and a salient from there to Berlin, plus the east and north-east of that city. Posts # 898, 899, 900, 902, 911 and 930 on pages 45, 46 and 47 show the progress of the Nazi advance west of the Oder.

Here is a map of inner Berlin in 1938: http://bytwerk.com/gpa/images/vb/vb-atlas-berlin.jpg. It is rather difficult to read, but as far as I can make out the Nazi army had not advanced as far as the area covered by it. Freidrichs Hahn.

Using this present day map of Berlin - http://traveldodo.com/webmaster/germany/berlin - the front line between the Nazi army and the free German army was the line Osloer Strasse, Bornholmer Strasse, Ostseestrasse and going south-east, west of Volkspark Prenzlauer Berg.

The Free City of Danzig was under League of Nations protection, but it was run by a Nazi government which was technically separate from the Nazi regime in Konigsberg headed by Heydrich.

I hope this information is useful.

 

[pipisme]

The British-German Friendship Society was established on 21 March 1939. Its purpose was to develop friendly relations between Britain and free Germany, and to support the free German government. Its honorary presidents representing the three main political parties were: Earl Stanhope, Sir Herbert Samuel and Sir Charles Trevelyan. But there was a Secretary who was responsible for its administration, and who was answerable to the Board of Trustees.

In the afternoon of Saturday 22 April 1939 Harold Nicholson, the President of the Board of Education, and Vita Sackville-West, his wife, opened Sissinghurst Castle and Gardens [1] to visitors, for a buffet tea and a concert of light classical music, to raise money for the British-German Friendship Society.

[1] For Sissinghurst see http://www.everycastle.com/Sissinghurst-Castle.html.

 

[pipisme]

The admission price to Sissinghurst for the British-German Friendship Society event was £1 per adult, and ten shillings per child. [1] Babies in arms were admitted free. Alcoholic drinks were not allowed.
Harold Nicholson gave a short speech in which he said that funds raised would all go to the British-German Friendship Society for their work in providing help to refugees from Nazi aggression and bombing in Germany, which would be given to the appropriate organisations in that country. The German people are fighting for freedom and civilised values against a monstrous evil which they thought they had overthrown only five weeks ago. We would ask you to contribute to donate generously to this noble cause. He ended by introducing the distinguished guest speaker, Ewald von Kleist-Schmenzin, the German ambassador to Great Britain.

[1] Ten shillings is now 50 pence in OTL currency.

 

[stevep]

The admission price to Sissinghurst for the British-German Friendship Society event was £1 per adult, and ten shillings per child. [1] Babies in arms were admitted free. Alcoholic drinks were not allowed.
Harold Nicholson gave a short speech in which he said that funds raised would all go to the British-German Friendship Society for their work in providing help to refugees from Nazi aggression and bombing in Germany, which would be given to the appropriate organisations in that country. The German people are fighting for freedom and civilised values against a monstrous evil which they thought they had overthrown only five weeks ago. We would ask you to contribute to donate generously to this noble cause. He ended by introducing the distinguished guest speaker, Ewald von Kleist-Schmenzin, the German ambassador to Great Britain.

[1] Ten shillings is now 50 pence in OTL currency.

pipisme

50p or even £1 was a lot of money in those days for many people so I would expect such gatherings are mainly for the pretty wealthy. Possibly also some sort of general donations to enable other people to be able to contribute?

Steve

 

[pipisme]

pipisme

50p or even £1 was a lot of money in those days for many people so I would expect such gatherings are mainly for the pretty wealthy. Possibly also some sort of general donations to enable other people to be able to contribute?

Steve

Steve

Yes the event was intended for middle class people. Besides only they would have cars to drive to Sissinghurst. It was not accessible by public transport in this TL in 1939, and as far as I know not in OTL.

Anybody could give general donations to the British-German Friendship Society.

pipisme

 

[pipisme]

Here is the speech given by Ewald von Kleist-Schmenzin, the German ambassasor to the United Kingdom, at the open day at Sissinghurst on 22 April 1939:

Mr. Nicholson, Miss Sackville-West, ladies and gentlemen.

I thank my hosts for inviting me to speak to you in their beautiful house this afternoon. About two months ago, my colleagues and I in the German Resistance met your prime minister, foreign secretary and other cabinet ministers. It was because of the pledge they gave us, that Britain would declare war on Germany if Hitler invaded Czechoslovakia, that we overthrew the Hitler regime and liberated Germany. But like a vampire Nazism was not killed, and that evil ideology is now in occupation of a large part of my country, including the village where I was born and lived.

It gives me great pleasure to be speaking on behalf of the British-German Friendship Society. They do much good work in building links of friendship between our two countries and helping the victims of Nazism.

No independent person believes that Heydrich was not responsible for the assassination of Goering, and that he had not somehow tricked or tortured Josef Steiner into actually shooting Goering.

I will now tell you something about myself. I am a conservative, and a monarchist. Too many Germans with my opinions were deceived by the Nazis. But, by the grace of God, I realised the true nature of Nazism and wrote the booklet National Socialism: a Danger [I don't know its title in German]. I refused to fly the swastika from the roof of my country house, and to give a pfennig to Nazi Party funds. Because of my opposition to Hitler my name was on the list of people to be murdered on 30 June 1934, commonly called the Night of the Long Knives, but friends warned me and I fled to Berlin where my friend Ernst Niekisch sheltered and protected me. I owe him my life. Several friends of mine were murdered that night. We differ profoundly in our political beliefs. He is a lifelong socialist, but our friendship transcends politics. [1] When the democratic German government came to power, Niekisch was released from prison.

The German government has given financial support for the repair and rebuilding of synagogues and other Jewish buildings damaged and destroyed by the Nazis in Kristallnacht and at other times.

I urge you to give generously this afternoon. I will finish now. I hope you all enjoy the concert. Thank you very much.

His speech was greeted with fervent and prolonged applause.

Several hundred pounds were raised from entrance fees and generous donations.

[1] Information up to here in this paragraph is taken from the book An Honourable Defeat: The Fight against National Socialism in Germany, 1933-1945 by Anton Gill, London: William Heinemann Ltd, 1994.

 

[pipisme]

In the week beginning 24 April 1939 the Nazi regime in the areas of Germany it controlled ordered the killing of all Jewish men who were capable of bearing arms. In effect all youths and men from the ages of 13 to 70. They were taken from their homes by the SS and shot.

 

[Archangel]

In the week beginning 24 April 1939 the Nazi regime in the areas of Germany it controlled ordered the killing of all Jewish men who were capable of bearing arms. In effect all youths and men from the ages of 13 to 70. They were taken from their homes by the SS and shot.

This would prove to the world that the Konigsberg Entity needs to be crushed.

Keep it up, pip!