How British Intelligence Plotted to Read Hitler's Mind
2025
|
New edition
The History Press Ltd (Verlag)
978-1-80399-961-6 (ISBN)
The History Press Ltd (Verlag)
978-1-80399-961-6 (ISBN)
Were British Intelligence chiefs gullible or sensible to recruit an astrologer to assist in the war effort against Nazi Germany? And was the astrologer genuine or a charlatan?
In the darkest days of the Second World War, as Europe fell under Nazi domination and Britain faced invasion, Louis de Wohl, a 36-year-old refugee from Germany, made a curious offer to British Intelligence. Based on the widely held belief that Hitler’s every action was guided by his horoscope, de Wohl claimed he could reveal precisely what advice the Führer’s astrologers were giving him.
Rather than dismissing de Wohl out of hand as a crank, senior intelligence officers and chiefs of staff of the three armed services took him at his word. De Wohl was made an army captain and quartered in the Grosvenor House Hotel, from where his one-man ‘Psychological Research Bureau’ passed astrological readings and assessments to the War Office, before his deployment to the United States by the highly secret Special Operations Executive on a propaganda mission.
Was it possible that Military and Naval intelligence officers could take the ancient and arcane practice of astrology seriously? Was de Wohl genuine or merely a charlatan? Did his astrological readings contribute to the downfall of Hitler and Nazi Germany?
In How British Intelligence Plotted to Read Hitler’s Mind, the first fulllength study of Louis de Wohl, James Parris examines the evidence – including material from MI5, Military and Naval Intelligence files at the National Archives – and reaches remarkable conclusions about this bizarre aspect of the Second World War.
In the darkest days of the Second World War, as Europe fell under Nazi domination and Britain faced invasion, Louis de Wohl, a 36-year-old refugee from Germany, made a curious offer to British Intelligence. Based on the widely held belief that Hitler’s every action was guided by his horoscope, de Wohl claimed he could reveal precisely what advice the Führer’s astrologers were giving him.
Rather than dismissing de Wohl out of hand as a crank, senior intelligence officers and chiefs of staff of the three armed services took him at his word. De Wohl was made an army captain and quartered in the Grosvenor House Hotel, from where his one-man ‘Psychological Research Bureau’ passed astrological readings and assessments to the War Office, before his deployment to the United States by the highly secret Special Operations Executive on a propaganda mission.
Was it possible that Military and Naval intelligence officers could take the ancient and arcane practice of astrology seriously? Was de Wohl genuine or merely a charlatan? Did his astrological readings contribute to the downfall of Hitler and Nazi Germany?
In How British Intelligence Plotted to Read Hitler’s Mind, the first fulllength study of Louis de Wohl, James Parris examines the evidence – including material from MI5, Military and Naval Intelligence files at the National Archives – and reaches remarkable conclusions about this bizarre aspect of the Second World War.
JAMES PARRIS is the pen name of the late Harry Harmer, the author of numerous books, including Martin Luther King (THP, 1999), Tom Paine: The Life of a Revolutionary (Haus, 2006), Rosa Luxemburg (Haus, 2008) and Friedrich Ebert: Germany (Haus, 2009).
Title
Copyright
Contents
Prologue
1 An Aquarius Born
2 An Air of Baroque Opulence
3 A Perfectly Splendid Chap
4 When Hitler Knows he is Lucky …
5 Hitler Fears Death
6 America Would be ‘in’ by
7 We Must Never Lie by Accident
8 A Bumptious Seeker after Notoriety
Conclusion: Here is Gold! Enough Gold for us all!
Select Bibliography
Notes
| Erscheinungsdatum | 14.06.2025 |
|---|---|
| Zusatzinfo | 20 Illustrations, black and white |
| Verlagsort | Stroud |
| Sprache | englisch |
| Maße | 129 x 198 mm |
| Themenwelt | Literatur ► Biografien / Erfahrungsberichte |
| Sachbuch/Ratgeber ► Geschichte / Politik | |
| Geschichte ► Allgemeine Geschichte ► 1918 bis 1945 | |
| Geschichte ► Teilgebiete der Geschichte ► Militärgeschichte | |
| Sozialwissenschaften ► Politik / Verwaltung ► Staat / Verwaltung | |
| ISBN-10 | 1-80399-961-6 / 1803999616 |
| ISBN-13 | 978-1-80399-961-6 / 9781803999616 |
| Zustand | Neuware |
| Informationen gemäß Produktsicherheitsverordnung (GPSR) | |
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