29 October
Documents released today by The National Archives cover subjects ranging from the differing fates of secret agents and British Fascists during the Second World War, to the 1979 Conservative government's drive for spending cuts: compelling details are revealed in these newly-opened files from across goverment.
Highlights include:
The arrest and internment of Admiral Sir Barry Domvile (HO 283/31)
Admiral Sir Barry Domvile, distinguished Royal Navy officer and First World War veteran, was one of the most high-profile British Fascists to be imprisoned during the war. A friend of Sir Oswald Mosley, he founded 'The Link' to promote closer relations between Britain and Germany. In one letter contained in the file, Sir Barry writes: 'The real enemies of the British Empire are the people of this country who have brought this catastrophe upon their ignorant countrymen.'
Special Operations Executive Eileen Mary Nearne (HS 9/1089/2)
The SOE file of recently-deceased former agent Eileen Nearne includes photographs and a finishing report analysing her suitability for future missions, as well as a first-hand account of her service, her arrest by the Gestapo and subsequent escape from a concentration camp, and a report from American intelligence after they had interrogated her.
Fuhrergebiet - Hitler's proposed Nazi HQ (FO 1020/3471)
This file contains intelligence reports which reveal the Allies' belief in a Nazi National Redoubt in the Austrian Alps where up to 60,000 'Nazi elites' could hold out for two years and act as a centre to direct the activities of pro-Nazi elements across Europe. The file includes the testimony of a 19-year-old Austrian deserter who provides a detailed description of Hitler ('pale and covered in loosely hanging flesh') and the personalities that surrounded him (his barber looked like 'a circus clown').
Publicity for the Government's pay policy (T 377/432)
This 1979 Treasury file deals with discussions among ministers on how best to manage public expectations on pay. Among the letters and briefings, Special Adviser Peter Cropper lists the objectives of the new government as 'joy, wealth, national power, two acres and a cow, a second car in every garage, interesting jobs, leisure, comfortable trains, channel tunnels, atomic power stations, gleaming new coal mines, everyone a bathroom, patios for all etc.'
