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Papers of Adam von Trott

Contents

• Introduction
  • Biographical note
  • Bibliography
  • Collection description
  • Provenance
  • Arrangement
• Catalogue
  • I Letters 1931-1932
  • II Letters 1934
  • III Letters 1935
  • IV Letters 1937-1942
  • V Undergraduate essays by Adam von Trott
  • Biographical Index

Biographical Index

A brief guide to selected people mentioned in the letters and memoir: close friends, acquaintances, and some well-known figures of the day, or people in public life - writers, academics, political activists, and so on - with whom AvT and Diana Hubback came into various sorts of contact. Of course, some are far more frequently referred to than others, and at different times between 1931 and 1942 different friends and acquaintances are mentioned - not all are constant through the entire correspondence.

Biographical data and relationship to AvT or Diana Hubback is included. This may avoid confusion about who Diana Hubback or AvT is referring to - however, they refer to three Davids (Hubback, Hopkinson and Astor) as well as two Dicks (Latham and Crossman), so confusion in some cases may be unavoidable merely by reference to this index: the reader will have to work out who is referred to by context. It should be noted that some of the people referred to in the letters are, for example, contemporary authors whom AvT or Diana Hubback has read, rather than actual friends or acquaintances. Not everyone who is mentioned in the letters is listed here, particularly if they are not mentioned often.

Other sources may be of use to supply detail: the D.N.B., Who's Who and Who Was Who (for notable or public figures); the Balliol College Register (for former members of AvT's college); and the books written about AvT listed on the bibliography, which include both memoirs (like The Incense Tree) and secondary works, like biographies of AvT.

Adams, J.W.L. (Bill) : Son of W.G. Adams, who became Warden of All Souls in 1933. Bill Adams was a contemporary of AvT at Balliol (Balliol 1928). See the Balliol College Register.

Antikainen, Toivo : A Finnish Communist whose trial (he was alleged to have roasted a prisoner of war alive during the Finnish Civil War) Diana Hubback attended on her Scandinavian trip in 1936. His case is referred to in the correspondence, although his name is not necessarily mentioned. See the memoir (IV iii p.75) and The Incense Tree ch. 12.

Astor, David (1912-): Second son of Lord Astor and his wife Nancy (whose houses - Cliveden, and their house in St. James' Square, London - AvT sometimes visited. Apparently Nancy Astor took such a liking to AvT after she met him for the first time in 1937 that she bought him some new clothes). A Balliol contemporary and friend of AvT's (Balliol 1931). He became the editor of The Observer in 1948. See Who's Who.

Baldwin, Roger : A friend AvT met on his first visit to the U.S., thanks to an introduction by Sir Stafford Cripps (q.v.). Head of the American Civil Liberties Union.

Balogh, Thomas : A acquaintance of AvT whilst AvT was at Balliol; and later a contact of Shiela Grant Duff (q.v.) in her journalistic career. Later a Fellow of Balliol (see the Balliol College Register 1940), also economic adviser to the Wilson government.

Berlin , Isaiah (1909-): Sometimes referred to as "Shaiah" or "Shaya", the name he was called by his undergraduate friends. Fellow of All Souls and lecturer in philosphy at New College from 1932. One of the circle of friends including Shiela Grant Duff, Peggy Garnett, Douglas Jay, Chrisopher Cox (qq.v.), and also AvT and Diana Hubback. See The Parting of Ways, and The Incense Tree.

Bosanquet, Barbara : A cousin of AvT's.

Bowra, Sir Maurice (1898-1971): An Oxford don (elected Fellow of Wadham in 1922), later (from 1938) Warden of Wadham. A friend of AvT's, he is sometimes referred to in the 1930s correspondence - however, in June 1939, on a visit of AvT's to Oxford, they quarrelled about foreign relations and about AvT's activities. Bowra was suspicious of AvT's views on what the opposition to Hitler proposed to do if they were to gain power. He believed that AvT intended that Germany should be allowed by other European powers to keep the territorial gains Hitler had made. This disagreement had serious consequences for AvT, since it caused Bowra to write to influential American friends, including Felix Frankfurter (one of President Roosevelt's intimate advisers), warning them against him - which did indeed affect for the worse the way in which AvT was viewed when he visited the States in 1939-40. See Sykes' (including pp.263-4) and MacDonogh's (including pp.135-6) biographies of AvT for more detail on this relationship. See the D.N.B. for more information on Bowra.

Braun, Otto : A young socialist writer, admired by AvT and by his friend A.L. Rowse (q.v.). He had been killed on the Western Front. Stepson of Julie Braun-Vogelstein (q.v.).

Braun-Vogelstein, Julie : Sometimes referred to in the correspondence as "Mrs. (or Frau) B." A Jewish friend of AvT whom he met through Mayer and Seebach (qq.v.). Widow of the socialist politician Heinrich Braun, who was the father of Otto Braun (q.v.). She was the victim of attention from the Nazi authorities, given her race and the nature of her late husband's political views. She left Berlin for France in October 1935 (following the passage of the Nuremberg laws in September 1935), in order to emigrate to America (which she did in spring 1936). See Sykes' and MacDonogh's biographies of AvT for more on the friendship.

Collingwood, R.G. (1889-1943): An Oxford friend of AvT. Philosopher-historian, of Pembroke College, later Professor at Magdalen (from 1935). See the D.N.B. for biographical information.

Cox, Christopher : A classics tutor at New College, Oxford, tutor to and friend of Douglas Jay and Goronwy Rees (qq.v.), and a friend of AvT and Diana Hubback also.

Cripps, Lady Isobel : Wife of Sir Stafford Cripps (qv.). Referred to in earlier letters by Diana Hubback as "Lady C.", later as Isobel. Diana Hubback sometimes used to visit their home, "Goodfellows", which was at Lechlade.

Cripps, John : A contemporary of AvT's at Balliol (Balliol 1931). Son of Sir Stafford Cripps (q.v.) - it was through him that Sir Stafford Cripps met AvT.

Cripps, Sir Stafford (1889-1952): Socialist MP, introduced to AvT by his son John (q.v.), who was a contemporary of AvT's at Balliol. See the D.N.B. for further information.

Crossman, Richard (Dick) (1907-74): A Oxford friend of Diana Hubback and AvT. He was a Fellow of New College between 1930 and 1937. He was also a socialist and became involved in Labour Party politics during the 1930s. In the correspondence between Diana Hubback and AvT, socialists are usually referred to as "Dick's friends" - this is a reference to Crossman. However, AvT's friendship with Crossman - like so many of his English friendships - suffered during the Second World War (see MacDonogh's biography). Later, a politician, diarist and journalist; see the D.N.B. for more information on him.

Dunman, Jack : A contemporary of AvT's at Balliol (Balliol 1929). He was one of the leaders of the Communist-inspired splinter which seceded from the University Labour Club to form the October Club, of which Diana Hubback became women's secretary while she was at Oxford (see The Incense Tree p.82). In later correspondence between AvT and Diana Hubback, as part of the code they used, Communists are often referred to as "Jack's friends". See the Balliol College Register for further biographical information on him.

Dyer-Bennet, Miriam : An American woman whom AvT met while he was at Göttingen in 1930. Their friendship was close but she returned to America in 1933, although AvT visited her in California on his later visits to the U.S.

Ecke, Gustav : A German who had emigrated to China in 1923, who had known AvT in his youth. AvT stayed with him during his visit to China in 1937-8, and again when he visited in 1940.

Eberhard, Dr. Wolfram : A sinologist to whom AvT had received an introduction from Ecke (q.v.). He agreed to accompany AvT on his trip to China, instructing him in Chinese, and Chinese philosophy and culture.

Evans, Myfanwy : A friend of Diana Hubback's. She attended St. Hugh's. See The Incense Tree, including pp.86-7 and p.129. In her letters Diana Hubback sometimes calls her the " British Museum girl".

Fischer-Williams, Jenifer : A friend of Diana Hubback's. (In 1941 married Herbert Hart, Professor of Jurisprudence in Oxford 1952-68).

Fisher, H.A.L. (1865-1940): Historian and Warden of New College. Diana Hubback sometimes stayed at the Fishers' when she returned to Oxford. H.A.L. Fisher was also a friend of AvT's. See the D.N.B.

Foot, Michael (1913-): An Oxford acquaintance of Diana Hubback's, a member of the Labour Club at the University (he was at Wadham). See The Incense Tree, p.81. Later, a journalist, politician, and leader of the Labour Party.

Garnett, Peggy : A close friend of Shiela Grant Duff's from school, she went to Somerville. She subsequently married Douglas Jay (q.v.). See The Parting of Ways.

Gluckman, Max (1911-75): A South African Rhodes scholar (he came up to Exeter College in 1934) with whom Diana Hubback became friendly. He later became a prominent anthropologist (see the D.N.B.).

Golfing, Franz : A Viennese Jewish friend of AvT's to whom he was close when he was at Göttingen University (before he went up to Balliol College, Oxford). They met through Miriam Dyer-Bennet (q.v.). AvT later introduced Golfing to Diana Hubback.

Gollancz, Victor (1893-1967): Publisher. Acquaintance of AvT (they met in 1933). See the D.N.B.

Grant Duff, Shiela [sic] : A close friend of Diana Hubback's from school (St. Paul's) and Lady Margaret Hall, subsequently a friend of AvT's, although later on their friendship foundered - due in part to a divergence of opinion on foreign affairs and the issue of Czechoslovakia. She went up to LMH in 1931, took her final exams (in PPE) in 1934 and subsequently worked as a foreign correspondent between 1934 and 1939. She also worked for Hugh Dalton MP, at the same time as Diana Hubback was working for Ellen Wilkinson (q.v.). Her family home, High Elms (in Kent), is sometimes mentioned in the letters. See her autobiography The Parting of Ways, and her published correspondence with AvT, A Noble Combat (both listed on the bibliography).

Grant Duff, Ursula : Shiela Grant Duff's (q.v.) mother. Usually mentioned - often as "Mrs G D" - when Siebert (q.v.) is under discussion in the correspondence, since she had him to stay at her house for some time after he came to England.

Gully, Signe : A friend of AvT. (Grandaughter of William Court Gully, 1835-1909, a Speaker of the House of Commons).

Henderson, Charles : An Oxford friend of Diana Hubback's, part of her and AvT's circle there. Fellow of Corpus, and Cornish scholar. He died in Italy soon after his marriage in 1933 (his wife's name was Isobel - she was also a friend of AvT). See The Incense Tree pp.83-4 and pp.110-11.

Hopkinson, David : Diana Hubback's husband, whom she married in 1939.

House, Humphrey (1908-55): Academic (elected Fellow of Wadham in 1931; although he resigned in 1932, his academic career continued elsewhere) and acquaintance of AvT's. See the D.N.B. for more biographical information on him.

Hubback, David : Diana Hubback's brother. He went up to King's College, Cambridge in autumn 1934.

Hubback, Eva : Diana Hubback's mother - therefore usually referred to thus. She was a Jew but married a Gentile. Her husband (Diana Hubback's father) was killed in the Great War. She had attended Newnham, where her circle of friends included Rupert Brooke, and she was a worker for education and social reform, feminist, and Principal of Morley College in South London. The family home was called "Threeways", and is sometimes referred to in the letters. See The Incense Tree, and The Parting of Ways pp.23-4. She is also listed in the D.N.B. Missing Persons (edited by C.S. Nicholls, O.U.P. 1993).

Hubback, Rachel : Diana Hubback's sister. Her ill health is mentioned in a number of the letters.

Irving, Arthur : An acquaintance of Diana Hubback's (he had earlier been at Balliol but his time there predated AvT's. Balliol 1922, see the Balliol College Register).

Israel , Wilfrid : A prominent figure in the Jewish community in Berlin, and a close friend of AvT's; they met in around 1935. He was head of a large Jewish department store in Berlin and during the nineteen thirties acted for the safety of fellow Jews within Germany, as Diana Hubback's memoir recalls. He died in 1943 when his plane was shot down by the Germans on a flight from Portugal to England. See the memoir for more details on his life and friendship with AvT (IV iii p. 58).

Jay, Douglas : A friend and later husband of Shiela Grant Duff's close friend Peggy Garnett (qq.v.). He was elected Fellow of All Souls in late 1930. He was also a socialist.

Kerr, Philip (Lord Lothian) (1882-1940): Statesman and Rhodes Trustee. Acquaintance of AvT and one of the Trustees responsible for allowing AvT to complete his Rhodes Scholarship by going to China. See memoir (IV iii) p.94. See the D.N.B. for biographical information.

Latham, Dick : An Australian Rhodes scholar with whom Diana Hubback became friendly. Lawyer and Fellow of All Souls. He went to Germany to see AvT in 1939. See the memoir on him, IV iii p.108.

Lothian, Lord : see Philip Kerr.

Lynd, Maire (Moira) : A friend of Diana Hubback's from school and Oxford, where she went up as a Home Student the year before Diana Hubback went up to LMH. While at Oxford she stayed with the Fishers (q.v.) in the Warden's Lodgings at New College. She later became a Communist. She was the daughter of the essayist Robert Lynd. Diana Hubback's (including in chapters 4, 7, 13) and Shiela Grant Duff's memoirs both refer to her.

Lynd, Sighle : Maire Lynd's (q.v.) sister.

Marriott, Richard : A friend of Diana Hubback whom she met while they were working at Pritchard, Wood and Partners, after she went down from Oxford in 1932 - see The Incense Tree p.100. She sometimes stayed at his country cottage.

Mayer, J. Peter : Prominent German socialist (an object of considerable suspicion to the Nazi authorities) and friend of AvT - although their friendship later ended after disagreement about means of opposition to Hitler. He left Germany in 1936, emigrating to England. He later became a world authority on Alexis de Tocqueville. He is sometimes referred to as "M." in the correspondence.

Noll, Anni : A German friend of AvT, although Diana Hubback never met her.

Osborn, Margery : One of AvT's American cousins whom he liked when he met her on his 1937-8 visit to America (memoir, IV iii p.85).

Osborn, Tamara : A Georgian Russian girl-friend of Werner von Trott (q.v.), AvT's brother; she came to England and married a musician called Franz Osborn. Originally a friend of AvT's, she also became a friend of Diana Hubback's.

Papineau, Owen : An Oxford friend of Diana Hubback, active in the Union, and in the Labour Club, which was where Diana Hubback met him. Although AvT was contemporary with him, he hardly knew him.

Raphael, Winifred : Diana Hubback's aunt.

Rees, Goronwy (1909-1979): At New College, took finals 1931, won an All Souls Fellowship later the same year. He became a author and journalist. He was a close friend of Shiela Grant Duff (q.v.) during her time at Oxford and after. See the D.N.B. for further biographical information.

Rendell, Jane : A friend of Diana Hubback's from St. Paul's (where she had been head girl) and LMH. She went up to Oxford in 1931 but did not take her final exams until 1935, because of illness. Diana Hubback stayed in contact with her after college, and she is mentioned in quite a number of letters - several of which mention her ill-health. See The Incense Tree, including chapters 4 and 7.

Rose, Jim : A friend of Diana Hubback. Had attended New College.

Rowse, A.L. (1903-): Historian, Fellow of All Souls, and socialist. He and AvT were introduced to one another by Sir Ernest Swinton, the Chichele Professor of Military History, while AvT was in Mansfield College Oxford (1929). At that time Rowse and AvT became good friends. However their friendship did not really survive various differences, including philosophical ones, and also the suspicions Rowse had (like other Oxford friends and acquaintances) of AvT's views and nationalism in the years before 1939. See Sykes' and MacDonogh's biographies of AvT for more information on the friendship and its later difficulties. Sometimes referred to as "A.L.".

Russell, Bertrand (1872-1970): Philosopher. AvT and Diana Hubback were both acquainted with him. His third wife Peter (née Patricia Spence, q.v.) is also referred to in the correspondence. See the D.N.B. for further information.

Seebach, Hasso von : A socialist friend of AvT from Berlin. He left Germany for America at the same time as Mrs. Braun Vogelstein (q.v.), a move of which AvT disapproved, since he felt that if moderating elements within Germany left, opposition to the regime would suffer. However AvT did see Seebach during visits to America.

Siebert, Hans : A Communist who had got in trouble with the German authorities and suffered some periods of incarceration in concentration camps. AvT met him in late 1934 and managed to get him out of detention at that time. He also helped him to leave the country: he finally left Germany to arrive in England in autumn 1936. There, several of AvT's friends including Diana Hubback, Shiela Grant Duff's mother (q.v.) and Isobel Cripps (q.v.), helped him. There were at various times plans for him to go to North or South America but in the event he remained in England. After the Second World War he returned to (East) Germany.

Simon, Sir Ernest (1879-1960): Diana Hubback's guardian. Involved in (Liberal) politics (he was Rowse's - q.v. - opponent in the general election of 1931) and housing matters. See the D.N.B. for biographical information.

Singer, Eleanor (later Eleanor Barrett-Brown) : A friend of AvT; she met him through his long-time American friend Miriam Dyer-Bennet (q.v.). She became a doctor.

Spence, Patricia (Peter) : Third wife (they married in 1936) of Bertrand Russell (q.v.).

Spender, Stephen (1909-95): Poet and critic. A friend of Diana Hubback's during the 1930s. However, she writes in her memoir that in 1940 he recalled in his diary, published in the magazine Horizon, a meeting with AvT in 1933. In this he "made a number of misstatements about him, of which the most damaging were those attributing Nazi sympathies to him". She gives her opinion that AvT would have been sorry to know that Spender, "whom he liked and whose work he admired", had written this (IV iii, p.16, see also MacDonogh pp.134-5).

Sperry, Henrietta (later Henrietta Wilson) : An American friend of Diana Hubback's from LMH.

Sumner, Humphrey (1893-1951): One of AvT's tutors at Balliol (Balliol 1912), and a friend of his. Later Warden of All Souls. See the D.N.B. and the Balliol College Register.

Swinton, Mrs. George (Elsie) : A friend of Eleonore von Trott (q.v.) from her childhood days in St. Petersburg. She was later resident in London.

Tawney, R.H. (1880-1962): Balliol alumnus (Balliol 1899), socialist, and social and economic historian, whom AvT first met on a visit to England in 1935. Diana and David Hopkinson at one time shared a house with Tawney in Mecklenburgh Square, London. See the D.N.B. and the Balliol College Register for further information about him.

Taylor, George : An Orientalist whom AvT met in 1936, at the Royal Institute of International Affairs at Chatham House, through Lord Astor, the father of David Astor (q.v.). He taught at Yenching University, and AvT saw him whilst he was in China; Taylor helped him with his studies. See Malone's dissertation on AvT, and also the memoir (IV iii) p.99.

Trott zu Solz, August von (1855-1938): AvT's father.

Trott zu Solz, Eleonore von : AvT's mother. She was half American, which accounts for the fact that AvT had some American relations, whom he visited while he was in the United States.

Trott zu Solz, Heinrich von ("Heini"): AvT's youngest brother.

Trott zu Solz, Monika von : One of AvT's sisters.

Trott zu Solz, Werner von : AvT's elder brother.

Trott zu Solz, Vera von : AvT's eldest sister.

Wachsmann, Wolf von : A young German student whom Diana Hubback had met the summer after leaving school, on a visit to Munich in 1931. See The Incense Tree chapter 6.

Warburg, Ingrid : A Jewish friend of Diana Hubback's and Shiela Grant Duff's, through whom she met AvT. She met them at Oxford, where she had been sent to perfect her English. Her family, a well-known banking family, was resident in Hamburg. She subsequently settled in New York (being Jewish, the climate in Germany was increasingly uncongenial for her family there, and they eventually - in some cases reluctantly - left for the U.S.). Once in New York, she was in contact with German Resistance groups there. AvT saw her during his 1937 visit to the U.S.

Wilkinson, Ellen (1891-1947): Labour MP for whom Diana Hubback worked (1935-6). See the D.N.B. for further biographical information on her.

Wilson, Geoffery : A friend of AvT: an Oxford undergraduate whom AvT had met whilst visiting Geneva in 1928. In Oxford he had been president of the Labour Club. He later became secretary to Sir Stafford Cripps (q.v.).

(Note: Diana Hubback did have another friend called Geoffery, Geoffery Gollin (whom AvT did not know), so in the right context a reference might be to him rather than to Wilson.)