“I am frankly opposed to this war criminal stuff. It is not cricket and is Semitic”
Letter, GSP, Jr., to Beatrice, September 2, 1945
Every thing I say is not only misquoted but also put out of context . . .
I can’t see what future I have but I am certainly getting a great education in S.O.B’s . . .
I had never heard that we fought to de-natzify Germany – live and learn. What we are doing is to utterly destroy the only semi-modern state in Europe so that Russia can swallow the whole.
HE MAY NEVER HAVE SEEN Eisenhower’s directive of June 29, for he was then in the United Sates. This was a major document. Drawing on the official communique of the Crimea or Yalta Conference, it set forth the policy governing the removal and exclusion of Nazis and German militarists from public office and from positions of importance in quasi-public and private enterprises.
“One of the principal objectives of the war,” the directive stated categorically, “is ‘to destroy German militarism and Nazism’ and ‘to remove all Nazi and militarist influences’ . . . from the cultural and economic life of the German people.” Nominal members of the Nazi party could be retained for administrative purposes, but the question was, who was nominal?
As Lieutenant General Lucius D. Clay, Deputy Military Governor, U.S. Group, Control Council in Berlin, explained to Patton, everyone realized that removing Nazis from governmental positions resulted in less effective administrative machinery. The President’s orders permitted the retention of “nominal Nazis,” but defined them in such a way as to make the number that could be retained for administrative convenience quite small.
Many Germans had told Clay they could not understand why any Nazi was kept in office. It was perhaps true that many Nazis joined the party for the same reason that some Americans became Democrats or Republicans – in order to gain public office. But the Nazis were “part and parcel” of the group being charged with starting the war. Policies from home rigidly excluded Nazis from government office and particularly from places of prominence.
In other words, there was little ambiguity about certain high party officials and those charged with crimes against humanity, who were in the mandatory arrest category. It was the smaller men who caused the confusion, and four months after the end of the war, in September, the Third Army headquarters was still grappling with the problem, admitting not only considerable inconsistency in the practices carried out but also clear cases where policy had been misinterpreted and misapplied.
An example of the difficulty involved came to light when the XX Corps chief of staff phoned Gay for help. Under the current regulations, he said, it was necessary to remove from important positions and to place under arrest all Germans in the automatic arrest category. But what about a certain mine director who was the most capable engineer in Bavaria? No one could replace him, and to remove him would decrease the production of coal. Gay authorized – subject, of course, to approval by higher authority – placing the man in house arrest and keeping him at work.
At this time, a telegram from Eisenhower questioned the Third Army on alleged mistreatment of Jewish displaced persons. Brigadier General Mickelsen, Chief of the Displaced Persons Branch of G–5, USFET, would soon make a formal inspection of the Jewish camps in the Eastern Military District. Eisenhower specified that stateless Jews who had yet to be moved to special Jewish camps be so transferred before the inspection.
If Patton paid any attention to – or was even aware of – these matters, he made no mention of them. He was engaged in a far more fascinating activity.
In order to amuse himself and also to instruct coming generations of soldiers, he was writing a book entitled “War as I Saw It,” soon to be renamed “War as I Knew It.” It was a compendium of observations, lessons learned, strictures, and the like, all derived from his experience, all set forth with the usual Patton verve, clarity, and bravura.
He sent chapters to friends at home, Harbord, Summerall, Codman, and others, asking them to consider the manuscript confidential. One of the recipients was Under Secretary of War Patterson, soon to become Secretary, whom Patton characterized in a letter to Beatrice as “quite a nice man . . . He is a military historian and got a DSC in the infantry in the last war. He may lack moral guts.”
The manuscript provided the basis for a much edited – or, in Pentagon terminology, “sanitized” – version that Mrs. Patton published after the general’s death.
On September 6, he went to Berlin to represent Eisenhower at an inter-Allied military parade.
Letter, GSP, Jr., to Beatrice, September 11, 1945
I think I was never so tired and stiff as I was yesterday. I did not realize how much out of condition I was.
I left here after lunch on the 6th and flew to Berlin where there was a guard [of honor] from the 826. Airborne. It was realy very nice in a tin soldier sort of way. Then I went to Ike’s villa which was turned over to me – very nice.
I went for a sail in an 8-meter which is realy a nice boat and sleeps four, but is pretty . . .
On the 7th there was an inter-allied review to celebrate V-J day. U.S., English, French, and Russians each had 1,000 men and 50 vehicles in the parade. Marshall Sukov [Zhukov] was senior, I was next. He was in full dress uniform much like comic opera and covered with medals. He is short, rather fat and has a prehensile chin like an ape but good blue eyes. He was in the cavalry. Our troops looked the best, the Russians next.
The R’s had a lot of new heavy tanks of which they are very proud. The Marshall asked me how I liked them. I said I did not, and we had quite an argument. Apparently I was the first person ever to disagree with him.
From the parade I flew to Pilsen and reviewed the 16th Armored Division.
On the 8th we went to Brow in Sudeten land and went on a duck shoot . . . This lasted till about 3 PM and then we started walking through potato patches after Hungarian partridges. We walked till 6 PM so were on our feet about ten hours.
Then we had a dance till 10 – at least I went to bed then. We got up at 4:30 and went deer hunting, walking over mountains for two hours. I did not see a deer. But all the mushrooms, shown in the colored plates [in the encyclopedia], red with yellow spots, yellow with red spots . . . red, green, pink, and yellow, hundreds of them.
Letter, GSP, Jr., to Beatrice, September n, 1945
I just won another battle – only this time it was against me. Hap and I have a little course of jumps which we have been working on for a couple of weeks. There was one red and white pole not over 3-6 [three feet, six inches] but the highest we had so that I have been making all sorts of excuses to my self for not jumping. I just jumped it.
Remember after the last war I got timid too, but beat it down . . .
Count von Luckner called on me to day. He wants a job teaching the Germans democracy.
Letter, Eisenhower to GSP, Jr., September 11, 1945
As you know, I have announced a firm policy of uprooting the whole Nazi organization regardless of the fact that we may sometimes suffer from local administrative inefficiency. Reduced to its fundamentals, the United States entered this war as a foe of Naziism; victory is not complete until we have eliminated from positions of responsibility and, in appropriate cases properly punished, every active adherent to the Nazi party.
I know that certain field commanders have felt that some modifications to this policy should be made. That question has long since been decided. We will not compromise with Naziism in any way.
I wish you would make sure that all your subordinate commanders realize that the discussional stage of this question is long past and any expressed opposition to the faithful execution of this order cannot be regarded leniently by me. I expect just as loyal service in execution of this and other policies applying to the German occupation as I received during the war.
More important seemed a letter from Maxwell Taylor, Superintendent of the Military Academy, who solicited Patton’s views on what changes he would suggest at West Point. More weight, Patton replied, should be given to the Tactical Department and less to the academic aptitudes.
I say this as a goat but without bitterness because although I was turned back I outrank all members of my initial class.
I am convinced that nothing I learned in electricity or hydraulics or in higher mathematics or in drawing in any way contributed to my military career. Therefore I would markedly reduce or wholly jetison the above subjects.
I am convinced that much more emphasis should be placed on history . . . The purpose of history . . . is to learn how human beings react when exposed to the danger of wounds or death, and how high ranking individuals react when submitted to the onerous responsibility of conducting war or the preparations for war. The acquisition of knowledge concerning the dates or places on which certain events transpired is immaterial . . .
I have regretted all my life that I did not know more languages . . .
I believe that gallantry and a desire to attain military prestige can be cultivated . . .
The greatest thing you and I got out of it was our profound belief in the greatness of our motto [Duty, Honor, Country].
Letter, GSP, Jr., to Beatrice, September 14, 1945
I was going to Nancy in the morning to become a [honorary] citizen but Ike phoned he is coming here so I had best stay and see him. Perhaps I can make him see the menace of the M’s. They have 300,000 troops in Checo. now and are running 200,000 more in, and we are pulling out – getting the boys home by Xmas. It may well result in getting them back in the trenches by spring . . .
I am frankly opposed to this war criminal stuff. It is not cricket and is Semitic. I am also opposed to sending PW’s to work as slaves in foreign lands [in particular, to France] where many will be starved to death . . .
Some times I think I will simply resign and not be a further party to the degradation of my country.
Diary, September 15
Late yesterday afternoon I was notified that General Eisenhower would arrive . . . near Munich at 0930 this morning, having flown from the Riviera . . .
I later found out that the purpose of his visit was to inspect the DP camps, particularly at least one occupied by Jews, to determine the condition of these Jews in order that he may write a letter to Mr. Truman.
Harkins and I went there to greet him in spite of the fact he had suggested that I not put myself out. I have always felt that an officer should be present to meet in person an officer of the next higher grade and in this case, General Eisenhower was also my friend.
Harkins and I waited until 12.00 o’clock, at which time we heard that General Eisenhower had been unable to land and had had to go to Paris to get down, using the beam at the field there.
While waiting, I talked to Brigadier General Mickelsen who is G–5 for Eisenhower’s headquarters [in charge of DP affairs], and he showed me a letter from President Truman to General Eisenhower which was unnecessarily harsh and in much less considerate language than I would have used in cussing out a 2nd Lieutenant.
Mickelsen also showed me the report of a man named Harrison (which report was inclosed in the President’s letter) on the condition of Displaced Persons in Europe, particularly Jews. Harrison is a member of the State Department. The report contained many allegations against General Eisenhower, the Army, and the various commanders.
One of the chief complaints is that the DP’s are kept in camps under guard. Of course, Harrison is ignorant of the fact that if they were not kept under guard they would not stay in the camps, would spread over the country like locusts, and would eventually have to be rounded up after quite a few of them had been shot and quite a few Germans murdered and pillaged.
The brilliant Mr. Harrison further objected to the sanitary conditions, again being ignorant of the fact that we frequently have to use force in order to prevent the inmates, Germans, Jews, and other people, from defecating on the floor when ample facilities are provided outside.
Evidently the virus started by Morgenthau and Baruch of a Semitic revenge against all Germans is still working. Harrison and his associates indicate that they feel German civilians should be removed from houses for the purpose of housing Displaced Persons.
There are two errors in this assumption. First, when we remove an individual German, we punish an individual German while the punishment is not intended for the individual but for the race. Furthermore, it is against my Anglo-Saxon conscience to remove a person from a house, which is a punishment, without due process of law. In the second place, Harrison and his ilk believe that the Displaced Person is a human being, which he is not, and this applies particularly to the Jews who are lower than animals. I remember once at Troina in Sicily, General Gay said that it wasn’t a question of the people living with the dirty animals but of the animals living with the dirty people. At that time he had never seen a Displaced Jew.
Furthermore, I do not see why Jews should be treated any better or any worse than Catholics, Protestants, Mohammedans, or Mormons. However, it seems apparent that we will have to do this, and I am going to do it as painlessly as possible by taking a certain group of buildings in several cities and placing the Jews, who do not exceed 20,000, in sort of improved ghettos.
To put the Jews on farms would be disastrous because it would break up the agricultural economy of Bavaria on which we depend for providing what food is provided which is not paid for by American taxpayers.
We arranged a good itinerary for General Eisenhower which we will put into effect when he comes. Unquestionably he is just as much under fire as is anyone else and in this particular case, very unjustly so.
If the people in Washington would stop trying to find fault with others and wake up to the extent of making the Russians take back the Poles and other people whom they have not permitted to return, the situation in Displaced Persons would be much ameliorated . . .
It seems to be quite a hell of a mess.
Letter, GSP, Jr., to Keith Merrill, Washington, D.C., September 16,
I have just been handed a Mr. Parker W. Buhrman as an advisor on political affairs. He was sent to me by [Robert] Murphy and is alleged to have been a member of the Foreign Service.
Please let me know what you know about him and, if you know nothing, speak to someone who does, as it is always a good idea to get the dope on one’s assistants. Particularly – does he belong to the chosen people?
Diary, September 16
General Eisenhower . . . arrived at 2000, and we had supper and spent the evening talking over the situation. In fact we talked until 3.00 o’clock in the morning.
General Eisenhower felt at that time that he would undoubtedly become [U.S. Army] Chief of Staff and that McNarney was slated to take over his job in Europe. He asked me, in view of that situation, what I wanted to do.
I told him I did not care to serve under General McNarney, not because I had anything personal against him but because I thought it unseemly for a man with my combat record to serve under a man who had never heard a gun go off.
I stated there were only two jobs in the United States which I felt I could take. One was President of the Army War College, which I believed was taken, and the other was Commanding General of the Army Ground Forces.
General Eisenhower stated that the Army War College would probably be a combined institution with the Army, Navy, and Air Force [eventually the National War College], and that in that event, the first President would be a naval officer since the former president had been General DeWitt, an Army officer. This seems to put the War College out of the running.
With reference to the . . . Army Ground Forces, Eisenhower stated he saw no reason why he as Chief of Staff could not remove Devers and put me in. However, he stated he felt that the Army Air Force would become The Air Force with a Chief of Staff of its own and a promotion system of its own, in which case he could see no reason for having an Army Ground Force.
I agreed with him. Therefore, at the present writing, it would seem the only thing I can do is go home and retire. However, Eisenhower asked me to remain at least three months after he left so as to get things running quietly. I tentatively agreed to this.
He did so because he was a good soldier and because he owed so much to Eisenhower.
Diary, September 17
Eisenhower and I drove to Munich where we inspected a Baltic Displaced Persons camp. The Baltic people are the best of the Displaced Persons and the camp was extremely clean in all respects . . . We were both, I think, very much pleased with the conditions here . . .
We drove for about 45 minutes to a Jewish camp . . . established in what had been a German hospital. The buildings were therefore in a good state of repair when the Jews arrived but were in a bad state of repair when we arrived, because these Jewish DP’s, or at least a majority of them, have no sense of human relationships. They decline, where practicable, to use latrines, preferring to relieve themselves on the floor ...
This happened to be the feast of Yom Kippur, so they were all collected in a large wooden building which they called a synogogue. It behooved General Eisenhower to make a speech to them. We entered the synagogue which was packed with the greatest stinking bunch of humanity I have ever seen. When we got about half way up, the head rabbi, who was dressed in a fur hat similar to that worn by Henry VIII of England and in a surplice heavily embroidered and very filthy, came down and met the General. Also a copy of the Talmud, I think it is called, written on a sheet and rolled around a stick, was carried by one of the attending physicians.
First, a Jewish civilian made a very long speech which nobody seemed inclined to translate. Then General Eisenhower mounted the platform and I went up behind him, and he made a short and excellent speech, which was translated paragraph by paragraph.
However, the smell was so terrible that I almost fainted and actually about three hours later lost my lunch as the result of remembering it.
From here we went to the Headquarters of the XX Corps, where General Craig gave us an excellent lunch which I, however, was unable to partake of owing to my nausea.
After lunch we visited a . . . model German workers’ village . . . It was my purpose to turn this over into a Jewish concentration camp. Here we met the most talkative Jewish female, an American who was running the UNRRA part of the camp .. .
After inspecting this and making another speech, which I avoided, General Eisenhower directed that sufficient Germans be evicted from houses contiguous to the concentration camp so that the density per capita of DP’s and Germans should be approximately the same. Also that the American guards be removed from the camp except for a standby guard in case of a riot, and that guards composed of unarmed inmates take over the police of the camp proper ...
After this we returned home and went for a fishing trip on the lake which, while not successful, at least removed from our minds the nauseous odors and aspects of the camps we had inspected.
We then took as long and as hot a bath as we could stand to remove from our persons the germs which must have accumulated during the day.
I believe this was the first time General Eisenhower had inspected or seen much of Displaced Persons. Of course, I have seen them since the beginning and marvelled that beings alleged to be made in the form of God can look the way they do or act the way they act.
Diary, September 18
Ike and I drove to the airfield . . . I took off for Pilsen . . . to carry out an invitation extended to me by General Harmon to go on a shoot.
Harmon met me at Pilsen airport and we immediately took off by motor, preceded by a Czech army car, to the chateau of the Prince Schwartzenburg family. Schwartzenburg was the only general who actually ever defeated Napoleon on the field of battle before Waterloo . . .
The chateau which is extremely large, having 140 rooms, was built around 1700, and is therefore not a sensible building but a show-off place . . .
As usual in Europe, the first thing to do was to eat. This meal consisted of salad, soup, three kinds of meat, four or five kinds of wine, and an unlimited quantity of beer.
After this was taken aboard we went through the chateau which reminded me very much of Bannerman’s [store near West Point, an emporium]. I have never seen so much armor and weapons assembled in one place with total disregard of historical sequence. That is, you would find a weapon of late 1400 crossed over one of early 1800. There were four complete suits of plate [armor]. One of these was a working suit of about 1500, which was a good one. The rest were fluted and fixed up, really tin dress clothes of a later date. In the armory proper there was a tremendous collection of 1600 steel helmets and earlier morions of the Spanish type, also a number of pikes of the Gustavus Adolphus period which, however, had been sawed off. There were two or three wheel-lock guns which were priceless. We were also shown a great deal of what I believe is called Boule furniture – that is, furniture composed of ebony, tortoise shell, and ivory. The whole tour of the chateau proper took about two hours.
Then we were taken to a sporting museum which was another chateau built prior to the first one we visited. Here they had every animal ever killed on the estate stuffed . . .
Behind this museum was a zoo containing a bunch of very dejected animals with a sign on it in Russian . . . saying they were not to kill or tease the animals . . .
About an hour before dark we drove into the woods where we met some more game-keepers and were placed on stands. The stand I was on was an elevated tower about thirty feet high camouflaged in the trees with a couple of peep holes. There was a bench up there, and all one had to do was sit down and wait until the keeper, who stood guard with a pair of binoculars, announced that the deer had arrived. Unfortunately for me these deer did not arrive until it was practically dark. I got one shot at 138 paces and luckily got a hit. However, since I was using a carbine, the animal did not go down, so we had to sit and wait for him to die and listen to his mournful coughing.
When it was quite dark, we went to get him and heard him in the woods about fifty feet from us, but it was decided that the best thing to do was to wait until morning. I believe this was correct, for had we pursued him, it might have been difficult to find him. As it was, he was very easily located in the morning.
Unquestionably the peep-sight on the American carbine and M-I rifle is not suitable for fighting in a bad light.
Diary, September 19
When I woke up in the morning and looked out, the stag had already arrived and was being properly arranged in the center of the courtyard where they had made a bed of green leaves for him and laid him down with his head propped up with a stick. It was amusing to note that where he had first been laid on the stone and bled a little, three old women were scrubbing on their knees.
We went down and had some pictures taken, then had breakfast at which they served cognac which nobody drank. Then, having thanked our friends for their courtesy, we departed for another shooting place belonging to a prince whose name I do not know.
We were met by the heir apparent who took us to a wood road where his father, mother, and wife, riding in a carriage, met us. Here we dismounted and walked through the woods for a considerable distance. I at once shot a fallow deer at about 200 yards standing. I think I probably hit him as he went down and the other two deer who were with him ran in the opposite direction. We walked after these and came upon them in about half an hour. I gave Harmon the shot, but he did not kill the deer; apparently he shot high.
We then returned to the hunting lodge where the ladies and the older prince met us and we had sandwiches and a bottle of white wine. From there we drove back to Pilsen and took the airplane for Bad Tolz, which we reached about 3:15.
Stimson had submitted his resignation, and on that day, September 19, it took effect and Patterson, the Undersecretary, became Secretary of War. For Patton’s future, Stimson’s departure was unfortunate. No one had supported and protected Patton during trying times as had Stimson. In all the incidents that had occurred during the war, Stimson’s understanding had been critical in saving Patton from relief and figurative exile.
Now another incident was about to take place and Patton would miss Stimson’s backing. Codman too was gone, as was Bradley, who had returned to head the Veterans’ Administration in Washington, and these men who had contributed stability and judgment might have helped save Patton from himself.
During the past few months, Gay had been Patton’s closest adviser. Gay was as uninterested in the occupation and as unqualified to deal with it as the boss himself. Perhaps more so. Inclined to joking and jesting – his nickname was Happy, shortened to Hap – he was essentially a plain man. He was utterly devoted and completely loyal to Patton, “dumb loyal,” someone said, followed orders faithfully, did what he was told to do without pointing out that there might be other sides to the question. And thus he failed to provide diverging points of view that needed consideration before decisions were made. A splendid companion who liked to ride and to hunt, a superb staff officer who ran the military details of the headquarters with exceptional efficiency, he lacked breadth and depth of intellectual capacity. His prejudices and politics paralleled Patton’s, and as a consequence reinforced instead of correcting them. If Gay’s journal accurately reflected his concerns, he – much like the Old Man – closely followed the movements and the activities of the troop units and little else. He failed to understand the profound issues of his time and the serious nature of the human problems involved, and in Patton’s hour of need, through no deliberate fault of his own, Gay let Patton down.
Unfortunately for Patton, even Gay, who might at least have helped keep up his spirits, was away. Along with Muller and Koch, he was on leave in the United States at the moment of the showdown which was about to occur.
Eisenhower’s visit to the displaced persons’ camps on September 15 foreshadowed the showdown, but the opening gun in what some described as a campaign to “get” Patton, sounded in a story that appeared in the New York Times on September 19. It was by Raymond Daniell who reported that “Nazis still hold some of the best jobs in commerce and industry” because military government was more concerned with preserving German industrial efficiency than with fulfilling the objectives for which the war had been fought.
This general accusation became explicitly directed against Patton when Daniell further reported overhearing a remark by the Third Army commander. Patton had asked a military government fiscal officer who was investigating bankers “if he did not think it ‘silly’ to try to get rid of ‘the most intelligent’ people in Germany.”
Patton’s concerns remained essentially military, and his focus stayed on the Third Army.
Letter, GSP, Jr., to Graves, September 21, 1945
Over here we are sloughing away, the Third Army being very much like a person with leprosy, dropping off an arm or a leg or a toe practically every day, while the displaced sons-of-bitches in the various camps are blooming like green trees.
He was terribly depressed and terribly angry. Everyone was hurrying to get home, military discipline was vanishing, and the wrong people were benefiting from everything.
Yet he had a premonition of what was to come.
Letter, GSP, Jr., to Beatrice, September 21,
I think that leaving here sooner than I had intended is perhaps fortunate, as this radical political emphasis on redeployment (spelled votes) is likely to undoe all we have done. I think it is the most utterly unpatriotic thing imaginable. No one will say a word – no one! ! ! ...
I told all of them [Gay, Muller, Koch] that if they get a chance to catch a good job, they had better take it as we are just a corpse loosing a toe one day and a finger the next.
Well the squash court is working so I get some exercise . . .
As I may be home by Xmas don’t send me any presents here. If I am not relieved by that time, I shall try and get a leave.
Diary, September 21
General Louis Craig came in to see me this morning to explain how he had arranged for taking care of the Jews. It has been necessary for him, against his and my instincts, to move twenty-two rich German families from their houses in order to put the animals in them. I told Craig to take pictures of the houses before they were occupied by the Jews and then subsequently. I also told him to move the Germans with as much consideration as possible and to give them transportation to move as much of their decent property out as they could.
Craig . . . told me he had inspected another Jewish camp yesterday in which he found men and women using adjacent toilets which were not covered in any way although screens were available to make the toilets individually isolated, which the Jews were too lazy to put up.
He said the conditions and filth were unspeakable. In one room he found ten people, six men and four women, occupying four double beds. Either the Displaced Persons never had any sense of decency or else they lost it all during their period of internment by the Germans. My personal opinion is that no people could have sunk to the level of degradation these have reached in the short space of four years.
It sounded very much like what he had said about the Arabs, the Egyptians, and the Sicilians, all of whom he had classified as subhuman. Now it was the eastern Europeans, whose appearance, dress, manner, language, customs, beliefs, behavior, and condition he was unable to fathom. They were poverty-stricken, not always clean, coming from a primitive culture and society without such amenities as toilets, and their manners, according to Anglo-Saxon standards, were frequently less than exquisite. Many of them had been compelled to divest themselves of some human qualities in order to survive the war and the holocaust.
His lack of understanding of these odd and apparently inferior persons was the logical extension of his boyhood in southern California, which gave him a special view of Mexicans and Indians; and of his southern heritage, which shaped his outlook toward blacks. In part he simply reflected a parochial interpretation of the non-American world, a vision that was middle-American, populist, and the essence of Babbittry and conformity, where anyone who was different was undoubtedly bad. His snobbery based on wealth, breeding, social advantage, and privilege, together with his father’s insistence on being a gentleman in the stereotyped country-club image, also played a role.
Lehman, Morgenthau, Baruch, when Patton entertained them during the war, were perfectly acceptable, as was Rabbi Brickner; they were cultured, moneyed, dignified, clean, and therefore gentlemen despite their Jewish faith. They were Jewish Wasps. In contrast, Patton characterized the wife of a man prominent in government as “a very Jewy Jewess,” and he meant it to be a double pejorative.
He shared whatever endemic anti-Semitism existed in America, in the U.S. Army, and among the rich and fashionable during the early and middle years of the twentieth century. He had listened with interest and sympathy to Beatrice’s half brother Charles, who believed passionately in the reality of the long-discredited Protocols of Zion.
Now, although he kept his feelings private and discreet, confined to his diary, his personal letters, and his conversation with friends, his emotions seemed on the verge of going out of control.