THE VOYAGE OF THE NAZI BRITISH LEGION REVEALED BY PHOTO ARCHIVE [1]
A delegation from the British Legion met with Adolf Hitler in 1935, show the photos newly discovered.
The 148 images were in an album embossed with a swastika discovered by an employee.
They show British veterans of World War I celebrated by the Germans, and the leader of the delegation - Major Francis Fetherston-Godley - who holds the hand of Hitler's deputy, Rudolf Hess.
A visit to a concentration camp was not photographed, but the guide was included in the archive the Legion.
The press officer of the Legion, Liam Maguire, writing in the Daily Mail [2] , said he could hardly believe his eyes when he examined the 'enormous , spine reinforced with thick red book - with a swastika on the metal cover. "
He found the album in the Legion's headquarters in London while he was looking for a documentary.
The album, with images that he described as probably intended to "shock many," was donated by the Third Reich as a reminder of travel.
The five members of the Legion (now known as the Royal British Legion) met with Hermann Goering, head of the Luftwaffe.
photos were taken by former soldiers in a wheelchair who gave the Nazi salute as the procession marched with a delegation with the British flag, and pictures of the delegation at the Commonwealth War Graves in Germany.
Maguire wrote: "However, there is a part of the journey that was not recorded in the album, but that has been documented in the archives of the Legion - the delegation's visit to Dachau, the first concentration camp Nazi. "
"The archives show that saw the isolation cells. At that time, Jews were already imprisoned there - 'Jews returning emigrants, under observation', read the documents of the Legion, along with 'lazy', 'professional criminals' and 'morally perverted'.
Some members of the delegation also dined with Heinrich Himmler, who established the camp and who was head of the SS.
Peace Mission
Back in England, there were also concerns that the visit would be used as propaganda from Germany.
were also discovered pieces of the journey, from researchers who were working on a documentary for the Discovery History.
According the Legion, the trip was done "to promote close links with the German veterans' organizations and to promote peace. With the peoples of Europe there was a desperate desire the Great War would never be repeated, and veterans in particular believed they had a role to engage in the preservation of peace. "
A visit to reciprocate was made in England in September 1938 by 800 former German soldiers - the day when the then Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain flew to meet Hitler in his abortive attempt to negotiate peace.
The footage of the visit to London include a rare German movie archive, where guests make the Nazi salute during a trip to the pleasure boat on the Thames.
[1] Translated by Andrea Carancini. The original text is available at: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-11660668
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