Born to a middle-class Viennese family and of partly Jewish descent, after marriage to (and divorce from) a German prince, Stephanie von Hohenlohe became a close confidante of Hitler, Goring, Himmler (who declared her an 'honorary Aryan') and von Ribbentrop. After arriving in London in 1932, she moved in the most exclusive circles, arranging the visits of the Duke and Duchess of Windsor and Lord Halifax to Germany in 1937. Most notoriously, she was paid a retainer of £5,000 per year by Lord Rothermere, owner of the Daily Mail and the Daily Mirror, who was an open supporter of the Nazi regime. In 1939 she fled to the USA; a memo to President Roosevelt described her as a spy 'more dangerous than ten thousand men'. In this new biography, Jim Wilson uses recently declassified MI5 files and FBI memos to examine what motivated both Stephanie and Rothermere, shedding light on the murky goings-on behind the scenes in Britain, Germany and the USA before and during the Second World War.

‘Hold on to this letter, so that it will be evidence of how accurately I have kept you informed. I’m serious; don’t throw this letter away.’ BORN the illegitimate daughter of Jewish parents, Princess Stephanie von Hohenlohe would rise to dizzying heights in international politics, hobnobbing with European royalty, British aristocracy – and high-ranking Nazis. She was the unofficial go-between for some of the most important people of the era, conveying secret messages and organising meetings between Adolf Hitler, Lord Rothermere, the Duke and Duchess of Windsor and more than one US president. She would even be one of only a handful of women to be awarded the Nazi Party’s Gold Medal for ‘outstanding service to the National Socialist movement’. But then the Second World War began, and everything changed. Hitler’s Spy Princess is a tale of lovers and manipulation, cleverness and deceit in the remarkable life of the woman Hitler called his ‘dear princess’.

Born to a middle-class Viennese family and of partly Jewish descent, after marriage to (and divorce from) a German prince Stephanie von Hohenlohe became a close confidante of Hitler, Göring, Himmler (who declared her an 'honorary Aryan') and von Ribbentrop. After arriving in London in 1932, she moved in the most exclusive circles, arranging the visits of the Duke and Duchess of Windsor and Lord Halifax to Germany in 1937. Most notoriously, she was paid a retainer of £5,000 per year by Lord Rothermere, owner of the Daily Mail and the Daily Mirror, who was an open supporter of the Nazi regime. In 1939 she fled to the USA; a memo to President Roosevelt described her as a spy 'more dangerous than ten thousand men.' In this new biography, Jim Wilson uses recently declassified MI5 files and FBI memos to examine what motivated both Stephanie and Rothermere, shedding light on the murky goings-on behind the scenes in Britain, Germany and the USA before and during the Second World War.

About the participation of German women in World War II and in the Holocaust.

The link between Hitler's Third Reich and European royalty has gone largely unexplored due to the secrecy surrounding royal families. Jonathan Petropoulos uses unprecedented access to royal archives to tell the fascinating story of the Princes of Hesse and the important role they played in the Nazi regime.

"Princess Marie Adelheid of Lippe-Biesterfeld was a rebellious young writer who became a fervent Nazi. Heinrich Vogeler was a well-regarded artist who was to join the German Communist Party. Ludwig Roselius was a successful businessman who had made a fortune from his invention of decaffeinated coffee. What was it about the revolutionary climate following World War I that induced three such different personalities to collaborate in the production of a slim volume of poetry -- entitled Gott in mir -- about the indwelling of the divine within the human? Lionel Gossman's study situates this poem in the ideological context that made the collaboration possible. The study also outlines the subsequent life of the Princess who, until her death in 1993, continued to support and celebrate the ideals and heroes of National Socialism"--Publisher's description.

• Four months pregnant, Vera Wohlauf, wife of a serving SS officer, took sadistic pleasure in rounding up victims for Treblinka. • Like creatures from a Grimms' fairytale, female members of a Nazi 'welfare' organization scoured the towns and villages of Poland and Slovenia, luring blond children out of hiding with bread and sweets. They were abducted to be raised as Germans by 'Aryan' families who told them their parents were dead. • Test pilot Hanna Reitsch flew on a suicide mission to rescue Hitler from his bunker. • Not even Hitler could resist the charms of Princess Stephanie, a femme fatale and Nazi agent who smoked cigars which she lit by striking a match on the heel of her shoes. The Nazis had no doubts about a woman's place in the Third Reich. Hermann Goering urged every woman to 'take a pot, a dustpan and brush, and marry a man.' Many women welcomed the arrival of Hitler's regime with childlike enthusiasm believing that the dictatorship would make Germany master of Europe, but as the war dragged on, their blind faith in Hitler was betrayed.