Soft Power

In the county of East Sussex, town of Bexhill, was a unique college from 1932 to 1939 — a Nazi’s girls’ school called the Augusta Victoria College (AVC) for girls and women ages 16-21.

Historically this area has been a safe haven for children of British and foreign aristocrats and diplomats. The students who attended AVC included chief of German police Heinrich Himmler’s goddaughter, daughter of Nazi Germany’s foreign minister and more.

Renee Ghert-Zand’s article discusses the school’s history including the school badge with its German lion, the imperial German flag, the Union Jack, and the Nazi swastika flag. The students listened to Hitler’s radio speeches and learned the Nazi salute. But, that is not all they learned — the reason for the school was to encourage political relationships between Germany and Britain through forming alliances with British aristocracy. Hitler didn’t want Britain to join the future war. This finishing school was teaching Nazi girls to be future wives of British aristocracy and to influence with soft power.

The existence of the college is the basis for a new espionage thriller called, “Six Minutes to Midnight.” Also, Time article about the movie here.