Marburg Files#Contents

The Marburg Files, also known as the Windsor Files or Duke of Windsor Files, are a series of top-secret documents discovered in Germany during May 1945 near the Harz Mountains and compiled at Marburg Castle, Hesse.{{cite web|title = German Foreign Ministry and Italian documents 1867-1945 captured by the British| url = http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/help-with-your-research/research-guides/german-foreign-ministry-and-italian-documents-1867-1945-captured-by-british/| accessdate = August 14, 2018| publisher = The National Archives of the United Kingdom}}{{cite web|title = M1948 Records Concerning the Central Collecting Points ("Ardella Hall Collection"): Marburg Central Collecting Point, 1945–1949| url = https://www.archives.gov/files/research/microfilm/m1948.pdf| accessdate = August 22, 2019| publisher = National Archives and Records Administration of the United States}} The files are alleged to have detailed a 1940 Nazi plot titled Operation Willi, attempting to persuade the Duke of Windsor to side with the Nazis in a bid to bring the UK to peace negotiations.

Discovery

As American troops were traveling through the outskirts of Degenershausen Estate, they found large numbers of abandoned or destroyed German military vehicles scattered along the side roads, with some containing various archives from the Nazi government. First Lieutenant David Silberberg initially discovered documents signed by the foreign minister of Nazi Germany, Joachim von Ribbentrop, and returned to Degenershausen to further study the background of his findings. After being advised of the locations of Meisdorf House and Marburg Castle, he escorted intelligence officers to the sites where a number of additional items were discovered.{{cite web |title = The Marburg Files: How was the 9th Infantry Division involved? |last=Beckers |first=Yuri | url = https://9thinfantrydivision.net/the-marburg-files/| accessdate = August 14, 2018| website = 9th Infantry Division in WWII|date=2018-01-09 }} During this time, American troops arrested a German soldier named Karl von Loesch, an assistant to Hitler's personal translator Paul-Otto Schmidt, as he was retreating from Treffurt, near Eisenach.{{cite web| title= Arrest of Karl von Loesch (permanent deputy of chief government interpreter, Dr Schmidt)... |url = http://discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk/details/r/C2821767| date = 1947| accessdate = August 14, 2018| publisher = The National Archives of the United Kingdom}} Schmidt had instructed him to destroy all the top-secret papers which he had placed in archives. Von Loesch destroyed the majority, but privately decided to keep some, and interred them in the grounds near the outskirts of Marburg.{{cite web|title = German War Documents Project: German Foreign Ministry and other related Archives: Selection of Documents made by the German War Documents Project: Microfilms and files| url =http://discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk/details/r/C8595| accessdate = August 14, 2018| publisher = The National Archives of the United Kingdom}} He was subsequently, by chance, introduced to Lieutenant-Colonel R. C. Thomson, chief of the British documents team, and offered to lead Thomson's team to the location of the buried correspondence in exchange for immunity from prosecution.{{cite journal|title = The German Foreign Ministry's Archives at Whaddon Hall, 1948-58| journal = American Archivist|volume = 24|issue = 1|pages = 43–54|doi = 10.17723/aarc.24.1.w43046451p884252|year = 1961|last1 = Kent|first1 = George|doi-access = free}}

Around 400 tonnes of material was exhumed by the United States military and transported to Marburg Castle for review.{{cite news|title = The Marburg Files Revealed Former British King Edward VIII's Nazi Ties – And The U.K. Tried To Cover It Up| url = https://allthatsinteresting.com/marburg-files| date = November 12, 2018|accessdate= January 25, 2021|author= Caroline Redmond}} Upon inspection, at least 60 documents appeared to contain correspondence between the Duke of Windsor and the Nazi German high command. American diplomats examined the contents before relaying a mix of original drafts and replicas to the British government. UK Prime Minister Winston Churchill discussed the files with King George VI, who insisted the files be suppressed and never released to the public.{{cite web|title= Watching The Crown? Here Are the Real Facts You Need to Know |url = https://www.history.com/news/history-behind-the-crown-queen-elizabeth-edward-margaret-fact-check| date = December 20, 2017| publisher = A&E Television Networks |website = History.com |first=Brynn |last=Holland}} The entire collection was sent to the United Kingdom in 1948 and housed at Whaddon Hall, Buckinghamshire.

The papers and correspondence discovered are alleged to have further detailed a plot by the Nazis, titled Operation Willi and orchestrated in 1940, to persuade the Duke of Windsor to officially join sides with the Nazis and move him to Germany in a bid to bring the UK to peace negotiations. It proposed convincing the Duke of a fictitious plot by King George VI and Prime Minister Winston Churchill to have him assassinated upon his arrival in The Bahamas, and conspiring with him to stage a kidnapping in the hope of blackmailing the monarchy and the UK into surrender.{{cite web|title = Operation Willi: The Nazi Plot to Kidnap the Duke Of Windsor| url = https://warfarehistorynetwork.com/daily/wwii/operation-willi-the-nazi-plot-to-kidnap-the-duke-of-windsor/| date= November 8, 2016| accessdate = August 14, 2018|first=Eric |last=Niderost |website = Warfare History Network |publisher=Sovereign Media}} The papers are also alleged to reveal a plan to reinstate the Duke as king and recognise his wife, Wallis Simpson, as queen, in exchange for Nazi forces being given free movement across Europe.{{cite web|title = Winston Churchill concealed WW2 files showing Nazi plot to restore Edward VIII to throne| url = https://www.express.co.uk/news/royal/830446/Winston-Churchill-WW2-tried-block-files-Duke-of-Windsor-Nazi-sympathies| date= July 20, 2017| accessdate = August 14, 2018| website = Express}}{{cite news|title = The Duke, the Nazis, and a very British cover-up: the true story behind The Crown's Marburg Files| url = https://www.telegraph.co.uk/on-demand/0/duke-nazis-british-cover-up-true-story-behind-crowns-marburg/| date = December 14, 2017| newspaper = The Telegraph |first=Tristam |last=Fane Saunders}}

Documents considered the most damning for the British royal family were among his final communications with the Nazis before his departure to the Bahamas, in which it has been alleged the Duke encouraged relentless bombing attacks on the United Kingdom in a bid to force the British government to begin peace negotiations.{{cite web|title = Newly Released Documents Reveal Churchill's Efforts to Suppress Details of Nazi Plot| url = https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/newly-released-documents-reveal-churchills-efforts-suppress-details-nazi-plot-180964131/| date= July 21, 2017| accessdate = August 14, 2018 |first=Brigit |last=Katz| publisher = Smithsonian Institution}} There is not believed to be any form of evidence that the Duke accepted any terms offered by the Nazis in a bid to co-operate with Operation Willi, with historians stating he was initially more impressed by the encouragement he had from the British government to become Governor of the Bahamas,Bloch, pp. 93–94, 98–103, 119{{cite web|title = Royalty and the Atlantic World 4: The Duke and Duchess of Windsor's Arrival in the Bahamas in 1940| url = http://www.royalhistorian.com/royalty-and-the-atlantic-world-4-the-duke-and-duchess-of-windsors-arrival-in-the-bahamas-in-1940/| date = 2 April 2013| work = Royal Historian |first=Caroline |last=Harris}} but some documents are alleged to confirm he sympathised with Nazi ideologies.

Release

Margaret Lambert, Maurice Baumont and Paul Sweet were the British, French and American historians and editors involved in examining the documents together from 1946.{{Cite book |last=Eckert |first=Astrid M. |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=vRjJVlRG4qcC&dq=margaret+lambert+historian&pg=PA251 |title=The Struggle for the Files: The Western Allies and the Return of German Archives After the Second World War |date=2012-02-29 |publisher=Cambridge University Press |isbn=978-0-521-88018-3 |language=en}} A small batch was released in 1954, before the entire volume was forced into publication in 1957 with further files released in 1996 at the Public Record Office in Kew. The release of the files was reported to have caused the Duke considerable annoyance.

In popular culture

The Marburg Files are the main subject and focus of the episode "Vergangenheit" ("Past") of the Netflix television series The Crown,{{cite news| title= The Crown, season 2, episode 6 review: a welcome return from Jared Harris as Edward's Nazi past catches up with him |url = https://www.telegraph.co.uk/on-demand/0/crown-season-2-episode-6-review-welcome-return-jared-harris/| date = December 9, 2017| accessdate = August 14, 2018| newspaper = The Telegraph |first=Ed |last=Power}} which depicts Queen Elizabeth II's initial review of the documents. The episode's director Philippa Lowthorpe stated that replicas of genuine files were used during filming. Despite confirming that Queen Elizabeth did condemn the Duke, historian Hugo Vickers has suggested that the episode falsely implies that the Duke was banished from the royal family upon release of the Marburg Files. He remained in contact with his family and public appearances continued.{{cite news| title= How accurate is The Crown? We sort fact from fiction in the royal drama |url = https://www.thetimes.com/uk/royal-family/article/how-accurate-is-the-crown-we-sort-fact-from-fiction-in-the-royal-drama-8g708rz2c | date = December 19, 2017| access-date= January 17, 2020| work = The Times|last1 = Vickers |first1 = Hugo }}