In the service of His Majesty’s Government
: the British consular service in the Third Reich, 1933-1939

  • Kevin McNamara

Student thesis: Doctoral Thesis (PhD)

Abstract

This doctoral thesis is the first of its kind to focus on the network of British consular posts in the Third Reich in association with the British Embassy, Berlin. The thesis will examine British consular reports on Nazi racial policy during the period 1933-1939 and the influence that the correspondence had upon Anglo-German diplomacy. As a network of posts in the Third Reich, the dispatches from the consular service offer a wealth of uncensored diplomatic material on the escalating racial persecution in the local consular districts. The study of grassroots data as it was transmitted through the various stages of the policymaking structure will also give key insight into the context and underlying rationale behind British foreign policy and the officials responsible for its formulation. The fact that the dispatches from the British Embassy, and in turn, the consular service, were highly influential in the Office of the Prime Minister allows this thesis to ultimately understand how significant Nazi racial policy was to the British Government and what role the reports played in the diplomatic relationship between the two countries in the interwar period. Thus, the correspondence from the British consular service will not only add to existing studies of National Socialism but to how the reports of racial persecution influenced the formulation and direction of British foreign policy before the outbreak of war in September 1939.
Date of Award22 Jun 2017
Original languageEnglish
Awarding Institution
  • University of St Andrews
SupervisorConan James Fischer (Supervisor) & Riccardo Bavaj (Supervisor)

Keywords

  • Nazism
  • Modern history
  • Diplomacy
  • Interwar period
  • Jewish history
  • British history
  • Consular service
  • Diplomatic service
  • Anti-Semitism
  • Anglo-German diplomacy
  • Western responses to Nazi racial policy

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