Jump to content

John Amery: Difference between revisions

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Browse history interactively
← Previous editNext edit →
Content deleted Content added
VisualWikitext
m QC link --> KC
Mehy19 (talk | contribs)
423 edits
m →‎Early life: changed "where it's" to "whose" after "Ironside's School,"
(44 intermediate revisions by 28 users not shown)
Line 1: Line 1:
{{short description|British Nazi collaborator}}
{{Short description|British Nazi collaborator (1912–1945)}}
{{more citations needed|date=July 2022}}
{{EngvarB|date=July 2017}}
{{EngvarB|date=July 2017}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=March 2022}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=March 2022}}

{{Infobox criminal
{{Infobox criminal
| name = John Amery
| name = John Amery
Line 18: Line 16:
| spouse = Una Wing
| spouse = Una Wing
| relatives = [[Julian Amery]] (brother)
| relatives = [[Julian Amery]] (brother)
| parents = [[Leopold Stennett Amery]] (father)
| parents = [[Leo Amery]] (father)
| conviction = [[High treason]] (8 counts)
| conviction = [[High treason in the United Kingdom|High treason]] (8 counts)
| criminal_status = [[Executed]]
| criminal_status = [[Executed]]
}}
}}


'''John Amery''' (14 March 1912 – 19 December 1945) was a British [[fascist]] and [[Nazi collaboration|Nazi collaborator]] during [[World War II]]. He was the originator of the [[British Free Corps]], a volunteer [[Waffen-SS]] unit composed of former British and [[Dominion]] [[prisoners-of-war]].
'''John Amery''' (14 March 1912 – 19 December 1945) was a British [[fascist]] and [[Collaboration with Nazi Germany and Fascist Italy|Nazi collaborator]] during [[World War II]]. He was the originator of the [[British Free Corps]], a volunteer [[Waffen-SS]] unit composed of former British and [[Dominion]] [[prisoners-of-war|prisoners of war]].


Amery conducted recruitment efforts, and made [[propaganda]] broadcasts for Germany.<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1945/07/08/archives/pronazi-briton-held-john-amery-son-of-official-in-india-accused-of.html|title=PRO-NAZI BRITON HELD; John Amery, Son of Official in India, Accused of Aiding Foe|date=8 July 1945|work=The New York Times|access-date=15 April 2019|language=en-US|issn=0362-4331}}</ref> He later gave direct support to [[Benito Mussolini]]. He was prosecuted by the British authorities and pleaded guilty to eight counts of high [[treason]], for which he was sentenced to [[death sentence|death]], seven months after the war in Europe ended.
Amery conducted recruitment efforts, and made [[propaganda]] broadcasts for Germany.<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1945/07/08/archives/pronazi-briton-held-john-amery-son-of-official-in-india-accused-of.html|title=PRO-NAZI BRITON HELD; John Amery, Son of Official in India, Accused of Aiding Foe|date=8 July 1945|work=The New York Times|access-date=15 April 2019|language=en-US|issn=0362-4331}}</ref> He later gave direct support to Italian dictator [[Benito Mussolini]]. He was prosecuted by the British authorities and pleaded guilty to eight counts of high [[treason]], for which he was sentenced to [[death sentence|death]], seven months after the war in Europe ended.


==Early life==
==Early life==
Born in [[Chelsea, London|Chelsea]], London,<ref>GRO Register of Births: JUN 1912 1a 719 CHELSEA – John Amery, mmn = Greenwood</ref> John Amery was the elder of two children of British statesman [[Leo Amery]] (1873–1955), a member of parliament and later [[Conservative Party (UK)|Conservative]] government minister, whose mother was a [[Hungarian Jew]] who had converted to [[Protestantism]]. His younger brother, [[Julian Amery|Julian]] (1919–1996), also became an MP and served in a Conservative government.
Born in [[Chelsea, London|Chelsea]], London,<ref>GRO Register of Births: JUN 1912 1a 719 CHELSEA – John Amery, mmn = Greenwood</ref> John Amery (known as "Jack") was the elder of two children of British statesman [[Leo Amery]] (1873–1955), a member of parliament and later [[Conservative Party (UK)|Conservative]] government minister, whose mother was a [[Hungarian Jew]] who had converted to [[Protestantism]]. His younger brother, [[Julian Amery|Julian]] (1919–1996), also became an MP and served in a Conservative government.


Amery was a difficult child who ran through a succession of private tutors.<ref name=Faber2005>Faber, 2005</ref> Like his father, he was sent to [[Harrow School|Harrow]], but left after only a year, being described by his housemaster as "without doubt, the most difficult boy I have ever tried to manage." Living in his father's shadow, he strove to make his own way by embarking on a career in film production. Over a period, he set up a number of independent companies, all of which failed; these endeavours rapidly led to [[bankruptcy]].
Amery was a difficult child who ran through a succession of private tutors.{{sfn|Faber|2005}} He attended kindergarten at [[Miss Ironside's School]], whose eponymous headmistress described him as "unteachable".{{sfn|Faber|2005|p=127}} Like his father, he was sent to [[Harrow School|Harrow]], but left after only a year, being described by his housemaster as "without doubt, the most difficult boy I have ever tried to manage." Living in his father's shadow, he strove to make his own way by embarking on a career in film production. Over a period, he set up a number of independent companies, all of which failed; these endeavours rapidly led to [[bankruptcy]].


At the age of 21, Amery married Una Wing, a former [[prostitute]], but was never able to earn enough to keep her for himself. He was constantly appealing to his father for money.<ref name=Faber2005/> A staunch [[anti-Communism|anti-Communist]], he came to embrace the [[Nazism|National Socialist]] doctrines of [[Nazi Germany|Germany]] on the grounds that they were the only alternative to [[Bolshevism]]. He left Britain permanently to live in [[France]] after being declared bankrupt in 1936. In Paris, he met the French fascist leader [[Jacques Doriot]], with whom he travelled to [[Austria]], [[Italy]], and [[Germany]] to witness the effects of fascism in those countries.
At the age of 21, Amery married Una Wing, a former [[prostitute]], but was never able to earn enough to keep her for himself. He was constantly appealing to his father for money.{{sfn|Faber|2005}} A staunch [[anti-Communism|anti-Communist]], he came to embrace the doctrines of [[Nazi Germany]] on the grounds that they were the only alternative to [[Bolshevism]]. He left Britain permanently to live in [[France]] after being declared bankrupt in 1936. In Paris, he met the French fascist leader [[Jacques Doriot]], with whom he travelled to [[Austria]], [[Italy]], and [[Germany]] to witness the effects of fascism in those countries.


Amery told his family he had joined [[Francisco 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. He actually worked for Franco as a liaison with [[La Cagoule|French Cagoulard groups]] and gun-runner. After the Spanish war, Amery settled in France.<ref>{{Cite book|title=Fact and Object|last=Freedman|first=Morris|publisher=Harper & Row|year=1963|pages=67}}</ref>
Amery told his family he had joined [[Francisco 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 ([[Corpo Truppe Volontarie]]). He actually worked for Franco as a liaison with [[La Cagoule|French Cagoulard groups]] and gun-runners. After the Spanish war, Amery settled in France.<ref>{{Cite book|title=Fact and Object|last=Freedman|first=Morris|publisher=Harper & Row|year=1963|pages=67}}</ref>


==Second World War==
==Second World War==
===Occupied France===
===Occupied France===
Amery remained in France following the [[Battle of France|German invasion in June 1940]]. On 22 June, the [[Armistice of 22 June 1940|Second Armistice at Compiègne]] was signed between France and Germany. Amery resided in the territory belonging to the neutral [[Vichy France|Vichy government]] led by Marshal [[Philippe Pétain]]. However, his personality soon antagonised the Vichy Regime so he made several attempts to leave but was not allowed. The head of the [[German Armistice Commission]] offered Amery a chance to live in Germany to work in the political arena but he was unable to get Amery out of [[German military administration in occupied France during World War II|occupied France]].
Amery remained in France following the [[Battle of France|German invasion in June 1940]]. On 22 June, the [[Armistice of 22 June 1940|Second Armistice at Compiègne]] was signed between France and Germany. Amery resided in the territory belonging to the collaborationist [[Vichy France|Vichy government]] led by Marshal [[Philippe Pétain]]. However, his personality soon antagonised the Vichy Regime, so he made several attempts to leave but was not allowed. The head of the [[German Armistice Commission]] offered Amery a chance to live in Germany to work in the political arena but he was unable to get Amery out of [[German military administration in occupied France during World War II|occupied France]].


In September 1942, ''Hauptmann'' Werner Plack gained Amery the French travel permit he needed, and in October Plack and Amery travelled 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. During this period, Amery made a series of pro-German propaganda radio broadcasts, attempting to appeal to the British people to join the war on communism.
In September 1942, ''Hauptmann'' Werner Plack gained Amery the French travel permit he needed, and in October Plack and Amery travelled 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. During this period, Amery made a series of pro-German propaganda radio broadcasts, attempting to appeal to the British people to join the war on communism.


===British Free Corps===
===British Free Corps===
{{main|British Free Corps}}
The idea of a British force to fight the [[communist]]s languished until Amery encountered [[Jacques Doriot]] during a visit to France in January 1943. Doriot was part of the LVF ([[SS Division Charlemagne|''Légion des Volontaires Français'']]), a French volunteer force fighting alongside the Germans on the eastern front.
The idea of a British force to fight the [[communist]]s languished until Amery re-encountered [[Jacques Doriot]] during a visit to France in January 1943. Doriot was part of the LVF ([[SS Division Charlemagne|''Légion des Volontaires Français'']]), a French volunteer force fighting alongside the Germans on the eastern front.


Amery rekindled his idea of a British unit and aimed to recruit 50 to 100 men for propaganda purposes and to establish a core of men with which to attract additional members from British [[POW|prisoners of war]]. He also suggested that such a unit could provide more recruits for the other military units made up of foreign nationals.
Amery rekindled his idea of a British unit and aimed to recruit 50 to 100 men for propaganda purposes and to establish a core of men with which to attract additional members from British [[POW|prisoners of war]]. He also suggested that such a unit could provide more recruits for the other military units made up of foreign nationals.


[[File:AmeryArrested.jpg|thumb|John Amery in Milan shortly after his arrest by Italian partisans. The officer with his back to the camera is [[Alan Whicker]].|alt=Dark-haired unshaven man]]
[[File:AmeryArrested.jpg|thumb|Amery in Milan shortly after his arrest by Italian partisans. The officer with his back to the camera is [[Alan Whicker]].|alt=Dark-haired unshaven man]]
Amery's first recruiting drive for what was initially to be called the British Legion of [[Patronages of Saint George#England|St George]] took him to the [[Saint-Denis, Seine-Saint-Denis|Saint-Denis]] [[POW camp]] outside Paris. Amery addressed between 40 and 50 inmates from [[Commonwealth of Nations|British Commonwealth]] countries and handed out recruiting material. This first effort at recruitment was a complete failure, but he persisted.
Amery's first recruiting drive for what was initially to be called the British Legion of [[Patronages of Saint George#England|St George]] took him to the [[Saint-Denis, Seine-Saint-Denis|Saint-Denis]] [[POW camp]] outside Paris. Amery addressed between 40 and 50 inmates from [[Commonwealth of Nations|British Commonwealth]] countries and handed out recruiting material. This first effort at recruitment was a complete failure, but he persisted.


Line 53: Line 52:


===Arrest===
===Arrest===
Amery continued to broadcast and write propaganda in Berlin until late 1944 when he travelled to [[Northern Italy]] to lend support to Italian dictator [[Benito Mussolini]]'s [[Italian Social Republic|Salò Republic]]. On 25 April 1945, Amery was captured along with his French mistress Michelle Thomas by Italian [[Italian resistance movement|partisans]] from the [[Brigate Garibaldi|Garibaldi Brigade]] near [[Como]]. Amery and Thomas were initially to be executed, but both of them were eventually sent to [[Milan]], where they were handed over to Allied authorities. Amery was wearing the uniform of the "[[Ettore Muti|Muti]] Legion", a fascist paramilitary organisation. The British army officer who took him into custody was Captain [[Alan Whicker]], later known as a broadcaster.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.gingkoedizioni.it/john-amery-un-eccentrico-patriota/|title=John Amery, un eccentrico patriota & traditore|last=Paratico|first=di Angelo|date=1 August 2017|website=Gingko Edizioni|language=it-IT|access-date=7 July 2019}}</ref>
Amery continued to broadcast and write propaganda in Berlin until late 1944 when he travelled to [[Northern Italy]] to lend support to [[Benito Mussolini]]'s [[Italian Social Republic|Salò Republic]]. On 25 April 1945, Amery was captured along with his French mistress Michelle Thomas by Italian [[Italian resistance movement|partisans]] from the [[Brigate Garibaldi|Garibaldi Brigade]] near [[Como]]. Amery and Thomas were initially to be executed, but both of them were eventually sent to [[Milan]], where they were handed over to Allied authorities. Amery was wearing the uniform of the "[[Ettore Muti|Muti]] Legion", a fascist paramilitary organisation. The British army officer who took him into custody was Captain [[Alan Whicker]], later known as a broadcaster.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.gingkoedizioni.it/john-amery-un-eccentrico-patriota/|title=John Amery, un eccentrico patriota & traditore|last=Paratico|first=di Angelo|date=1 August 2017|website=Gingko Edizioni|language=it-IT|access-date=7 July 2019}}</ref>


Amery was returned to the United Kingdom by air. With him on the flight was [[William Joyce]], the propaganda broadcaster widely known as "Lord Haw-Haw". They were escorted by three armed soldiers and [[Leonard Burt]], a senior police officer seconded to the [[Intelligence Corps (United Kingdom)|British Army Intelligence Corps]].<ref>{{Cite book |url=https://www.worldcat.org/title/923285613 |title=Commander Burt of Scotland Yard|last=Burt |first=Leonard |date=1959 |publisher=Heinemann |location=London |language=English |oclc=923285613|pages=1–7}}</ref>
⚫
===Trial and execution===
⚫
Amery was tried for [[treason]] in London. 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|Julian]] attempted to show that John had become a Spanish citizen, and therefore would legally be incapable of committing treason against the United Kingdom.


⚫
===Prosecution and execution===
⚫
His [[counsel]], [[Gerald Osborne Slade]] [[King's Counsel|KC]], meanwhile, tried to show that the accused was [[mental illness|mentally ill]]. Amery's sanity was questioned by his own father, [[Leo Amery|Leo]], but all efforts to have the court consider his mental state were unsuccessful.{{citation needed|date=March 2020}} Further attempts at a defence were suddenly abandoned on the first day of his trial, 28 November 1945, when to general astonishment, Amery pleaded guilty to eight charges of treason. He was immediately [[capital punishment|sentenced to death]]. The trial lasted just eight minutes.
⚫
Amery was prosecuted for [[treason]] in London. 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|Julian]] attempted to show that John had become a Spanish citizen, and therefore would legally be incapable of committing treason against the United Kingdom.

⚫
His [[counsel]], [[Gerald Osborne Slade]] [[King's Counsel|KC]], meanwhile, tried to show that the accused was [[mental illness|mentally ill]]. Amery's sanity was questioned by his own father, [[Leo Amery|Leo]], but all efforts to have the court consider his mental state were unsuccessful.<ref>{{Cite web |title=The Subtle Besmirching of Leo Amery – Quadrant Online |url=https://quadrant.org.au/magazine/2013/04/the-subtle-besmirching-of-leo-amery/ |access-date=2023-02-21 |website=quadrant.org.au|date=2 April 2013 }}</ref> Further attempts at a defence were suddenly abandoned on the first day of his scheduled trial, 28 November 1945, when to general astonishment, Amery pleaded guilty to eight charges of treason, and was [[capital punishment|sentenced to death]]. The hearing lasted just eight minutes.


Before accepting Amery's guilty plea, the judge, [[Travers Humphreys|Mr Justice Humphreys]], made certain that Amery realised the only permissible penalty would be death by [[hanging]]. After satisfying himself that Amery fully understood the consequences of pleading guilty, the judge announced this verdict:
Before accepting Amery's guilty plea, the judge, [[Travers Humphreys|Mr Justice Humphreys]], made certain that Amery realised the only permissible penalty would be death by [[hanging]]. After satisfying himself that Amery fully understood the consequences of pleading guilty, the judge announced this verdict:
{{blockquote|John Amery&nbsp;... I am satisfied that you knew what you did and that you did it intentionally and deliberately after you had received warning from&nbsp;... 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.<ref name="times" />}}
{{blockquote|John Amery, I have read the depositions and the exhibits in this case, and I am satisfied that you knew what you did and that you did it intentionally and deliberately after you had received warning from more than one of 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.<ref name="times" />}}


Amery was hanged in [[Wandsworth Prison]] on 19 December 1945 by executioner [[Albert Pierrepoint]], who in his autobiography described Amery as "the bravest person I'd ever hanged",<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/crime/capital-punishment-in-britain-the-hangmans-story-473138.html|title=Capital punishment in Britain: The hangman's story|date=7 April 2006|website=The Independent|access-date=28 October 2020}}</ref> and buried in the prison cemetery. Amery actually quipped as he was led to the scaffold, "I've always wanted to meet you, Mr Pierrepoint, though not of course under these circumstances!"<ref name=Fielding2008>{{cite book|last=Fielding|first=Steve |title=Pierrepoint: A Family of Executioners|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=2yCtDwAAQBAJ|year=2008|publisher=Kings Road Publishing|isbn=978-1-84358-563-3}}</ref> In 1996, Julian Amery had his brother's remains [[exhume]]d and [[cremate]]d, scattering his ashes in France.
Amery was hanged in [[Wandsworth Prison]] on 19 December 1945 by executioner [[Albert Pierrepoint]] and buried in the prison cemetery. Amery actually quipped as he was led to the scaffold, "I've always wanted to meet you, Mr Pierrepoint, though not of course under these circumstances!"<ref name=Fielding2008>{{cite book|last=Fielding|first=Steve |title=Pierrepoint: A Family of Executioners|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=2yCtDwAAQBAJ|year=2008|publisher=Kings Road Publishing|isbn=978-1-84358-563-3}}</ref> In 1996, Julian Amery had his brother's remains [[exhume]]d and [[Cremation|cremated]], scattering his ashes in France.


An [[epitaph]] by his father appears in ''The Empire at Bay. The Leo Amery Diaries. 1929–1945'':
An [[epitaph]] by his father appears in ''The Empire at Bay. The Leo Amery Diaries. 1929–1945'':
Line 91: Line 92:
|issue= 50312}}
|issue= 50312}}
</ref>
</ref>

}}
}}


=== Bibliography ===
==Bibliography==
* {{Cite journal
* {{Cite journal|last=Copsey|first=Nigel|date=2002|title=John Amery: the antisemitism of the 'perfect English gentleman'|journal=[[Patterns of Prejudice]]|volume=36|issue=2|pages=14–27|doi=10.1080/003132202128811411|s2cid=159720614|issn=0031-322X}}
| last=Copsey
| first=Nigel
| date=2002
| title=John Amery: the antisemitism of the 'perfect English gentleman'
| journal=[[Patterns of Prejudice]]
| volume=36
| issue=2
| pages=14–27
| doi=10.1080/003132202128811411
| s2cid=159720614
| issn=0031-322X
}}
* {{cite book
| last1=Faber
| first1=David
| author1-link=David Faber (politician)
| title=Speaking for England: Leo, Julian and John Amery ; the tragedy of a political family
| date=2005
| publisher=[[Free Press (publisher)|Free Press]]
| location=London
| isbn=0-7432-5688-3
| pages=127
| edition=1st
| url=https://archive.org/details/speakingforengla0000fabe/page/126/mode/2up
| access-date=17 May 2024
| language=en
| chapter=7 - A Boy Of Unusual Character
}}


== Further reading ==
== Further reading ==
*John Amery, ''L'Angleterre et l'Europe'' [England and Europe], Documents et Témoignages: collection d'essais politiques '''1''', (Paris, 1943) 48 p.
*J. Amery, ''L'Angleterre et l'Europe'' [England and Europe], Documents et Témoignages: collection d'essais politiques '''1''', (Paris, 1943) 48 p.
*Casciani, Dominic, [http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/5035690.stm ''How Britain made its executioners''], BBC News online 1 June 2006 [accessed 22 July 2007]
*Casciani, Dominic, [http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/5035690.stm ''How Britain made its executioners''], BBC News online 1 June 2006 [accessed 22 July 2007]
*[[David Faber (schoolmaster)|Faber, David]], ''Speaking for England: Leo, Julian and John Amery, the tragedy of a political family'' (London; New York : Free Press, 2005) {{ISBN|0-7432-5688-3}}
*Weale, Adrian, ''Patriot Traitors: Roger Casement, John Amery and the Real Meaning of Treason'' (London : Viking, 2001) {{ISBN|0-670-88498-7}}
*Weale, Adrian, ''Patriot traitors : Roger Casement, John Amery and the real meaning of treason'' (London : Viking, 2001) {{ISBN|0-670-88498-7}}
*[[Rebecca West|West, Rebecca]], ''The Meaning of Treason'', (London : Phoenix, new edn. 2000) {{ISBN|1-84212-023-9}}
*[[Rebecca West|West, Rebecca]], ''The meaning of treason'', (London : Phoenix, new edn. 2000) {{ISBN|1-84212-023-9}}
*[[Steve Fielding|Fielding, Steve]], ''Pierrepoint: Family of Executioners'' (London: John Blake Publishing, paperback, 2008) {{ISBN|9781844546114}}
*[[Steve Fielding|Fielding, Steve]], ''Pierrepoint: Family of Executioners'' (London: John Blake Publishing, paperback, 2008) {{ISBN|1-84454-611-4}}


==External links==
==External links==
Line 126: Line 153:
[[Category:1945 deaths]]
[[Category:1945 deaths]]
[[Category:Amery family|John]]
[[Category:Amery family|John]]
[[Category:English Nazi collaborators]]
[[Category:English broadcasters for Nazi Germany]]
[[Category:People educated at West Downs School]]
[[Category:People educated at West Downs School]]
[[Category:People educated at Harrow School]]
[[Category:People educated at Harrow School]]
[[Category:English fascists]]
[[Category:Executed people from London]]
[[Category:Executed people from London]]
[[Category:British propagandists]]
[[Category:People from Chelsea, London]]
[[Category:People from Chelsea, London]]
[[Category:Executed British collaborators with Nazi Germany]]
[[Category:Executed British collaborators with Nazi Germany]]
[[Category:People executed by the United Kingdom by hanging]]
[[Category:British collaborators with Fascist Italy]]
[[Category:British anti-communists]]
[[Category:British people of the Spanish Civil War]]
[[Category:English people of Hungarian-Jewish descent]]
[[Category:English people of Hungarian-Jewish descent]]
[[Category:20th-century executions by England and Wales]]
[[Category:20th-century executions by England and Wales]]
[[Category:English broadcasters for Nazi Germany]]
[[Category:Nazis executed by the United Kingdom by hanging]]

Revision as of 11:27, 4 July 2024

John Amery
Amery in 1932
Born(1912-03-14)14 March 1912
Chelsea, London, England
Died19 December 1945(1945-12-19) (aged 33)
Wandsworth Prison, London, England
Cause of deathExecution by hanging
Occupation(s)Activist, member of the British Free Corps
MovementFascism, Nazism, Anti-communism
Criminal statusExecuted
SpouseUna Wing
ParentLeo Amery (father)
RelativesJulian Amery (brother)
Conviction(s)High treason (8 counts)
Criminal penaltyDeath

John Amery (14 March 1912 – 19 December 1945) was a British fascist and Nazi collaborator during World War II. He was the originator of the British Free Corps, a volunteer Waffen-SS unit composed of former British and Dominion prisoners of war.

Amery conducted recruitment efforts, and made propaganda broadcasts for Germany.[1] He later gave direct support to Italian dictator Benito Mussolini. He was prosecuted by the British authorities and pleaded guilty to eight counts of high treason, for which he was sentenced to death, seven months after the war in Europe ended.

Early life

Born in Chelsea, London,[2] John Amery (known as "Jack") was the elder of two children of British statesman Leo Amery (1873–1955), a member of parliament and later Conservative government minister, whose mother was a Hungarian Jew who had converted to Protestantism. His younger brother, Julian (1919–1996), also became an MP and served in a Conservative government.

Amery was a difficult child who ran through a succession of private tutors.[3] He attended kindergarten at Miss Ironside's School, whose eponymous headmistress described him as "unteachable".[4] Like his father, he was sent to Harrow, but left after only a year, being described by his housemaster as "without doubt, the most difficult boy I have ever tried to manage." Living in his father's shadow, he strove to make his own way by embarking on a career in film production. Over a period, he set up a number of independent companies, all of which failed; these endeavours rapidly led to bankruptcy.

At the age of 21, Amery married Una Wing, a former prostitute, but was never able to earn enough to keep her for himself. He was constantly appealing to his father for money.[3] A staunch anti-Communist, he came to embrace the doctrines of Nazi Germany on the grounds that they were the only alternative to Bolshevism. He left Britain permanently to live in France after being declared bankrupt in 1936. In Paris, he met the French fascist leader Jacques Doriot, with whom he travelled to Austria, Italy, and Germany to witness the effects of fascism in those countries.

Amery told his family he had joined Francisco 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 (Corpo Truppe Volontarie). He actually worked for Franco as a liaison with French Cagoulard groups and gun-runners. After the Spanish war, Amery settled in France.[5]

Second World War

Occupied France

Amery remained in France following the German invasion in June 1940. On 22 June, the Second Armistice at Compiègne was signed between France and Germany. Amery resided in the territory belonging to the collaborationist Vichy government led by Marshal Philippe Pétain. However, his personality soon antagonised the Vichy Regime, so he made several attempts to leave but was not allowed. The head of the German Armistice Commission offered Amery a chance to live in Germany to work in the political arena but he was unable to get Amery out of occupied France.

In September 1942, Hauptmann Werner Plack gained Amery the French travel permit he needed, and in October Plack and Amery travelled 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. During this period, Amery made a series of pro-German propaganda radio broadcasts, attempting to appeal to the British people to join the war on communism.

British Free Corps

Main article: British Free Corps

The idea of a British force to fight the communists languished until Amery re-encountered Jacques Doriot during a visit to France in January 1943. Doriot was part of the LVF (Légion des Volontaires Français), a French volunteer force fighting alongside the Germans on the eastern front.

Amery rekindled his idea of a British unit and aimed to recruit 50 to 100 men for propaganda purposes and to establish a core of men with which to attract 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.

Dark-haired unshaven man
Amery in Milan shortly after his arrest by Italian partisans. The officer with his back to the camera is Alan Whicker.

Amery's first recruiting drive for what was initially to be called the British Legion of St George took him to the Saint-Denis POW camp outside Paris. Amery addressed between 40 and 50 inmates from British Commonwealth countries and handed out recruiting material. This first effort at recruitment was a complete failure, but he persisted.

Amery's drive for recruits found two men, of whom only one, Kenneth Berry, joined what was later called the BFC. Amery's link to the unit ended in October 1943, when the Waffen SS decided his services were no longer needed, and it was officially renamed the British Free Corps.

Arrest

Amery continued to broadcast and write propaganda in Berlin until late 1944 when he travelled to Northern Italy to lend support to Benito Mussolini's Salò Republic. On 25 April 1945, Amery was captured along with his French mistress Michelle Thomas by Italian partisans from the Garibaldi Brigade near Como. Amery and Thomas were initially to be executed, but both of them were eventually sent to Milan, where they were handed over to Allied authorities. Amery was wearing the uniform of the "Muti Legion", a fascist paramilitary organisation. The British army officer who took him into custody was Captain Alan Whicker, later known as a broadcaster.[6]

Amery was returned to the United Kingdom by air. With him on the flight was William Joyce, the propaganda broadcaster widely known as "Lord Haw-Haw". They were escorted by three armed soldiers and Leonard Burt, a senior police officer seconded to the British Army Intelligence Corps.[7]

Prosecution and execution

Amery was prosecuted for treason in London. 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 attempted to show that John had become a Spanish citizen, and therefore would legally be incapable of committing treason against the United Kingdom.

His counsel, Gerald Osborne Slade KC, meanwhile, tried to show that the accused was mentally ill. Amery's sanity was questioned by his own father, Leo, but all efforts to have the court consider his mental state were unsuccessful.[8] Further attempts at a defence were suddenly abandoned on the first day of his scheduled trial, 28 November 1945, when to general astonishment, Amery pleaded guilty to eight charges of treason, and was sentenced to death. The hearing lasted just eight minutes.

Before accepting Amery's guilty plea, the judge, Mr Justice Humphreys, made certain that Amery realised the only permissible penalty would be death by hanging. After satisfying himself that Amery fully understood the consequences of pleading guilty, the judge announced this verdict:

John Amery, I have read the depositions and the exhibits in this case, and I am satisfied that you knew what you did and that you did it intentionally and deliberately after you had received warning from more than one of 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.[9]

Amery was hanged in Wandsworth Prison on 19 December 1945 by executioner Albert Pierrepoint and buried in the prison cemetery. Amery actually quipped as he was led to the scaffold, "I've always wanted to meet you, Mr Pierrepoint, though not of course under these circumstances!"[10] In 1996, Julian Amery had his brother's remains exhumed and cremated, scattering his ashes in France.

An epitaph by his father appears in The Empire at Bay. The Leo Amery Diaries. 1929–1945:

At end of wayward days he found a cause –
'Twas not his Country's – Only time can tell
If that defiance of our ancient laws
Was treason or foreknowledge. He sleeps well.

Cultural references

Ronald Harwood's play An English Tragedy, charting the weeks leading up to Amery's execution following his arrest in Italy and trial in London, adapted for radio by Bert Coules, was broadcast by BBC Radio 4 on 8 May 2010 and 13 April 2012. The cast included Geoffrey Streatfeild as Amery and Sir Derek Jacobi as Leo Amery.

See also

References

  1. ^ "PRO-NAZI BRITON HELD; John Amery, Son of Official in India, Accused of Aiding Foe". The New York Times. 8 July 1945. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 15 April 2019.
  2. ^ GRO Register of Births: JUN 1912 1a 719 CHELSEA – John Amery, mmn = Greenwood
  3. ^ a b Faber 2005.
  4. ^ Faber 2005, p. 127.
  5. ^ Freedman, Morris (1963). Fact and Object. Harper & Row. p. 67.
  6. ^ Paratico, di Angelo (1 August 2017). "John Amery, un eccentrico patriota & traditore". Gingko Edizioni (in Italian). Retrieved 7 July 2019.
  7. ^ Burt, Leonard (1959). Commander Burt of Scotland Yard. London: Heinemann. pp. 1–7. OCLC 923285613.
  8. ^ "The Subtle Besmirching of Leo Amery – Quadrant Online". quadrant.org.au. 2 April 2013. Retrieved 21 February 2023.
  9. ^ "Amery sentenced to death: "A self-confessed traitor."". The Times. No. 50312. 29 November 1945. p. 2.
  10. ^ Fielding, Steve (2008). Pierrepoint: A Family of Executioners. Kings Road Publishing. ISBN 978-1-84358-563-3.

Bibliography

Further reading

  • J. Amery, L'Angleterre et l'Europe [England and Europe], Documents et Témoignages: collection d'essais politiques 1, (Paris, 1943) 48 p.
  • Casciani, Dominic, How Britain made its executioners, BBC News online 1 June 2006 [accessed 22 July 2007]
  • Weale, Adrian, Patriot Traitors: Roger Casement, John Amery and the Real Meaning of Treason (London : Viking, 2001) ISBN 0-670-88498-7
  • West, Rebecca, The Meaning of Treason, (London : Phoenix, new edn. 2000) ISBN 1-84212-023-9
  • Fielding, Steve, Pierrepoint: Family of Executioners (London: John Blake Publishing, paperback, 2008) ISBN 9781844546114
Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=John_Amery&oldid=1232564883"