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22-652: The Deutsch-Englische Gesellschaft (German-English Society) was the German sister organization of the Anglo-German Fellowship . It was formed in Berlin , Germany , around 1935, under support of the Dienststelle Ribbentrop  [ de ] . The Dienststelle Ribbentrop was created by Joachim von Ribbentrop in 1935, and was to function parallel to the German foreign ministry. Using unconventional diplomacy,

44-573: A company of volunteers and a company from the Women's Battalion. It had six guns and one armoured car, the crew of which, however, declared that it had only come "to guard the art treasures of the Palace and was otherwise neutral"! The garrison had dwindled owing to desertions, for there were no provisions and it had been practically starved for two days. There was no strong man to take command and to enforce discipline. No one had any stomach for fighting; and some of

66-592: A double company commander, and was promoted to captain on 10 July 1901. He was adjutant to the Southern Waziristan Militia, and as such took part in operations in Waziristan under Major-General Charles Egerton in summer 1902, for which he was mentioned in despatches . In 1911 Knox was appointed the British Military Attaché in then Russian Empire . A fluent speaker of Russian, he became

88-674: A liaison officer to the Imperial Russian Army during First World War . During the 1917 Bolshevik coup in Russia he observed the Bolsheviks ' taking of the Winter Palace on 7 November (25 October Old Style) 1917. He wrote: The garrison of the Winter Palace originally consisted of about 2,000 all told, including detachments from junker and ensign schools, three squadrons of Cossacks,

110-478: A statement: The Council deeply regrets the events which have set back the development of better understanding between the two nations. The Council will, however, steadily prosecute its efforts to maintain contact with Germany as being the best means of supporting the Prime Minister in his policy of appeasement, and as being the most useful way of encouraging those friendly relations upon which peace depends... At

132-571: A study group of pro-German MPs. The AGF, which has been in gestation for about a year, was established in September 1935 with Lord Mount Temple as chairman, and political secretary and historian Philip Conwell-Evans and businessman Ernest Tennant as honorary secretaries. Tennant was a friend of Joachim von Ribbentrop , German Ambassador to Britain. The group's stated aims were to foster political, professional, commercial and sporting links with Germany, but Mount Temple stated publicly that membership of

154-542: Is not ready for democracy." His parliamentary questions mainly concerned the Stalinist Soviet Union and the threat of Hitler as well as the rearmament of Britain during the interwar period . Knox remained a strong opponent of Communism throughout his career and following the 1939 Soviet invasion of Finland during World War II , he campaigned to give military support to the Finns . He died on 9 March 1964. Knox

176-585: The Dienststelle was to sway British-German relations . This German history article is a stub . You can help Misplaced Pages by expanding it . Anglo-German Fellowship In a 1935 speech, the Prince of Wales (later Edward VIII ) had called for a closer understanding of Germany in order to safeguard peace in Europe, and in response Sir Thomas Moore , a Conservative Member of Parliament , suggested setting up

198-714: The House of Lords to hold membership included Lord Brocket , Lord Galloway , the Earl of Glasgow , Lord Mount Temple , Lord Londonderry , Lord Nuffield , Lord Redesdale , Lord Rennell , the Duke of Wellington , and Josiah, Baron Stamp . By 1937, the group seems to have had 347 members. The AGF's sister organization in Berlin was the Deutsch-Englische Gesellschaft . Neither group had an avowed mission to Nazify Britain. Instead,

220-696: The AGF in the knowledge that it was widely perceived as allied to the far right. Lord Mount Temple resigned in November 1938 as chairman of the AGF because of the treatment of the German Jews by the Nazis. Following his resignation he told the press: Although I have resigned from the chair of the Anglo-German Fellowship, I still remain a member of the fellowship. I wrote my letter of resignation yesterday, to be read at

242-543: The Bank of England Montagu Norman , Geoffrey Dawson editor of The Times . "Corporate membership" was also available for leading companies who wished to show their support for co-operation with Germany and this was taken out by such leading organisations as Price Waterhouse , Unilever , Dunlop Rubber , Thomas Cook & Son , the Midland Bank and Lazard Brothers amongst others. Several Members of Parliament, mostly from

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264-564: The Conservative Party, joined the group: they included Sir Peter Agnew , Lawrence Dundas, 2nd Marquess of Zetland , Ernest Bennett , Sir Robert Bird , Robert Tatton Bower , Douglas Douglas-Hamilton, Marquess of Clydesdale , Robert Vaughan Gower , Thomas "Loel" Guinness , Norman Hulbert , Archibald James , Alfred Knox , John Macnamara , Sir Thomas Moore , Assheton Pownall , Frank Sanderson , Duncan Sandys , Admiral Murray Sueter , Charles Taylor and Ronald Tree . Members of

286-713: The Engineering School and the company of women. During the Russian Civil War, he was the head of the British Mission ( Britmis ) and notional Chef d'Arrière of the White Army in Siberia under Admiral Kolchak . He barely intervened in the combat operations, as Kolchak was unwilling to listen to his advice and to accept demands about a Russian Constituent Assembly after the war. In 1921 Knox published his memoirs, With

308-609: The Russian Army: 1914–1917 . In this book he also tells the story of heroine Elsa Brändström . At the 1924 general election , he was elected as a Conservative Member of Parliament (MP) for Wycombe , defeating the sitting Liberal MP Lady Terrington . He held his seat during the 1929 general election and through subsequent general elections, serving in the House of Commons until the 1945 general election . In 1934, Knox argued against Indian self-government by stating "India, diverse in races and creed and united only by Britain,

330-843: The claim with the intermediary between the Fellowship and the Foreign Office, Conwell Evans, who reported that he had met with Lord Halifax on the matter. In the House of Commons on 7 September 1939 Vyvyan Adams MP asked the Home Secretary what the Government is doing to "deal with" organisations such as the Fellowship. To this, Sir John Anderson reported to the house that "the Anglo-German Fellowship has entirely suspended its activities". Alfred Knox Major-General Sir Alfred William Fortescue Knox CB (30 October 1870 – 9 March 1964)

352-686: The council meeting this morning. In the letter I stated that I was resigning from the chairmanship because of the treatment of the Jews in Germany and the attitude of the Germans towards the Catholic and Lutheran communities. One hopes that times may become better in the future and that the good work of building up friendship between the two nations may be resumed. The Council of the Anglo-German Fellowship met in London and released

374-520: The ensigns even borrowed great coats of soldier pattern from the women to enable them to escape unobserved. The greater part of the junkers of the Mikhail Artillery School returned to their school, taking with them four out of their six guns. Then the Cossacks left, declaring themselves opposed to bloodshed! At 10 p.m. a large part of the ensigns left, leaving few defenders except the ensigns of

396-464: The problems affecting the relations existing between Great Britain and Germany, with a view to the enhancing and promoting friendship between such countries and their respective peoples. The organisation was aimed at the influential in society, and the membership was initially led by businessmen keen to promote commercial links. Members included Bank of England director Frank Cyril Tiarks , Admiral Sir Barry Domvile , Prince von Bismarck , Governor of

418-458: The society did not assume support for Nazism or anti-Semitism. An application was made to the Board of Trade on 26 July 1935 for "a licence directing an association about to be formed under the name of The Anglo-German Fellowship". The objectives of the proposed association were given as: To promote good fellowship between Great Britain and Germany and their respective peoples. To study and consider

440-581: The time of the Munich Crisis in 1938 Ernest Tennant recorded that the feeling in the organisation was that they should close. However, they approached the UK Foreign Office for advice. Tennant reported that Lord Vansittart recommended their staying active, which they did until the outbreak of the Second World War . However, this claim was later refuted by Vansittart. He responded that he queried

462-574: The two groups would unite, to host grand dinners at which leading German figures noted for their Anglophilia or their familial links to the United Kingdom, such as Rudolf Hess , von Ribbentrop, General Werner von Blomberg , the Duke of Brunswick and the Duke of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha , would be guests of honour. However, the organisation did have a pro-Nazi leaning, as well as a number of fascist members. The spies Guy Burgess and Kim Philby , seeking to disguise their Communist affiliations, joined

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484-652: Was a career British military officer and later a Conservative Party politician. Born in Ulster , Knox joined the British Army when he attended the Royal Military College, Sandhurst , from where he was commissioned a second lieutenant in the Royal Irish Rifles on 2 May 1891, and was promoted to lieutenant on 18 November 1893. He was posted to British India where he joined the 5th Punjab Infantry , became

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