A typed letter signed by Winston S. Churchill, dated 16 June 1937, to Hubertus zu Löwenstein-Wertheim-Freudenberg, concerning efforts to organize opposition to the Nazi regime through a German émigré newspaper.
CHURCHILL AND GERMAN ANTI-NAZI RESISTANCE DURING THE WILDERNESS YEARS
A revealing letter from Churchill’s “Wilderness Years,” demonstrating his direct contact with one of the most prominent German opponents of Adolf Hitler. Writing from Chartwell, Churchill responds to Löwenstein’s request for assistance in supporting a dissident newspaper intended to coordinate resistance to National Socialism.
Churchill declines involvement, noting the limits of his time and influence at this critical moment:
“I do not see how I can assist you in the object you have in view, as my time and influence at the present are fully engaged.”
In a brief autograph continuation, he adds a courteous personal acknowledgment:
“But I thank you for laying the matter before me in so courteous a form.”
Löwenstein, a German aristocrat and outspoken critic of the Nazi regime, had fled Germany in 1933 following Hitler’s rise to power. From exile, he sought to organize opposition networks across Europe and the United States. In his letter of 11 June 1937, he warned Churchill that National Socialism would lead to “an international catastrophe” and proposed establishing a center of resistance outside Germany.
At the time, the émigré newspaper Pariser Tageszeitung in Paris faced imminent collapse. Löwenstein hoped to assume control and appealed to Churchill to help assemble British trustees and financial support. Though sympathetic to anti-Nazi efforts, Churchill declined to participate.
The correspondence reflects Churchill’s growing engagement with German opposition figures during the late 1930s, a period in which—still out of office—he emerged as one of the most prominent British voices warning of the dangers posed by Nazi expansion.
Löwenstein would later return to Germany after the Second World War, serving as a member of the Bundestag.
Single sheet, on printed Chartwell letterhead, typed on one side and signed “Winston S. Churchill,” with autograph continuation.
Two filing holes to the inner margin; folds from handling, light toning, and scattered spotting; overall in good condition.
Archive
Löwenstein’s letter to Churchill of 11 June 1937 is preserved in the Churchill Archives Center (CHAR 2/296A–B).
A typed letter signed by Winston S. Churchill, dated 16 June 1937, to Hubertus zu Löwenstein-Wertheim-Freudenberg, concerning efforts to organize opposition to the Nazi regime through a German émigré newspaper.
CHURCHILL AND GERMAN ANTI-NAZI RESISTANCE DURING THE WILDERNESS YEARS
A revealing letter from Churchill’s “Wilderness Years,” demonstrating his direct contact with one of the most prominent German opponents of Adolf Hitler. Writing from Chartwell, Churchill responds to Löwenstein’s request for assistance in supporting a dissident newspaper intended to coordinate resistance to National Socialism.
Churchill declines involvement, noting the limits of his time and influence at this critical moment:
“I do not see how I can assist you in the object you have in view, as my time and influence at the present are fully engaged.”
In a brief autograph continuation, he adds a courteous personal acknowledgment:
“But I thank you for laying the matter before me in so courteous a form.”
Löwenstein, a German aristocrat and outspoken critic of the Nazi regime, had fled Germany in 1933 following Hitler’s rise to power. From exile, he sought to organize opposition networks across Europe and the United States. In his letter of 11 June 1937, he warned Churchill that National Socialism would lead to “an international catastrophe” and proposed establishing a center of resistance outside Germany.
At the time, the émigré newspaper Pariser Tageszeitung in Paris faced imminent collapse. Löwenstein hoped to assume control and appealed to Churchill to help assemble British trustees and financial support. Though sympathetic to anti-Nazi efforts, Churchill declined to participate.
The correspondence reflects Churchill’s growing engagement with German opposition figures during the late 1930s, a period in which—still out of office—he emerged as one of the most prominent British voices warning of the dangers posed by Nazi expansion.
Löwenstein would later return to Germany after the Second World War, serving as a member of the Bundestag.
Single sheet, on printed Chartwell letterhead, typed on one side and signed “Winston S. Churchill,” with autograph continuation.
Two filing holes to the inner margin; folds from handling, light toning, and scattered spotting; overall in good condition.
Archive
Löwenstein’s letter to Churchill of 11 June 1937 is preserved in the Churchill Archives Center (CHAR 2/296A–B).
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