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The Black Book (list)

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For other uses, see Black book (disambiguation).

The Black Book was the post-war name given to the Sonderfahndungsliste G.B. ('Special Search List G.B'), the list of prominent British to be arrested in the case of a successful invasion of Britain by Nazi Germany in World War II. The list was a product of the SS Einsatzgruppen and compiled by Walter Schellenberg. It contained the names of 2,820 people, British subjects and European exiles, living in Britain who were to be immediately arrested if Operation Sea Lion, the invasion of Britain, succeeded.

The list was appended to the 'Informationsheft GB', a 144 page handbook containing information on important aspects of English society including institutions such as embassies, universities, newspaper offices, and Freemasons' Lodges. British intelligence mole Dick Ellis provided much of the information.[1]

Background

The original handbook, or 'Informationsheft GB' covered geography, economics, political system, government, legal system, administration, military, education system, important museums, press and radio, religion, parties, immigrants, freemasons, Jews, police apparatus and secret service. The 'Black Book' as it is known in the Tabloid Press was a later appendage and consisted of 104 pages of names listed in alphabetical order.[2][3] 'Fahndungsliste' translates into 'wanted list', 'sonderfahndungsliste into 'especially wanted list' or 'most wanted list'.

Beside each name was the number of the RSHA (Reich Main Security Office) to which the person was to be handed over. Churchill was to be placed into the custody of Amt VI (Foreign Military Intelligence), but the vast majority of the people listed in the Black Book would be placed into the custody of Amt IV (Gestapo). The book had several notable mistakes, such as people who had already died (Sigmund Freud) or moved away (Paul Robeson), and omissions (such as George Bernard Shaw, one of the few English language writers whose works were published and performed in Nazi Germany).[4]

A print run produced 20,000 books but the warehouse in which they were stored was destroyed in a bombing raid [5] and only two originals are known to survive (one in the Imperial War Museum in London). On learning of the book, Rebecca West is said to have sent a telegram to Noël Coward saying "My dear - the people we should have been seen dead with."

The list was similar to earlier lists prepared by SS like the Special Prosecution Book-Poland (German: Sonderfahndungsbuch Polen). It was an "enemies of the Reich list" prepared before the war by members of the German fifth column in cooperation with German Intelligence. Sixty-one thousand people on this list were targets of Einsatzgruppen during Operation Tannenberg and Intelligenzaktion - actions of elimination of Polish intelligentsia and the upper classes in occupied Poland between 1939 and 1941.

Notable people listed

See also

Notes

  1. ^ York Membery. Nazis put Britain's Scouts on hit list, Sunday Times 30 May 1999
  2. ^ Walter Schellenberg, The Schellenberg Memoirs, London 1956 (Deutsch: Aufzeichungen, München 1979)
  3. ^ Invasion 1940. The Nazi Invasion Plan for Britain by SS General Walter Schellenberg, London 2000
  4. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v w x y z aa ab ac ad ae af ag ah ai aj ak al am an ao ap aq ar as at au av aw ax ay az ba bb bc bd be bf bg bh bi bj bk Schellenberg, Invasion, 1940, at pages 150, 160, 161, 162, 165, 168, 170, 173, 175, 180, 181, 186, 187, 191, 195, 201, 213, 217, 221, 225, 228, 230, 233, 234, 235, 237, 239, 244, 249, 255, 259, 260, 262
  5. ^ a b Dalrymple, James. Fatherland UK, The Independent, 3 March 2000
  6. ^ a b c d e Hudson, Christopher.Revealed: Hitler's little black guide..., Daily Mail 23 February 2000
  7. ^ a b c d Ogilvy, Graham. Duchess of Atholl was on Nazi list for assassination Daily Mail 13 March 2000
  8. ^ Brian Harrison, ‘Pevsner, Sir Nikolaus Bernhard Leon (1902–1983)’, Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, Oxford University Press, 2004
  9. ^ Fearn, Nicholas. A travel guide for Nazis The Daily Telegraph 18 March 2000
  10. ^ Lawrence D. Stokes: Secret Intelligence and Anti-Nazi Resistance. The Mysterious Exile of Gottfried Reinhold Treviranus, in: The International History Review, Vol. 28, No. 1 (Mar., 2006), p. 60.

References

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