Long-lost secret diaries of ‘Hitler’s English girlfriend’ are today unveiled by the Mail.
In a world publishing coup, aristocrat Unity Mitford’s leather-bound journal reveals fresh insights into the dictator widely reviled as the most evil man in history – whom she worshipped.
Decades after her diaries were lost to historians, their discovery by the Mail is set to cause a global sensation.
The young upper-class beauty scandalised British society by fawning over Hitler and becoming closer to him than any other Briton. She confided secrets of their extraordinary liaisons to her daily diary over five years running up to the Second World War.
This precious record has never been seen before, but now in a world exclusive the Mail is able to reveal it to the public for the first time. It will be showcased in a landmark series in print, on MailOnline and via gripping podcast episodes debuting today, offering a treasure trove to historians.
The diaries are packed with intimate and horrifying revelations about Hitler and the Englishwoman who became his sycophantic confidante.
While plotting global carnage, Hitler was said to have ‘behaved as a 17-year-old’ around the 6ft statuesque blonde beauty.
Celebrated historian Lord (Andrew) Roberts said: ‘It is extremely rare in modern times for the diaries of a well-known figure of the Nazi movement to be discovered and published, and the Daily Mail deserves to be congratulated on this remarkable scoop.’
It is 42 years since the infamous ‘Hitler diaries’ debacle, when German magazine publisher Stern and its British partner The Sunday Times were duped into publishing journals supposedly written by the Nazi leader which were immediately exposed as audacious forgeries.
The Mail has taken every precaution to establish that the newly discovered Mitford volume is not a hoax, commissioning meticulous tests by renowned experts in handwriting, ink and paper to prove its authenticity.
One of the world’s foremost scholars on Unity, the historian and her biographer David Pryce-Jones, said: ‘I am confident they are genuine.’
Unseen for 80 years, Unity’s diaries span 1935 to 1939 and chronicle an extraordinary 139 meetings with Hitler, whose monstrous regime murdered six million Jews in the Holocaust. A virulent Nazi worshipper, the Honourable Unity Mitford venerated the vile dictator whom she unfailingly referred to as ‘the Führer’ or ‘He’ and ‘Him’ as if he were a god.
Also starting today, an exclusive Mail podcast series explores Unity’s insights in depth, allowing listeners to make up their own minds about her scandalous life. Set across four episodes, Hitler’s English Girlfriend: The Secret Diary of Unity Mitford delves into the chilling hatred of Jews she shared with Hitler.
So infatuated that she moved to Munich aged 20 to obsessively stalk the Nazi leader, she wormed her way into his warped affections, making Hitler’s lover Eva Braun seethe with jealousy.
The black leather-bound journal, measuring seven-and-a-half inches by four-and-three-quarter inches (19cm x 12cm), exposes for the first time that Unity was almost certainly sexually active while associating with leading Nazis in Germany. This raises the tantalising prospect of whether she had a sexual relationship with the Führer himself, who was 25 years her senior.