Pawns, Provocateurs and Parasites Pawns, Provocateurs and Parasites: Great Britain and German Fifth Column Movements in Europe and the Middle East, 1934 – 1941 By Sean Govan A thesis submitted to the University of Birmingham for the degree of Masters by Research in History. ‘A Sudeten German woman cried in misery as she gave the Nazi Party salute while two others saluted with happiness, Sudetenland, Czechoslovakia, 10 October 1938’. Source: German Federal Archive, Bild 183-H13160. Accessed via World War II Database http://ww2db.com/image.php?image_id=2221 29 October 2015. Department of History School of History and Cultures University of Birmingham November 2015 Word Count 36,516 1 University of Birmingham Research Archive e-theses repository This unpublished thesis/dissertation is copyright of the author and/or third parties. The intellectual property rights of the author or third parties in respect of this work are as defined by The Copyright Designs and Patents Act 1988 or as modified by any successor legislation. Any use made of information contained in this thesis/dissertation must be in accordance with that legislation and must be properly acknowledged. Further distribution or reproduction in any format is prohibited without the permission of the copyright holder. Pawns, Provocateurs and Parasites Note on the photograph on the front page This photograph was taken by an unknown Wehrmacht soldier on 10 October 1938 as German forces annexed the German speaking Sudeten districts of Czechoslovakia in the aftermath of the Munich Conference. It first appeared in the Nazi Party propaganda newspaper Völkischer Beobachter and since then has constantly been used for both pro and anti-Nazi propaganda. Anti-Nazis, before, during and after the Second World War have manipulated the image to show the crying woman on the right of the picture, cropping out the two other women to paint an idea that this woman has been forced to salute evil, hence her tears. This may not be true. It is doubtful that these tears of sorrow, rather these are more likely to be tears of relief or even joy. When the Wehrmacht occupied and annexed the Sudetenland, hundreds of thousands of Sudeten Germans turned out to show their support for the German soldiers and for Adolf Hitler, their Führer, who had returned them to their Fatherland and liberated them from Czech ‘oppression’. The Sudeten Germans who disagreed with the annexation stayed away from the public celebrations, therefore making it doubtful whether this woman ‘cried in misery’ as the caption in the German Federal Archives suggests. We will never know what this woman’s true emotions were on that day in October 1938, whether she cried at the point of a gun or with a garland of flowers. What we must recognise is that her tears have been continuously used as propaganda decades after she first wept in some unknown street in Czechoslovakia. 2 Pawns, Provocateurs and Parasites CONTENTS Abbreviations p.5 Cast of Characters p.6 Introduction “Satellites of the monster” p.11 ‘Fifth Column’ Origins New Definition Historical Context Nazi Ideology Austria, Danzig, Czechoslovakia, Iraq and Iran Chapter I – Austria, “Now we are the hammer” p.25 The Vaterländische Front July 1934 Putsch Changing International Context Austrian Nationalism – Nazism Rebranded March 1938 Anschluss Chapter II – Sudetenland, “Beside an open grave” p.41 Czechoslovak Power The Sudetendeutsche, Konrad Henlein and the SdP Austrian Anschluss – SdP Galvanised Internationalisation of the Sudetenland Issue Chapter III – Slovakia, “Germany’s spoilt nephew” p.55 First Czechoslovak Republic HSLS and Germany Second Czechoslovak Republic Succession Realisation Chapter IV – Danzig, “A pawn in the game” p.67 The Free City Early Successes Consolidating Power ‘A microcosm of the Reich’ August to September 1939 – Invasion and the Second World War 3 Pawns, Provocateurs and Parasites Chapter V – Iraq, “Gilded with Axis gold” p.80 Iraq, Britain and Germany The Most Dangerous Men in the Middle East Courting Germany Baghdad Coup and the Anglo-Iraqi War German assistance – Too Little, Too Late Chapter VI – Iran, “The Fifth Column Menace” p.95 Iran under Reza Shah Pahlavi British and Soviet Interests German Fifth Column in Iran and British Paranoia Realpolitik – War, Oil, Strategy and the Persian Corridor Invasion and the Damp Squib Conclusion, “A State of Coma” p.109 Bibliography p.114 4 Pawns, Provocateurs and Parasites ABBREVIATIONS AIOC – Anglo-Iranian Oil Company CAB – Cabinet Office (United Kingdom) CSC – Chief of Staff Committee (United Kingdom) DNSAP – Deutsche Nationalsozialistische Arbeiterpartei – German National Socialist Workers’ Party FO – Foreign Office (United Kingdom) FS – Freikorps Sudetenland – Sudetenland Free Corps HJ – Hitlerjugend – Hitler Youth HSLS – Hlinkova slovenská l’udová strana – Hlinka Slovak People’s Party MI3 – UK Military Intelligence Section 3 – dealt with Military Intelligence in Europe NSDAP – Nationalsozialistische Deutsche Arbeiterpartei – National Socialist German Workers’ Party NSFK – Nationalsozialistisches Fliegerkorps – National Socialists Flying Corps NSKK – Nationalsozialistisches Kraftfahrkorps – National Socialist Motor Corps RAF – Royal Air Force RAVAG – Radio-Verkehrs-Aktiengesellschaft – Radio Communication Company Ltd – Austrian National Radio Broadcaster RIAF – Royal Iraqi Air Force RM – Reichsmark – German Currency SA – Sturmabteilung – NSDAP Storm Division (Brownshirts) SHF – Sudetendeutsche Heimatfront – Front of Sudeten German Homeland SD – Sicherheitsdienst – NSDAP Security Service SdP – Sudetendeutsche Partei – Sudeten German Party SS – Schutzstaffel – NSDAP Protection Squadron (Blackshirts) USSR – Union of Soviet Socialist Republics WO – War Office (United Kingdom) 5 Pawns, Provocateurs and Parasites CAST OF CHARACTERS Al-Gaylani, Kamal – Brother of Rashid Ali al-Gaylani, Iraqi envoy to Turkey 1941 Al-Gaylani, Rashid Ali – Anti-British Iraqi politician, Prime Minister of Iraq 1940-1941, 1941 Al-Hashimi, Taha – Prime Minister of Iraq 1941 Al-Husseini, Haj Amin – Grand Mufti of Jerusalem 1921-1937 Al-Ilah, Abd – Regent of Iraq 1939-1953, brother of King Ghazi and uncle of King Faisal II Al-Sabbagh, Salah ad-Din –Iraqi General, Leader of Golden Square, Commander of Iraqi 3rd Division Al-Said, Nuri – Pro-British Iraqi politician, Prime Minister of Iraq 1938-1941 Al-Saud, Faisal bin Abdulaziz ‘Amir Faisal’ – Saudi Arabian Foreign Minister 1930-1953 Beck, Jozef – Polish Minister of Foreign Affairs 1932-1939 Benes, Eduard – President of Czechoslovakia 1935-1938 Bland, Neville – UK Minister to the Netherlands 1938-1948 Blomberg, Axel von – Fleigerführer Irak 1941, son of Werner von Blomberg Blomberg, Werner von – Commander-in-Chief of the German Armed Forces 1935-1938 Bock, Fedor von – German General Brandner, Willi – Chief of Staff of the Freikorps Sudetenland Bullard, Reader – British Minister to Iran 1939-1941, British Ambassador to Iran 1941-1946 Burckhardt, Carl – League of Nations High Commissioner for the Free City of Danzig 1937-1939 Carney, William – New York Times Correspondent during Spanish Civil War Cazalet, Victor – UK Member of Parliament Ciano, Galeazzo – Italian Minister of Foreign Affairs 1936-1943, son-in-law of Benito Mussolini Chamberlain, Neville – Prime Minister of the United Kingdom 1937-1940 Churchill, Winston – Prime Minister of the United Kingdom 1940-1945 Chvalovsky, Frantisek – Czechoslovak Minister of Foreign Affairs 1938-1939 Cornwallis, Kinahan – UK Ambassador to Iraq 1941-1945 6 Pawns, Provocateurs and Parasites Cripps, Stafford – UK Ambassador to the USSR 1940-1942 Dollfuss, Engelbert – Chancellor of Austria 1932-1934 Durcansky, Ferdinand – HSLS propagandist editor of Natsup Eden, Anthony – UK Foreign Secretary 1935-1938, 1940-1945 Faisal, Faisal bin Ghazi bin, King of Iraq 1939-1958, son of King Ghazi Faisal, Ghazi bin – King of Iraq 1933-1939 Fey, Emil – Vice-Chancellor of Austria 1933-1934, Austrian Interior Minister 1934-1935 Forster, Albert – Gauleiter of Danzig 1930-1945, Chief of State of Danzig 1939 Franco, Francisco – Spanish Nationalist Leader during Spanish Civil War Frank, Karl Hermann – Deputy Leader of the SdP 1935-1938, Secretary of State of Bohemia and Moravia 1939- 1945 Glaise-Horstenau, Edmund – Austrian Interior Minister 1936-1939, Vice-Chancellor of Austria 1938 Goring, Hermann – Luftwaffe Commander-in-Chief 1935-1945 Greiser, Arthur – President of the Free City of Danzig Senate 1934-1939 Grobba, Fritz – German Minister to Baghdad 1932-1939 Habict, Theo – Austrian Nazi Leader 1931-1933 Hacha, Emil – President of Czechoslovakia 1938-1939, President of Bohemia and Moravia 1939-1945 Haddad, Uthman Kamal – Private Secretary to the Grand Mufti of Jerusalem Hankey, Maurice – UK Cabinet Secretary 1916-1938 Harvey, Oliver – Anthony Eden’s private secretary Henderson, Nevile – UK Ambassador to Germany 1937-1940 Henlein, Konrad – SdP Founder and Leader 1933-1938 Heydrich, Reinhard – Director of Reich Main Security Office 1939-1942 Himmler, Heinrich – Reichsführer-SS 1929-1945 Hitler, Adolf – Chancellor of Germany 1933-1945, Führer of Germany 1934-1945 7 Pawns, Provocateurs and Parasites Hlinka, Andrej – HSLS Founder and Leader 1918-1938 Hoare, Samuel – UK Foreign Secretary 1935, Home Secretary 1937-1939 Hodza, Milan – Prime Minister of Czechoslovakia 1935-1938 Ibárruri, Dolores – Spanish Republican journalist for Mundo Obrero during Spanish Civil War Ibn Saud, Abdulaziz – Founder and King of Saudi Arabia 1932-1953 Junck, Werner