Hubertus Büschel. Hitlers adliger Diplomat

Hubertus Büschel’s Hitlers adliger Diplomat: Der Herzog von Coburg und das Dritte Reich, a study of the Duke of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha (“Carl Eduard”) during the Third Reich, offers considerable evidence to support a recent characterization of the duke as “Hitler’s favourite royal” (Times of London, May 6, 2017). But this royal was not the only one who consorted with Nazi leaders. Prince Philipp von Hessen was arguably closer to Hitler and had a greater influence on events than the Duke of Coburg (acknowledging that I wrote a book on the Princes von Hessen in Nazi Germany). Comparing the duke and Prince Philipp von Hessen and assessing more broadly the princes’ relationship to the Nazi leadership would have been fruitful, but that is lacking in this study. There is, however, a great deal to be found in this very compelling biography. Büschel may be the first academic historian to be given access to the archive of a princely house for the period covering the Third Reich, and he makes excellent use of documents like the duke’s daily calendar. Büschel combines these personal papers with archival documents found in Europe and the United States for what is a well-researched book.

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