Nordic League
Encyclopedia
The Nordic League was a far right
organisation in the United Kingdom
from 1935 to 1939 that sought to serve as a co-ordinating body for the various extremist movements whilst also seeking to promote Nazism
. The League was a private organisation that did not organise any public events.
's Nordische Gesellschaft
arrived in Britain to established a UK version of their movement. The main force behind this new group was Unionist MP Archibald Maule Ramsay
who chaired the group's 14 man leadership council. The group's constitution described it as an "association of race conscious Britons" and sought to co-ordinate all far-right and fascist
movements whilst giving particular emphasis to anti-Semitism
.
The League sought to unite leading figures from across the far right, as demonstrated in April 1939 when a meeting addressed by Ramsay was chaired by a member of the British Union of Fascists
who was supported by former British Fascists
president R.B.D. Blakeney
and Imperial Fascist League
member E.H. Cole. Other leading members included, J. F. C. Fuller, the United Empier Fascist Party leader and Nazi agent Serocold Skeels, Henry Hamilton Beamish
, Arnold Leese
and P. J. Ridout. The latter was credited with helping to popularise the NL's slogan "Perish Judah", which was frequently rendered "P.J." in public.
BUF leader Oswald Mosley
, fearful of being too closely associated with the League's extremist rhetoric, did not join but he permitted party members to do so which the likes of Fuller, Robert Gordon-Canning
and Oliver C. Gilbert did readily. As a result of these links the BUF was able to absorb the National Socialist Workers Party, a small group led by NL member Lieutenant-Colonel Graham Seton-Hutchison.
and compared to the Ku Klux Klan
that was active from 1935 to 1937. The White Knights and the NL shared the same building as their headquarters. Another group, the Militant Christian Patriots, that was active after the Munich Crisis urging Neville Chamberlain
not to become involved in a 'Jewish war', was also closely connected to the NL and said by MI5
to be a front organisation. By using this group and another front organisation, the Liberty Restoration League, the NL was able to ensure that high-ranking figures such as the Duke of Wellington
, the Duchess of Hamilton
, Baron Brocket
, and Michael O'Dwyer
became involved in their movement.
, particularly for the violence of Ramsay, William Joyce
and A. K. Chesterton
in their anti-Semitic speeches. Others such as Elwin Wright, who until 1937 was secretary of the Anglo-German Fellowship
called for the shooting of Jews whilst Commander E. H. Cole condemned the House of Commons as being full of "bastardised Jewish swine". Such extremist language worked against the NL however as its speakers were seen by the public at large as quite mad and so their pro-appeasement
arguments were ignored.
Following the outbreak of the Second World War
two leading members, T. Victor-Rowe and Oliver Gilbert, were interned and the NL largely went into abeyance with members joining other, more public anti-war groups. The League had officially disbanded as soon as war was declared although it continued to meet secretly at Gilbert's house until his arrest in late September 1939. Two of its members, Joyce and Margaret Bothamley, left Britain for Nazi Germany
after the outbreak of war. Given the association of the NL with Nazism BUF organiser Alexander Raven Thomson
even suggested a plan for Mosley to publicly denounce the League as traitors in an attempt to present a more patriotic image although Defence Regulation 18B
came into force before this could be attempted.
Far right
Far-right, extreme right, hard right, radical right, and ultra-right are terms used to discuss the qualitative or quantitative position a group or person occupies within right-wing politics. Far-right politics may involve anti-immigration and anti-integration stances towards groups that are...
organisation in the United Kingdom
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
from 1935 to 1939 that sought to serve as a co-ordinating body for the various extremist movements whilst also seeking to promote Nazism
Nazism
Nazism, the common short form name of National Socialism was the ideology and practice of the Nazi Party and of Nazi Germany...
. The League was a private organisation that did not organise any public events.
Development
The Nordic League (NL) originated in 1935 when agents of Alfred RosenbergAlfred Rosenberg
' was an early and intellectually influential member of the Nazi Party. Rosenberg was first introduced to Adolf Hitler by Dietrich Eckart; he later held several important posts in the Nazi government...
's Nordische Gesellschaft
Nordische Gesellschaft
Nordische Gesellschaft was an association founded in 1921, with the objective of strengthening German-Nordic cultural and political cooperation. It was based in Lübeck, Germany. The association had both German and Scandinavian members. After the National Socialist take-over in Germany 1933...
arrived in Britain to established a UK version of their movement. The main force behind this new group was Unionist MP Archibald Maule Ramsay
Archibald Maule Ramsay
Captain Archibald Henry Maule Ramsay was a British Army officer who later went into politics as a Scottish Unionist Member of Parliament . From the late 1930s he developed increasingly strident antisemitic views...
who chaired the group's 14 man leadership council. The group's constitution described it as an "association of race conscious Britons" and sought to co-ordinate all far-right and fascist
Fascism
Fascism is a radical authoritarian nationalist political ideology. Fascists seek to rejuvenate their nation based on commitment to the national community as an organic entity, in which individuals are bound together in national identity by suprapersonal connections of ancestry, culture, and blood...
movements whilst giving particular emphasis to anti-Semitism
Anti-Semitism
Antisemitism is suspicion of, hatred toward, or discrimination against Jews for reasons connected to their Jewish heritage. According to a 2005 U.S...
.
The League sought to unite leading figures from across the far right, as demonstrated in April 1939 when a meeting addressed by Ramsay was chaired by a member of the British Union of Fascists
British Union of Fascists
The British Union was a political party in the United Kingdom formed in 1932 by Sir Oswald Mosley as the British Union of Fascists, in 1936 it changed its name to the British Union of Fascists and National Socialists and then in 1937 to simply the British Union...
who was supported by former British Fascists
British Fascists
The British Fascists were the first avowedly fascist organisation in the United Kingdom. William Joyce, Neil Francis Hawkins, Maxwell Knight and Arnold Leese were amongst those to have passed through the movement as members and activists.-Early years:...
president R.B.D. Blakeney
R.B.D. Blakeney
Brigadier-General Robert Byron Drury Blakeney, generally known as R.B.D. Blakeney, was a British Army general and fascist politician...
and Imperial Fascist League
Imperial Fascist League
The Imperial Fascist League was a British fascist political movement founded by Arnold Leese in 1929.-Origins:Leese had originally been a member of the British Fascists and indeed had been one of only two members ever to hold elected office for them...
member E.H. Cole. Other leading members included, J. F. C. Fuller, the United Empier Fascist Party leader and Nazi agent Serocold Skeels, Henry Hamilton Beamish
Henry Hamilton Beamish
Henry Hamilton Beamish was a leading British antisemite and the founder of The Britons.The son of an admiral who had served as an A.D.C...
, Arnold Leese
Arnold Leese
Arnold Spencer Leese was a British veterinarian and fascist politician. He was born in Lytham St Annes, Lancashire, England and educated at Giggleswick School....
and P. J. Ridout. The latter was credited with helping to popularise the NL's slogan "Perish Judah", which was frequently rendered "P.J." in public.
BUF leader Oswald Mosley
Oswald Mosley
Sir Oswald Ernald Mosley, 6th Baronet, of Ancoats, was an English politician, known principally as the founder of the British Union of Fascists...
, fearful of being too closely associated with the League's extremist rhetoric, did not join but he permitted party members to do so which the likes of Fuller, Robert Gordon-Canning
Robert Gordon-Canning
Robert Cecil Gordon-Canning was a notable British fascist, antisemite and supporter of Arab nationalist causes. He was briefly married to Australian born film star Mary Maguire.-Upbringing and early politics:...
and Oliver C. Gilbert did readily. As a result of these links the BUF was able to absorb the National Socialist Workers Party, a small group led by NL member Lieutenant-Colonel Graham Seton-Hutchison.
Front groups
The NL was closely linked to the White Knights of Britain, a secret society otherwise known as the Hooded Men with ritual initiation based on FreemasonryFreemasonry
Freemasonry is a fraternal organisation that arose from obscure origins in the late 16th to early 17th century. Freemasonry now exists in various forms all over the world, with a membership estimated at around six million, including approximately 150,000 under the jurisdictions of the Grand Lodge...
and compared to the Ku Klux Klan
Ku Klux Klan
Ku Klux Klan, often abbreviated KKK and informally known as the Klan, is the name of three distinct past and present far-right organizations in the United States, which have advocated extremist reactionary currents such as white supremacy, white nationalism, and anti-immigration, historically...
that was active from 1935 to 1937. The White Knights and the NL shared the same building as their headquarters. Another group, the Militant Christian Patriots, that was active after the Munich Crisis urging Neville Chamberlain
Neville Chamberlain
Arthur Neville Chamberlain FRS was a British Conservative politician who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from May 1937 to May 1940. Chamberlain is best known for his appeasement foreign policy, and in particular for his signing of the Munich Agreement in 1938, conceding the...
not to become involved in a 'Jewish war', was also closely connected to the NL and said by MI5
MI5
The Security Service, commonly known as MI5 , is the United Kingdom's internal counter-intelligence and security agency and is part of its core intelligence machinery alongside the Secret Intelligence Service focused on foreign threats, Government Communications Headquarters and the Defence...
to be a front organisation. By using this group and another front organisation, the Liberty Restoration League, the NL was able to ensure that high-ranking figures such as the Duke of Wellington
Arthur Wellesley, 5th Duke of Wellington
Arthur Charles Wellesley, 5th Duke of Wellington was the son of Arthur Charles Wellesley, 4th Duke of Wellington, and Kathleen Bulkeley Williams....
, the Duchess of Hamilton
Nina Douglas-Hamilton, Duchess of Hamilton
Nina Mary Benita Douglas-Hamilton, Duchess of Hamilton . She was born in Salisbury, the daughter of Major Robert Poore, married Alfred Douglas Douglas-Hamilton, 13th Duke of Hamilton and died in London....
, Baron Brocket
Ronald Nall-Cain, 2nd Baron Brocket
Ronald Nall Nall-Cain, 2nd Baron Brocket was a Conservative Party politician in the United Kingdom....
, and Michael O'Dwyer
Michael O'Dwyer
Michael Francis O'Dwyer, KCIE was Lieutenant Governor of the Punjab in India from 1912 until 1919. O'Dwyer endorsed General Reginald Dyer's action regarding the Jallianwala Bagh massacre and termed it a "correct action"...
became involved in their movement.
Response and demise
The NL came under increasing scrutiny after KristallnachtKristallnacht
Kristallnacht, also referred to as the Night of Broken Glass, and also Reichskristallnacht, Pogromnacht, and Novemberpogrome, was a pogrom or series of attacks against Jews throughout Nazi Germany and parts of Austria on 9–10 November 1938.Jewish homes were ransacked, as were shops, towns and...
, particularly for the violence of Ramsay, William Joyce
William Joyce
William Joyce , nicknamed Lord Haw-Haw, was an Irish-American fascist politician and Nazi propaganda broadcaster to the United Kingdom during the Second World War. He was hanged for treason by the British as a result of his wartime activities, even though he had renounced his British nationality...
and A. K. Chesterton
A. K. Chesterton
Arthur Kenneth Chesterton MC was a far right-wing politician and journalist who helped found right-wing organisations in Britain, primarily in opposition to the break-up of the British Empire, and later adopting a broader anti-immigration stance. His cousin, the author G. K...
in their anti-Semitic speeches. Others such as Elwin Wright, who until 1937 was secretary of the Anglo-German Fellowship
Anglo-German Fellowship
The Anglo-German Fellowship was a group which existed from 1935 to 1939 and aimed to build up friendship between the United Kingdom and Germany; it was widely perceived as being allied to Nazism...
called for the shooting of Jews whilst Commander E. H. Cole condemned the House of Commons as being full of "bastardised Jewish swine". Such extremist language worked against the NL however as its speakers were seen by the public at large as quite mad and so their pro-appeasement
Appeasement
The term appeasement is commonly understood to refer to a diplomatic policy aimed at avoiding war by making concessions to another power. Historian Paul Kennedy defines it as "the policy of settling international quarrels by admitting and satisfying grievances through rational negotiation and...
arguments were ignored.
Following the outbreak of the Second World War
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
two leading members, T. Victor-Rowe and Oliver Gilbert, were interned and the NL largely went into abeyance with members joining other, more public anti-war groups. The League had officially disbanded as soon as war was declared although it continued to meet secretly at Gilbert's house until his arrest in late September 1939. Two of its members, Joyce and Margaret Bothamley, left Britain for Nazi Germany
Nazi Germany
Nazi Germany , also known as the Third Reich , but officially called German Reich from 1933 to 1943 and Greater German Reich from 26 June 1943 onward, is the name commonly used to refer to the state of Germany from 1933 to 1945, when it was a totalitarian dictatorship ruled by...
after the outbreak of war. Given the association of the NL with Nazism BUF organiser Alexander Raven Thomson
Alexander Raven Thomson
Alexander Raven Thomson was a leading figure in the British Union of Fascists and was considered to be the party's chief ideologue. He has been described as the "Alfred Rosenberg of British fascism".-Early life:...
even suggested a plan for Mosley to publicly denounce the League as traitors in an attempt to present a more patriotic image although Defence Regulation 18B
Defence Regulation 18B
Defence Regulation 18B, often referred to as simply 18B, was the most famous of the Defence Regulations used by the British Government during World War II. The complete technical reference name for this rule was: Regulation 18B of the Defence Regulations 1939. It allowed for the internment of...
came into force before this could be attempted.