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What’s on
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What’s on
TV
The Queen’s uncle, Edward,
caused a scandal when he visited
Nazi Germany after abdicating...
O
n 10 December
1936 , King Edward
VIII became the first
British monarch to abdicate
the throne, after choosing
to marry the American
divorcée Wallis Simpson.
The news was a deeply
embarrassing moment for
the Royal Family, yet worse
was to come the following
year when Edward and
his new wife
travelled to Nazi
Germany to
meet Adolf
Hitler in a
bid to boost
their profile!
Inheriting
the crown after
his brother’s
departure, King
George VI, the father of
our Queen, was struggling
to adjust to his new role
and was shocked to learn
of the unofficial trip.Bombshell visit
‘This was a complete
bombshell for King
George,’ says historian
and biographer Dr Piers
Brendon. ‘Edward had
flirted with fascism for
a long time and thought
dictators were the coming
thing. It wasn’t a huge step
as far as he was concerned- but Buckingham Palace
was seething about it.’
With war on the way
and fascism on the rise,
it was a testing period for
the monarchy, and candid
and private letters reveal
how Edward’s siblings
viewed his actions.
‘Darling George,
I am too sorry
to hear about
Edward’s
extraordinary
behaviour,’
wrote
Princess Mary,
to her brother
King George VI.
‘I know you must
feel it very much.’
This week’s episode
also reveals how Princess
Mary particularly suffered
when Nazis captured her
eldest son during World
War Two and held him
captive in Colditz prison,
and after her brother, the
King’s youngest sibling,
Prince George, was killed
in a plane crash in 1942.
‘Darling mama, I felt so
sad at leaving you,’ writes
Princess Mary after her
brother’s funeral. ‘It has
meant so much to me to
share our sorrow over
beloved George’s death.’ Q
26Words:^ Sean^MarlandPhotos:^Alamy,Getty,^ UKTVD
uring World War Two, some
100,000 Jews died in the
city of Vilnius, Lithuania,
where Nazi Karl Plagge ran the
HKP 562 forced-labour camp.
Two years after the war
ended, Plagge was put on
trial as a war criminal, yet the
authorities were shocked
when a host of Jewish survivors
came forward to defend him.
As the court case unfolded, it
was revealed that Plagge actually
risked his life to save hundreds of
inmates by creating engineering
workshops for Jewish prisoners.Last chance
‘The workers had no engineering
knowledge at all,’ says Dr
Michael Good, whose mother
survived HKP 562. ‘But Plagge
certified them as skilled
mechanics so they wouldn’t be
killed and even made sure their
families joined them, arguing
that it would make them better
workers. The prisoners quickly
learned how to fix things!’
To his regret, Plagge was
unable to save all the
prisoners under
his command
and hundredsmet a terrible end at HKP 56 2,
which was turned into low-rent
housing and still stands today.
Featuring interviews with the
camp’s last remaining survivors,
who recall living through the
horror of HKP 56 2, this powerful
documentary shares Plagge’s
story, and reveals how, after
being found innocent, he
lived out the rest of his days
peacefully in his hometown of
Darmstadt in Germany, before
dying of a heart attack in 1957.Warning
‘As the war ended, Plagge was
forced to leave the camp,’ says
former prisoner Sidney Handler,
who was nine at the time. ‘He
warned us the SS would kill us,
so I hid in a closet. I didn’t make
a sound for days because I was
so scared, even when a German
soldier stuck a bayonet through
the door, missing me by inches.
‘Plagge always said
he wasn’t a hero, but
he was!’ ■NEW FACTUAL
The Good Nazi
Monday, 8pm YesterdayFamily link...
Dr Michael GoodA her o
in hell
Karl Plagge risked his life to save
hundreds of Jews during the Holocaust...
Meeting
Hitler!
Past troubles...
The QueenFACTUAL
The Queen’s
Lost Family
Sunday, 8pm C4