A sex encyclopaedia, dinner with Adolf Hitler and partying with top Nazis – Unity Mitford’s diaries have been revealed and show her pursuit of the Fuhrer in the 1930s
A secret journal kept by a British woman is set to shed more light on the private life of Nazi dictator Adolf Hitler.
One of the most evil men in history chummed up with British socialite, antisemite and fascist Unity Mitford, who became part of his inner circle. In a lovingly-written diary, Unity’s long-lost secrets reveal her star-struck youth as she sought the companionship of the Nazi Fuhrer.
In one passage of notes written in 1935, the smitten 20-year-old spoke of the moment she was finally invited to sit at Hitler’s table at his favourite restaurant in Munich. “THE MOST WONDERFUL DAY OF MY LIFE,” she wrote in capital letters in an entry in February 1935. Unity and Hitler dined together 79 times between 1935 and 1939, a tally in another of Unity’s diary entries said.
“Lunch Osteria 2.30. THE FUHRER comes 3.15 after I have finished lunch. After about 10 minutes he sends the Wirt [owner] TO ASK ME TO GO TO HIS TABLE,” Unity wrote. “I go and sit next to him while he eats his lunch and we talk. THE MOST WONDERFUL DAY OF MY LIFE. He writes on a postcard for me. After he goes, Rosa [waitress] tells me he has never invited anyone like that before.”
Other entries reference other top nazis, including a “very gay” Nazi propaganda architect Joseph Goebbels, foreign affairs minister Joachim von Ribbentrop and Hitler’s aide Julius Schaub, reports the Daily Mail.
The diaries are ‘genuine’
The diary entries will fascinate historians, offering an interesting insight into the life of the destructive Nazi leader. They are believed to be genuine amid some trepidation after an incident in which faked Hitler diaries were printed by The Sunday Times in the 1980s.
Historian Andrew Roberts told the Mail: “It is extremely rare in modern times for the diaries of a well-known figure of the Nazi movement to be discovered and published.” Unity Mitford expert David Pryce-Jones said he is “confident they are genuine”.
Hitler was ‘very nice and gay’
Unity described Hitler as “nice and gay” on more than one occasion, claiming he displayed a friendly personality towards her and sister Diana, another infamous fascist sympathiser. “The FUHRER comes. Invites us to his table about 3. Diana sits next to him, I next to Diana. We sit & talk to him until 4.30. Very nice & gay,” she wrote in an entry on March 18, 1935.
She added that Hitler sent out for a Wagner records – he revered the German composer – for her in return for a gift she got him. “Herr Werlin brings me a book of Wagner gramophone records from the FUHRER,” Unity said.
In a later entry, Unity said they are present in Munich on a “mission” from Mosley to secure funding for the BUF. Unity said of May 29 that year: “The FUHRER comes about 2.45. Immediately asks us to his table in garden. He is very sweet & gay. Says Fascism must come in England. Goes about 4.45.”
Hitler’s fondness for Unity
The diary appears to indicate that Hitler was interested in Unity. Though how much she embellished their encounters is unclear. On May 7, 1935, she wrote that Hitler asked where she was and invited her to his table again, before inviting her to Berlin.
In a later entry, Unity said Hitler showed her some care. She wrote: “He notices I have a cough, & makes me drink a Schnapps & a glass of Gluhwein. I manage to become quite drunk.” Gluhwein is hot mulled wine.
Hitler unwell
Hitler’s ailing health in his final years is well-documented. Various historians have suggested Hitler was possibly suffering the effects of diseases like Huntingdon’s or Parkinson’s.
On September 18, 1935, Unity said the Fuhrer was “not very well” but was “in very good stimmung”, a German word suggesting Hitler was in good spirits. Unity said that this day Hitler signed her belt.
Sex encyclopaedia
There have been some suggestions that Unity’s presence around Hitler mean their relationship was closer than what has otherwise been thought. Reports of a secret lovechild remain very unlikely and there is no real evidence that says the two had a sexual relationship.
Unity’s enthralment with Hitler made his German mistress, later wife, Eva Braun jealous. She referenced Unity a number of times in her own diaries. Other entries in the diary touch on the general subject of sex, with Unity referencing apparent sexual activity in code. On November 2, Unity, then in London, wrote more explicitly: “Diana to hairdresser. I sit in car & read sex encyclopedia.”
Unity Mitford’s devotion
Unity’s infatuation with the German leader sees her record each of her conversations with Hitler in red ink. Her last day in the diary is on September 1, 1939, the day Germany invaded Poland. This lead to the outbreak of World War Two as Britain declared war on the Nazis. Devastated, Unity shot herself in Munich’s English Garden Park.
Her suicide attempt was unsuccessful and she was left brain damaged. The bullet that remained lodged in her skull would eventually kill her and she died in 1948 at the age of 33.
Of the well-known Mitford sisters, Diana and Unity were outwardly fascist. Diana married the leader of the British Union of Fascists (BUF), Oswald Mosley. His attempts to gain political traction in Britain are documented in Unity’s diary.
Unity first saw Hitler at the Nuremberg rally in 1933 and became enthralled. She convinced her father and mother, the Lord and Lady Redesdale, to let her move to Munich and learn German.