I introduced you briefly to the famous (some would say infamous) Mitford sisters several years ago in my blog, British Fascists and a Mitford (click here to read the blog). It was the story of an English noble, Sir Oswald Mosley, and his wife, Diana who were staunch supporters of Hitler, Nazi Germany, and fascism. Diana Mosley was one of the six Mitford sisters.

Like the modern-day Kardashians, the Mitford sisters were well-known, extensively covered by the press, and considered to be “socialites.” I suppose today they would be called “celebrities.” As war with Germany approached during the 1930s, the antics of several sisters were widely covered in print and photos by the English press (no social media or television back then). In fact, the press branded one of the sisters as “Hitler’s girlfriend.” Unity Mitford wore that label proudly. Several of the other sisters held extremist views and were just as controversial.

Unity Mitford and Adolf Hitler in Bayreuth, Germany about one year after meeting. Photo by anonymous (c. 1936). TheDailyMail.co.uk. PD-Author release. — Unity Mitford and Adolf Hitler in Bayreuth, Germany about one year after meeting. Photo by anonymous (c. 1936). TheDailyMail.co.uk. https://www.thehistoryreader.com/military-history/when-hitler-took-cocaine-hitlers-english-girlfriend/ PD-Author release.

Did You Know?

Did you know that the last survivor of the Führerbunker recently passed away?

Johanna Ruf (1929−2023) was fifteen when she entered the bunker in April 1945. Hitler used the bunker as his last headquarters and residence beginning 16 January 1945 and by April, Joseph Goebbels and his family had moved in.

Adolf Hitler with Joseph Goebbels and his wife, Magda and their three oldest children: Hilda (left) Helmut (center), and Helga (right). Photo by Heinrich Hoffmann (c. 1938). Bundesarchiv, Bild 183-1987-0724-502/Heinrich Hoffmann/CC-BY-SA 3.0. PD-CCA-Share Alike 3.0 Germany. Wikimedia Commons.

Johanna was a member of the Bund Deutscher Mädel, the female wing of the Hitler Youth. She volunteered as a nurse and after working in a bunker at the Berlin Anhalter rail station, Johanna was assigned to the Führerbunker where a makeshift sickbay was located one level below Hitler’s office.

During an interview, Johanna told the story about the time she slapped Goebbels’s young son, Helmut, for being “cheeky” and over-excited. Hours later, Helmut and his five sisters were murdered by their parents. Johanna was one of the last persons to see the Goebbels children alive.

Johanna Ruf as a young girl and in her eighties. Photos by anonymous (dates unknown). Collage: The Gaze. https://www.thegaze.media/news/last-witness-of-hitlers-bunker-passes-away

After the Soviets raided the bunker, Johanna was taken prisoner. Two months later, she was released because of her age. It wasn’t until seventy-two years later that Johanna began to tell her story. At the age of eighty-eight, Johanna Ruf published her book in 2017.

Let’s Meet the Mitford Family

The Mitford family was a low-level aristocratic English family that could trace its family history to the Norman conquest in 1066. During the 1930s, the family was led by David Freeman-Mitford, 2nd Baron Redesdale (1878−1958) and his wife, Sydney Bowles (1880−1963) whom he married in 1904. David and Sydney had seven children: six girls and a boy. Known by the children as “Muv,” Sydney was somewhat of a distant mother and David, or “Farve” didn’t have the backbone or ability to control his daughters.

Sydney Bowles, wife of David Freeman-Mitford, 2nd Lord Redesdale. Painting by Philip de László (c. 1916). Chatsworth House. PD-Author’s life plus 80 years or fewer. Wikimedia Commons.

The children’s upbringing was drenched in eccentricity while living in near poverty fronted by the façade of stately homes and an aristocratic title. The family raised hens to sell eggs to London restaurants, linens were banished due to the cost of laundering them, and the children were fed a kosher diet. Their antisemitic parents believed Jews were less susceptible to cancer. Medicines were withheld and necessary medical procedures were only a last resort.

Nancy (lower left), Diana (lower right), Unity (standing left), and Jessica Mitford (standing right). Photo by anonymous-unable to ascertain owner (c. 1932). PD-Photograph taken more than 70 years ago. Wikimedia Commons.

Formal schools were out of the question as the girls were expected to marry wealthy men. The children were educated at home by a steady stream of governesses who could not control them. The sisters developed their own peculiar language called “Boudledidge” to speak amongst themselves. As the girls grew up, they developed into smart and beautiful young women. One common attribute was a sharp, sarcastic, and caustic tongue with a wicked sense of humor. All six of them developed their own individualistic mindset, strong opinions, and a confidence to pursue any goal they set out to conquer.

Click here to watch the video “Mitford Family”.

Nancy Mitford

Nancy Mitford (1904−1973) became a well-known novelist, biographer, and journalist famous for her sharp and provocative wit. After turning eighteen, Nancy was “introduced” into English society and presented to King George V and his court. Her father did not approve of his daughter’s male friends considering them to be narcissistic, effeminate, and frivolous. For her first fiancé, Nancy chose a man she thought would be the best choice to offend her father. This romance did not work out and in 1933, Nancy married Peter Rodd (1904−1968). Unlike some of the other sisters (and mother), Nancy and Peter supported the Allied war effort. Due to her strong anti-fascist views, Nancy denounced her sister Diana to Churchill’s government and British Intelligence. Needless to say, this created a life-long alienation between the two sisters.

Nancy Mitford’s marriage to Peter Rodd. Photo by anonymous-unable to ascertain owner (c. 1933). PD-Photograph taken more than 70 years ago. Wikimedia Commons.

Peter was unfaithful to Nancy almost from the beginning of their marriage. In September 1942, Nancy met and fell in love with Gaston Palewski (1901−1984), a French colonel attached to Gen. de Gaulle’s staff in London. She began a decades-long affair with Palewski. After the war, Nancy and Peter went their separate ways (divorcing in 1957) and Nancy settled in Paris close to Palewski’s residence. For the next twenty-years, her schedule was dictated by Palewski’s availability.

Gaston Palewski. Gen. de Gaulle honored Palewski by naming him a “Compagnon de la Libération.” Palewski was awarded the Grand Croix de la Légion d’honneur among other citations. Photo by anonymous-unable to ascertain owner (date unknown but likely during World War II). https://www.ordredelaliberation.fr.

In 1972, Nancy was honored by the French government by making her a Chevalier of the Légion d’honneur. Shortly afterward, the British government appointed her a Commander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE). Within a year, Nancy died of cancer in her apartment with Palewski at her side. The wounds of her strained relationships with several sisters never healed.

Click here to watch the video “Nancy Mitford: A Portrait by Her Sisters”.

Pamela Mitford

Pamela Mitford (1907−1994) was known as “Woman” by her sisters. Pam married Derek Jackson in 1936 and they were divorced in 1951. For the next twenty years, Pam lived with Giuditta Tommasi, an Italian horsewoman. Jessica Mitford called her sister a “you-know-what-bian.” Pam returned to England alone in 1972 and passed away in London. She was considered the “most rural” of the sisters considering her fondness for living quietly in the countryside. She is also the least understood of the six sisters.

Click here to watch the video “The British Socialite Who Had a Secret Life”.

Thomas Mitford

Thomas “Tom” Mitford (1909−1945) supported British fascism (i.e., Mosley’s British Union of Fascists) and refused to fight in Europe against Germany. Instead, Tom volunteered to join the war against Japan and was assigned to Burma where he died in action.

Diana Mitford

Diana Mitford (1910−2003) was certainly one of the most controversial Mitford sisters. She left her first husband in 1933 to marry Sir Oswald Mosley (1896−1980), founder of the British Union Fascists (BUF). The BUF was a far-right fascist, antisemitic political party modeled on Mussolini’s fascist party in Italy. Its members and supporters adopted the Hitler salute and were known as “Blackshirts” after the uniforms worn by the Nazis which BUF members adopted.

Diana Mitford and her first husband, Bryan Guinness, on their honeymoon in Taormina, Italy. Photo by anonymous-unable to ascertain owner (c. 1929). PD-Photograph taken more than 70 years ago. Wikimedia Commons.

Diana was a strong supporter of Hitler and his Nazi party. Her sister, Jessica, was a communist and the two never spoke to one another after 1939. The 1936 Mosely-Mitford wedding took place in Germany at Joseph Goebbels’s house with Hitler in attendance as an invited guest. During the 1930s, Diana and her sister Unity visited Germany quite often as the personal guests of Hitler. Their trips included attending the Nuremberg rallies and Berlin Olympics as well as dining frequently with the Führer.

At the outbreak of World War II, Oswald Mosley was interned by the British government as a “foreign agent.” British intelligence, MI5, considered his wife “to be far cleverer and more dangerous than her husband . . .” After being denounced by her sister, Diana was arrested and sent to prison. Churchill intervened and the coupe were allowed to sit out the war together albeit in prison until 1943 when they were released but put under house arrest until the end of the war. (Their passports were returned to them in 1949.)

Newspaper story regarding Diana (Mitford) Mosley’s detention under the British Defense Regulations. Photo by anonymous (30 June 1940). The Observer.

Mussolini and Oswald Mosley (right). Photo by anonymous/Docxv (c. 1930s). PD-CCA Share Alike 4.0 International. Wikimedia Commons.

After the war, the Mosley’s moved to Paris where they purchased a pavillon by the name of “Le Temple de la Gloire” located near the summer home of the Duke and Duchess of Windsor. (Click here to read the blog, Prince, King, . . . Traitor?) Diana was fiercely antisemitic and glossed over Hitler’s role in the Holocaust. (Her sisters called Diana’s Paris residence the “camp of concentration.”) To the day she died, Diana was an unrepentant supporter of the Nazis.

Click here to watch the video “The Mitford Sisters|Lady Diana Mosley Interview”.

Unity Mitford

Along with her sister Diana, Unity Valkyrie Mitford (1914−1948) was a strong supporter of the Nazi party, fascism, and antisemitism. She was known in England as “Hitler’s girlfriend.” She met Hitler in 1933 and became infatuated with the German leader. Unity and Diana’s presence at the 1933 Nuremberg rally cemented their opinion about Hitler. Unity’s infatuation turned into a worship relationship with the Führer, and she began to frequent Hitler’s favorite restaurants. Eventually, Hitler began to invite the English woman to join him at his table. Soon, Unity was being invited to many of the rallies and state affairs. She was invited by Julius Streicher to give an antisemitic speech at a Hitler Youth festival ⏤ she did not disappoint Streicher, the “Jew baiter.” When Hitler announced the Anschluss in 1938, Unity Mitford shared the balcony with him in Vienna. British Intelligence, MI5, proclaimed her “more Nazi than the Nazis.”

Unity Valkyrie Mitford. She is wearing the pin of the National Socialist German Workers’ Party, or commonly known as the Nazi Party. Photo by anonymous (c. 1938). National Archief. PD-Expired copyright. Wikimedia Commons.

In 1939, Hitler warned Unity and Diana that war with England was imminent, and they should return to their homeland. Diana took his advice, but Unity stayed in Germany. On 3 September 1939, the day England declared war on Germany, Unity took a pistol Hitler had given her and shot herself in the head. She survived the suicide attempt. Hitler paid her medical bills and saw that she was safely moved to Switzerland where her mother and sister Deborah were waiting for her. Once back in England, she was considered a traitor and calls for her imprisonment were ignored by Churchill and his government. Unity was allowed to live with her mother until her death from meningitis.

Lord Redesdale and his daughter, Deborah Mitford, upon the return of Unity Mitford from Europe after her unsuccessful suicide attempt. Photo by anonymous (4 January 1940). Uncredited/AP.

Click here to watch the video “Hitler’s British Stalker – Unity Mitford”.

Jessica Mitford

Jessica “Decca” Mitford (1917−1996) eloped with her first husband to Spain where they fought in the Spanish Civil War on the side of the Republicans. By 1939, the couple had immigrated to the United States. Her husband enlisted in the Royal Canadian Air Force and died in action during World War II. In 1943, Jessica met and married Robert Treuhaft (1912−2001), settled in California, and a year later, she became an American citizen.

Newspaper article on four RCAF airmen on the latest casualty list. Pilot Officer Esmond Romilly is second from the right. Jessica’s husband was twenty-three when he was killed. Photo by anonymous-unable to ascertain owner (date unknown). The Globe and Mail. Submitted for project, Operation Picture Me. https://www.veterans.gc.ca/eng/rememberance/memorials/canadian-virtual-war-memorial/detail/2940555

Jessica and Bob were active members of the Communist Party. (Her sisters referred to her as “the Red Sheep of the family.”) During the war, she criticized her parents for appeasing Hitler and accused them of being fascists (which was the truth). Her wrath didn’t stop there. Jessica became estranged from Diana and Unity. Later in life, Jessica taught for a short while at San Jose State University. Her course focused on Watergate and the McCarthy era. She refused the university’s demand to take a loyalty test or have her fingerprints taken. The school fired Jessica but had to reinstate her after she filed a lawsuit. In addition to a successful writing career, Jessica was an accomplished singer.

Jessica Mitford appearing on “After Dark.” Photo by Open Media Ltd. (20 August 1988). PD-CCA-Share Alike 3.0 Unported. Wikimedia Commons.

Click here to watch the video “The Outsiders”.

Deborah Mitford

Deborah “Debo” Mitford (1920−2014) was the youngest and last surviving Mitford sister. Deborah was generally considered to be “normal” when compared to her other sisters. She married Andrew Cavendish (1920−2004), 11th Duke of Devonshire in 1941 and for decades, they lived at Chatsworth House, the Cavendish historic family home. Despite Andrew’s philandering, Deborah held the marriage together and is credited with saving Chatsworth and turning it into a profitable commercial enterprise.

In addition to her hereditary title (i.e., Duchess of Devonshire), Deborah was appointed by the queen as a Dame Commander of the Royal Victorian Order.

Click here to watch the video “Deborah Devonshire, the Youngest Mitford Sister, Talks About Her Extraordinary Life.”.

Political Views

Although David was a conservative, he maintained sympathies for Hitler and Germany while supporting British appeasement. Once war was declared, Baron Redesdale became a strong supporter of British policy and abandoned his German sympathies.

Sydney, on the other hand, was a strong supporter of fascism and she supported her two daughters who were like-minded. Unfortunately, David and Sydney separated in 1943 due to their political differences.

Nancy was a “moderate” socialist and supported the defense of aristocratic traditions and values. She was a strong advocate of the monarchy.

Jessica was a card-carrying communist. In 1953, Jessica and her second husband testified before the House Un-American Activities Committee. They refused to divulge names of people or organizations earning them the dismissive “unresponsive.” Jessica’s first husband, Esmond Romilly (1918−1941) was a socialist and a nephew of Winston Churchill.

Diana and Unity (and brother Tom) were outright fascists, antisemites, and supporters of Hitler. While Unity died three years after the war ended, Diana carried the Nazi stigma for the rest of her life. She and Oswald were outright Holocaust deniers and Diana never apologized for her viewpoints.

Deborah and her husband were some of the founding members of the Social Democratic Party in 1981. (Her husband was the nephew of Prime Minister Harold Macmillan.) The party was center to center-left leaning with a propensity to social liberalism.

Authors

All of the Mitford sisters were prolific letter writers while several of them became best-selling authors.

Jessica’s 1960 memoir, Hons and Rebels, as well as her ground-breaking book on the funeral industry, The American Way of Death, became classics. J.K. Rowling, author of the Harry Potter series, cites Jessica as the writer who influenced her the most.

Deborah’s books concerned Chatsworth House and its restoration, gardens, and commercial activities.

After the war, Diana and Oswald Mosley founded Euphorion Books, a publishing company responsible for Niki Lauda’s memoirs and Hans-Ulrich Rudel’s memoirs, Stuka Pilot. Diana wrote several memoirs of her own as well as a biography of the Duchess of Windsor.

Nancy was the most successful writer. Her two post-war semi-autobiographical novels established her reputation. She found commercial success with the biographies of Madame de Pompadour, Voltaire, and King Louis XIV. The latter book was required reading for members of Gen. Charles de Gaulle’s cabinet.

Next Blog: “Find Johnny Nicholas!”

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We welcome everyone to contact us either directly or through the individual blogs. Sandy and I review every piece of correspondence before it is approved to be published on the blog site. Our policy is to accept and publish comments that do not project hate, political, religious stances, or an attempt to solicit business (yeah, believe it or not, we do get that kind of stuff). Like many bloggers, we receive quite a bit of what is considered “Spam.” Those e-mails are immediately rejected without discussion.

Our blogs are written to inform our readers about history. We want to ensure discussions are kept within the boundary of historical facts and context without personal bias or prejudice.

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★ Read and Learn More About Today’s Topic ★

De Courcy, Anne. Diana Mosley: Mitford Beauty, British Fascist, Hitler’s Angel. New York: William Morrow, 2003.

Guinness, Jonathan with Catherine Guinness. The House of Mitford. London: Weidenfeld & Nicolson, 2015.

Lovell, Mary S. The Sisters: The Saga of the Mitford Family. New York: W.W. Norton & Company, 2001.

Mitford, Deborah. Wait for Me! Memoirs. New York: Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 2010.

Mitford, Jessica. The American Way of Death Revisited. New York: Vintage Books, 2000. (Originally published as The American Way of Death by Crest, 1964.)

Mitford, Jessica. Hons and Rebels. New York: NYRB Classics, 2016.

Mitford, Nancy. The Sun King. New York: Harper & Row, 1966.

Mosley, Charlotte (editor). The Mitfords: Letters Between Six Sisters. Notting Hill, UK: 4th Estate, 2012.

Mosley, Diana. A Life of Contrasts: The Autobiography of Diana Mosley. London: Gibson Square, 2018.

Ruf, Johanna. Eine Backpfeife für den kleinen Goebbels: Berlin 1945 im Tagebuch einer15-Jährigen | Die letzten und die ersten Tage. (“A slap in the face for little Goebbels: Berlin 1945 in the diary of a 15-year-old |The last and the first days.”) Berlin: Berlin Story Verlag GmbH, 2017.

I have given you only a brief outline of the Mitford sisters. Their antics and life stories are best told in Mary Lovell’s book. The author’s writing style is enjoyable to read, and I found the book tough to put down until I finished the last page. (I have not read Anne de Courcy’s book but intend too soon.)

My intent to compare the Mitford sisters to the Kardashians is purely from a celebrity standpoint and there is no intent to infer the Kardashians share common political beliefs with the Mitford family or others mentioned in this blog.

Disclaimer:

There may be a chance that after we publish this particular blog, the video links associated with the blog are no longer accessible. We have no control over this. Many times, whoever posts the video has done so without the consent of the video’s owner. In some cases, it is likely that the content is deemed unsuitable by YouTube. We apologize if you have tried to access the link and you don’t get the expected results. Same goes for internet links.

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