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Encyclopedia > John Amery

John Amery (14 March 191219 December 1945) was a British fascist who proposed to Hitler the forming of a British volunteer force (which subsequently became the British Free Corps), made recruitment efforts and propaganda broadcasts for Nazi Germany. He was executed for treason after the war. He should not be confused with Jean Améry, an Austrian writer and close contemporary, who was a victim of Nazi Germany. is the 73rd day of the year (74th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... 1912 (MCMXII) was a leap year starting on Monday in the Gregorian calendar (or a leap year starting on Tuesday in the 13-day-slower Julian calendar). ... is the 353rd day of the year (354th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... Year 1945 (MCMXLV) was a common year starting on Monday (link will display the full calendar). ... Fascism (in Italian, fascismo), capitalized, was the authoritarian political movement which ruled Italy from 1922 to 1943 under the leadership of Benito Mussolini. ... Adolf Hitler Adolf Hitler (April 20, 1889 – April 30, 1945, standard German pronunciation in the IPA) was the Führer (leader) of the National Socialist German Workers Party (Nazi Party) and of Nazi Germany from 1933 to 1945. ... A recruitment poster produced by the British Free Corps In World War II, the British Free Corps (BFC) or Britisches Freikorps was a unit of the Waffen-SS consisting of British and Dominion prisoners of war who had been recruited by the Nazis. ... For other uses, see Propaganda (disambiguation). ... National Socialism redirects here. ... Jean Améry (October 31, 1912 - October 17, 1978) was an Austrian of Jewish descent, noted for having written At the Minds Limits, one of the central texts on the Nazi death camps. ...

John Amery

John Amery is arrested in France, from a book cover.
Born 1912
England
Died 19 December 1945
Wandsworth Prison, England
Occupation Activist, Member of British Free Corps
Parents Leo Amery

Contents

Image File history File links No higher resolution available. ... 1912 (MCMXII) was a leap year starting on Monday in the Gregorian calendar (or a leap year starting on Tuesday in the 13-day-slower Julian calendar). ... For other uses, see England (disambiguation). ... is the 353rd day of the year (354th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... Year 1945 (MCMXLV) was a common year starting on Monday (link will display the full calendar). ... Wandsworth Prison is a prison in Wandsworth in south London, England. ... For other uses, see England (disambiguation). ... A recruitment poster produced by the British Free Corps In World War II, the British Free Corps (BFC) or Britisches Freikorps was a unit of the Waffen-SS consisting of British and Dominion prisoners of war who had been recruited by the Nazis. ... Leopold Charles Maurice Stennett Amery was a British Conservative Party politician and journalist, noted for his interest in military preparedness, India and the British Empire. ...

Early Activities

John Amery was the son of Conservative Member of Parliament and cabinet minister Leo Amery and educated at Harrow. Amery was part Jewish: his grandmother was from a Hungarian Jewish family that had settled in England and converted to Protestantism. Leo Amery had distanced himself from his Jewish origins due to anti-Semitism in the British establishment. It is quite possible that John Amery never even knew of his Jewish heritage. The new logo of the Conservative Party The Conservative Party is the largest centre right political party in the United Kingdom. ... A Member of Parliament, or MP, is a representative elected by the voters to a parliament. ... Alternate meanings in cabinet (disambiguation) A Cabinet is a body of high-ranking members of government, typically representing the executive branch. ... Leopold Charles Maurice Stennett Amery was a British Conservative Party politician and journalist, noted for his interest in military preparedness, India and the British Empire. ... Harrow School, (originally: The Free Grammar School of John Lyon; generally: Harrow), is an independent school for boys (aged 13-18), and is located in Harrow on the Hill in the London Borough of Harrow. ... The word Jew ( Hebrew: יהודי) is used in a wide number of ways, but generally refers to a follower of the Jewish faith, a child of a Jewish mother, or someone of Jewish descent with a connection to Jewish culture or ethnicity and often a combination... The Eternal Jew: 1937 German poster. ...


He was a staunch anti-Communist and accepted the fascist doctrines of Nazi Germany. He left Britain to live in France after going bankrupt in the early 1930s. In Paris he met the French fascist leader Jacques Doriot, with whom he traveled to Austria, Czechoslovakia, Italy and Germany to see the effects of fascism in those countries. Pro-communism refers to opposition to baby eating. ... Fascism (in Italian, fascismo), capitalized, was the authoritarian political movement which ruled Italy from 1922 to 1943 under the leadership of Benito Mussolini. ... Jacques Doriot Jacques Doriot (September 26, 1898, Bresles, Oise—February 22, 1945, near Mengen, Württemberg) was a French politician prior to and during World War II. He began as a Communist but then turned Fascist. ...


Amery claimed to his family that he joined Franco's Nationalists during the Spanish Civil War in 1936 and was awarded a medal of honour while serving as an intelligence officer with Italian "volunteer" forces. This was untrue, although the lie achieved wide circulation; in fact Amery first visited Spain in 1939 after the civil war had ended and only stayed for a few weeks before returning to France,where he remained even after the German invasion and the creation of Vichy rule. “Franco” redirects here. ... It has been suggested that Martyrs of the Spanish Civil War be merged into this article or section. ... Motto Travail, famille, patrie French: Unoccupied zone of Vichy France (until November 1942) Capital Vichy Capital-in-exile Sigmaringen (1944-1945) Language(s) French Religion Roman Catholic Government Dictatorship Chief of state  - 1940 — 1944 Philippe Pétain President of the Council  - 1940 — 1942 Philippe Pétain  - 1942 — 1944 Pierre Laval...


In Europe during World War Two

Amery soon fell foul of the Vichy government and made several attempts to leave the area but was rebuffed. It was German armistice commissioner Graf Ceschi who offered Amery the chance to leave France and go to Germany to work in the political arena. Ceschi was unable to get Amery out of France.


In September 1942, Hauptmann Werner Plack got Amery what he wanted and in October, Plack and Amery went to Berlin to speak to the German English Committee. It was at this time that Amery suggested that the Germans consider forming a British anti-Bolshevik legion. Adolf Hitler was impressed by Amery and allowed him to remain in Germany as a guest of the Reich, where he made a series of pro-German radio broadcasts to Britain.


The British Free Corps

The idea of a British force to fight the Communists languished until Amery encountered Jacques Doriot during a visit to France in January of 1943. Doriot was part of the LVF (Legion des Volontaires Français), a French volunteer force fighting with the Germans on the eastern front. Amery rekindled his idea of a British unit and aimed to recruit 50 to 100 men for propaganda uses and also to seek out a core of men with which to gain additional members from British prisoners of war. He also suggested that such a unit could provide more recruits for the other military units made up of foreign nationals. The SS Division Charlemagne and Charlemagne Regiment are collective names used for units of French volunteers in the Wehrmacht and later Waffen-SS during the World War II. The Charlemagne division was not a single military unit but succession of groups of collaborating French volunteers (though the exact nature of...


Amery's first recruiting drive for what was initially to be called The British Legion of St George took him to the St Denis POW camp outside Paris. Amery addressed between 40 and 50 inmates from various British Commonwealth countries and handed out recruiting material. This first effort at recruitment was a complete failure, but he persisted and eventually he recruited a number of individuals to his cause. Amery ended up with two men, of which only Kenneth Berry would join what was later called the BFC. Amery's link to the BFC ended in October, 1943, when the Waffen SS decided Amery's services were no longer needed and it was officially renamed the British Free Corps. Amery continued to broadcast and write propaganda in Berlin until late 1944 when he traveled to northern Italy to lend support to Italian dictator Benito Mussolini's rump Salò Republic. Amery was captured by partisans there in the last weeks of the war. Geneva Convention definition A prisoner of war (POW) is a soldier, sailor, airman, or marine who is imprisoned by an enemy power during or immediately after an armed conflict. ... This article is about the capital of France. ... The Commonwealth of Nations as of 2006 Headquarters Marlborough House, London, UK Official languages English Membership 53 sovereign states Leaders  -  Queen Elizabeth II  -  Secretary-General Don McKinnon (since 1 April 2000) Establishment  -  Balfour Declaration 18 November 1926   -  Statute of Westminster 11 December 1931   -  London Declaration 28 April 1949  Area  -  Total... This article or section is in need of attention from an expert on the subject. ... A recruitment poster produced by the British Free Corps In World War II, the British Free Corps (BFC) or Britisches Freikorps was a unit of the Waffen-SS consisting of British and Dominion prisoners of war who had been recruited by the Nazis. ... “Mussolini” redirects here. ... Anthem Giovinezza (The Youth)¹ Capital Salò Language(s) Italian Religion Roman Catholicism Government Republic Head of State Benito Mussolini Historical era World War II  - Established September 23, 1943  - Disestablished April 25, 1945 ¹ External link The Italian Social Republic (Repubblica Sociale Italiana or RSI) was a Nazi puppet state led by...


Trial

After the war, Amery was tried for treason; in a preliminary hearing, he argued that he had never attacked Britain and was an anti-Communist, not a Nazi. At the same time, his brother Julian Amery attempted to show that he had taken out Spanish citizenship by producing fraudulent documents, and thus would have been incapable of committing treason against the UK. His counsel tried to show that he was mentally ill. This article does not cite any references or sources. ... Harold Julian Amery, Baron Amery of Lustleigh (March 27, 1919 - 1997) was a British conservative politican. ...


These attempts at a defence were suddenly abandoned however, on the day of his trial, 28 November 1945, when to general astonishment Amery pleaded guilty to eight charges of treason. The proceedings lasted 8 minutes. is the 332nd day of the year (333rd in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... Year 1945 (MCMXLV) was a common year starting on Monday (link will display the full calendar). ...


After satisfying himself that Amery knew the consequences of his guilty plea, Mr Justice Humphreys passed this verdict:


"John Amery..., I am satisfied that you knew what you did and that you did it intentionally and deliberately after you had received warning from ... your fellow countrymen that the course you were pursuing amounted to High Treason. They called you a traitor and you heard them; but in spite of that you continued in that course. You now stand a self-confessed traitor to your King and country, and you have forfeited your right to live."


This is believed to be one of only two cases of a man pleading guilty to a charge of treason in the UK, the other being Summerset Fox in May 1654. It is speculated that Amery pleaded guilty in the hope that by sparing his family and the wider establishment the embarrassment of a trial, his inevitable death sentence might be commuted. If so, it was a miscalculation. Summerset Fox, Catholic and Royalist conspirator who plead guilty to an Indictment of High Treason. ... Events April 5 - Signing of the Treaty of Westminster, ending the First Anglo-Dutch War. ...


Execution

He was hanged by Albert Pierrepoint in Wandsworth Prison on 19 December the same year. In an article which was to be published in the Empire News and Sunday Chronicle but which was suppressed as the result of pressure from the Home Office, Pierrepoint described him as "the bravest man I ever hanged". Greeting the hangman at the appointed hour, Amery reportedly quipped: "Mr Pierrepoint, I've always wanted to meet you, but not, of course, under these circumstances...". A proof copy of this article is in the Prison Commission files at the United Kingdom National Archives but it is contradicted by another archive file: the Prison Commission official who wrote this stated that "Amery did extend his hand and said 'Oh! Pierrepoint.' Upon which Pierrepoint took his hand and placed it behind his back for pinioning and that the conversation was entirely limited to that remark".[1] Albert Pierrepoint (30 March 1905 – 10 July 1992) is the most famous member of a Yorkshire family who provided three of Britains Chief Executioners in the first half of the 20th century. ... Wandsworth Prison is a prison in Wandsworth in south London, England. ... is the 353rd day of the year (354th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... The modern concept of Small Office and Home Office or SoHo , or Small or Home Office deals with the category of business which can be from 1 to 10 workers. ... More than one country maintains a national archive: The Canadian Library and Archives Canada The New Zealand Archives New Zealand (formerly National Archives) The United States National Archives and Records Administration The United Kingdom National Archives This is a disambiguation page — a navigational aid which lists other pages that...


Notes

  1. ^ Casciani (2006)

References

  • Amery, John (1943) L'Angleterre et l'Europe [England and Europe], Documents et Témoignages: collection d'essais politiques 1, Paris, 48 p.
  • Casciani, Dominic (2006) How Britain made its executioners, BBC News online 1 June [accessed 22 July 2007]
  • Faber, David (2005) Speaking for England : Leo, Julian and John Amery, the tragedy of a political family, London ; New York : Free Press, ISBN 0-7432-5688-3
  • Weale, Adrian (2001) Patriot traitors : Roger Casement, John Amery and the real meaning of treason, London : Viking, ISBN 0-670-88498-7
  • West, Rebecca (2000) The meaning of treason, New ed., London : Phoenix, ISBN 1-84212-023-9

is the 152nd day of the year (153rd in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... is the 203rd day of the year (204th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ...

External links

The Times is a national newspaper published daily in the United Kingdom since 1788. ...

See also


  Results from FactBites:
 
John Amery - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia (847 words)
John Amery (March 14, 1912–December 19, 1945) was a British anti-Communist who proposed to Hitler the forming of a British volunteer force (what became the British Free Corps), made recruitment efforts and propaganda broadcasts for Nazi Germany.
John Amery was the son of Conservative Member of Parliament and cabinet minister Leo Amery.
Amery was part Jewish, his grandmother was from a Hungarian Jewish family which had settled in England and converted to Protestantism.
Leopold Stennett Amery - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia (592 words)
In the 1930's Amery, along with Winston Churchill, was a bitter critic of appeasement, often openly attacking his own party.
Amery, angered by Chamberlain's speech and fearing a purely partisan speech by Greenwood, called out to him across the floor, 'Speak for England' (which in Alan Bennett's Forty Years On became 'Speak for England, Arthur!').
Amery distanced himself from his Jewish origins, probably due to anti-Semitism among the British establishment which he sought to join.
  More results at FactBites »


 

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