John Amery | |
|---|---|
 Amery in 1932 | |
| Born | (1912-03-14)14 March 1912 |
| Died | 19 December 1945(1945-12-19) (aged 33) |
| Cause of death | Execution by hanging |
| Occupation(s) | Activist, founder of theBritish Free Corps |
| Movement | Fascism,Nazism,Anti-communism |
| Criminal status | Executed |
| Spouse | Una Wing |
| Parent | Leo Amery (father) |
| Relatives | Julian Amery (brother) |
| Conviction | High treason (8 counts) |
| Criminal penalty | Death |
John Amery (14 March 1912 – 19 December 1945) was a Britishfascist andNazi collaborator duringWorld War II. He was the originator of theBritish Free Corps, a volunteerWaffen-SS unit composed of former British andDominionprisoners of war.
Amery conducted recruitment efforts, and madepropaganda broadcasts for Germany.[1] He later gave direct support to Italian dictatorBenito Mussolini. He was prosecuted by the British authorities and pleaded guilty to eight counts ofhigh treason, for which he was sentenced todeath, seven months after the war in Europe ended.
Born inChelsea, London,[2] John Amery (known as "Jack") was the elder of two children of British statesmanLeo Amery (1873–1955), a member of parliament and laterConservative government minister; Leo's mother was aHungarian Jew who had converted toProtestantism. John's younger brother,Julian (1919–1996), also became a Member of Parliament and served as aminister in a Conservative government.
Amery was a difficult child who ran through a succession of private tutors.[3] He attended nursery (kindergarten) atMiss Ironside's School, whose eponymous headmistress described him as "unteachable".[4] Like his father, he was sent toHarrow School, 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 tobankruptcy.
At the age of 21, Amery married Una Wing, a formerprostitute, but was never able to earn enough to keep her for himself. He was constantly appealing to his father for money.[3] A staunchanti-Communist, he came to embrace the doctrines ofNazi Germany on the grounds that they were the only alternative toBolshevism. He left Britain permanently to live inFrance after being declared bankrupt in 1936. In Paris, he met the French fascist leaderJacques Doriot, with whom he travelled toAustria,Italy, andGermany to witness the effects of fascism in those countries.
Amery told his family he had joinedFrancisco Franco'sNationalists during theSpanish Civil War in 1936 and was awarded a medal of honour while serving as anintelligence officer with Italian volunteer forces (Corpo Truppe Volontarie). He actually worked for Franco as a liaison withFrench Cagoulard groups and gun-runners. After the Spanish war, Amery settled in France.[5]
Amery remained in France following theGerman invasion in June 1940. On 22 June, theSecond Armistice at Compiègne was signed between France and Germany. Amery resided in the territory belonging to the collaborationistVichy government led by MarshalPhilippe Pétain. However, his personality soon antagonised the Vichy Regime, so he made several attempts to leave but was not allowed. The head of theGerman Armistice Commission offered Amery a chance to live in Germany to work in the political arena but he was unable to get Amery out ofoccupied France.
In September 1942,Hauptmann Werner Plack obtained for 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.
The idea of a British force to fight thecommunists languished until Amery re-encounteredJacques 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 theEastern Front (World War II).
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 Britishprisoners of war. He also suggested that such a unit could provide more recruits for the other military units made up of foreign nationals.
Amery's first recruiting drive for what was initially to be called the British Legion ofSt George took him to theSaint-DenisPOW camp outside Paris. Amery addressed between 40 and 50 inmates fromBritish 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 theWaffen SS decided his services were no longer needed, and it was officially renamed theBritish Free Corps.
Amery continued to broadcast and write propaganda in Berlin until late 1944 when he travelled toNorthern Italy to lend support toBenito Mussolini'sSalò Republic. On 25 April 1945, Amery was captured along with his French mistress Michelle Thomas by Italianpartisans from theGaribaldi Brigade nearComo. Amery and Thomas were initially to be executed, but both of them were eventually sent toMilan, 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 CaptainAlan Whicker, later known as a broadcaster.[6]
Amery was returned to the United Kingdom by air. With him on the flight wasWilliam Joyce, the propaganda broadcaster widely known as "Lord Haw-Haw". They were escorted by three armed soldiers andLeonard Burt, a senior police officer seconded to theBritish Army Intelligence Corps.[7]
Amery was prosecuted fortreason in London. In a preliminary hearing, he argued that he had never attacked Britain and was ananti-Communist, not aNazi. At the same time, his brotherJulian attempted to show that John had become a Spanish citizen, and therefore would legally be incapable of committing treason against the United Kingdom.
Hiscounsel,Gerald Osborne SladeKC, meanwhile, tried to show that the accused wasmentally 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 wassentenced 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 byhanging. 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 inWandsworth Prison on 19 December 1945 by executionerAlbert Pierrepoint, and buried in the prison cemetery. In 1996, Julian Amery had his brother's remainsexhumed andcremated, scattering his ashes in France.
Anepitaph by his father appears inThe 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.
Ronald Harwood's playAn English Tragedy, charting the weeks leading up to Amery's execution following his arrest in Italy and trial in London, adapted for radio byBert Coules, was broadcast by BBC Radio 4 on 8 May 2010 and 13 April 2012. The cast includedGeoffrey Streatfeild as Amery and SirDerek Jacobi as Leo Amery.
Media related toJohn Amery at Wikimedia Commons
