23 July 2015
Signals from the Past
by Neil Tidmarsh
In 1940, P G Wodehouse was captured by the Germans in Le Touquet, where he was living. He was interned – he was 59 years old and a civilian – and then released but confined to Germany. He was invited to appear on some programmes for German radio, and foolishly he accepted. The programmes – innocuous and chatty – were broadcast to the USA which hadn’t entered the war at that point. They caused a scandal in England and after the war he was ostracised here, accused of collaboration and called a traitor. He lived in the USA for the rest of his life.
Seventy-five years later, nobody cares very much about those broadcasts. They’re recognised for what they were – a foolish error of judgment not surprising from such an innocent, gentle, unworldly human being and forgivable because of it. Moreover, the same innocence, gentleness and unworldliness were the well-spring of the body of work which still charms, amuses and entertains millions of people even today. Such qualities are diametrically opposed to those associated with Nazism and do much to undermine them.
Besides, who could ever accuse the creator of Roderick Spode of being a Nazi collaborator? Spode is a brilliantly satirical caricature which cuts fascism off at the knees with that most effective weapon – laughter. Who could take ruthless Strong Men with operatic salutes and Great Ideas seriously after encountering Spode? No, P G Wodehouse’s account with humanity remains in credit and becomes healthier with every new reader.
This week the world saw old black and white photos of another gentle, unworldly innocent from the same era – and who or what could be more innocent and unworldly than a six year old girl? She is seen mucking about in her garden with her little sister, mother and uncle. They’re making gestures which within ten years would become the quintessential symbol of evil.
And the reaction across the world as these photos were published? Understandably and sensibly, the world seems to be judging them in the same spirit that they now judge those broadcasts. Not much bothered. Forgivable in the circumstances. The girl is only six years old. It looks like the grown-ups are just messing around – they might even be taking the mickey out of the real-life Spodes who originated the gesture. It’s not 1943, or 1939, but 1933 – only just after Hitler’s rise to power and before the true nature of Nazism was widely known. Sympathy? Collaboration? Appeasement? Well, those questions become irrelevant, are answered and dismissed by the life which that girl has lived since then. A life of duty and service dedicated to the ideals of decency, democracy, self-restraint, integrity and humanity. Ideals as far from those of Nazism and opposed to them as possible.
It was right, nevertheless, to publish those pictures. The girl is now one of the most influential public figures in the world. The pictures of her uncle surprise no one and shed no new light on him; indeed they remind us of and reinforce the contrast between him and his brother, as ever to the latter’s credit. It might even be a relief to Buckingham Palace that this material, hidden for so long, is now out at last and the world’s response has been so measured and reasonable. It would be fantastic if it encouraged them to release more from the Royal Archives, which must be a historians’ treasure trove of inestimable scholarly value waiting to shine new light on the past.
