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{{trope}}
[[File:
{{quote|''During my wartime years in the United States, I heard not a single "morale-building" story about Central Europe that did not involve a "Nazi nobleman."''
|'''Erik Maria Ritter von Kuehnelt-Leddihn''', ''Leftism Revisited''}}
Ah, yes, the '''Nazi Nobleman'''. This [[Aristocrats Are Evil|arrogant aristocrat]] has wholeheartedly and enthusiastically embraced the [[Those Wacky Nazis|Nazi ideology]] of [[Might Makes Right|"might makes right"]] and [[Social Darwinist|"the strong should dominate the weak"]]. No doubt this is a result of his [[Blue Blood|superior breeding]] and privileged upbringing, during which he was raised to believe himself [[Nietzsche Wannabe|superior to all those lowly proles]].
Naturally, of course, this enthusiastic Nazi hates democracy, probably because it threatens the superiority of the noble class, and is almost certainly [[Screw the Rules, I Have Money|wealthy]], and trusts the Nazis to help him keep his wealth. He is probably a good pal of [[Adolf Hitler|old Adolf himself]]. In some stories, he is a [[Morally
The reality of this trope is far more complicated than the trope itself, and can be found on the [[Nazi Nobleman/Analysis|Analysis page]].
Note that this does not apply to noblemen who happen to be in the ranks of the German army during WWII, or German aristocrats who express un-PC opinions about some ethnic group; this trope refers to noblemen who enthusiastically endorse and specifically promote the Nazi Party and its ideology.
{{examples}}
== Anime and Manga ==
* Prince Gihren Zabi of ''[[Mobile Suit Gundam]]'' is what happens when this trope meets [[A Nazi
==
▲* Prince Gihren Zabi of ''[[Mobile Suit Gundam]]'' is what happens when this trope meets [[A Nazi By Any Other Name]]. He's a [[Social Darwinist]] who sees [[Adolf Hitler]] as someone to look up to, going so far as to take being compared to him as a complement ("I'll show you what a man who follows in Hitler's footsteps can accomplish). He's also [[The Evil Prince]] and a member of the ruling Zeon nobility.
* [[Marvel Comics]] have Baron Heinrich Zemo, a [[Stupid Jetpack Hitler|Nazi super-scientist]] and enthusiastic believer in his own racial superiority.
* [[Marvel Comics]] also has Baron Von Strucker, a Prussian nobleman who was the arch-nemesis of Sergeant Fury and his Howling Commandos, and later went on the head the [[Nebulous Evil Organisation]] Hydra.
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* Obliquely referenced in the [[Marx Brothers]] movie ''A Night In Casablanca''. The Nazi agent Heinrich Stubel goes by the assumed identity of "Count Pfferman"; while his noble title appears to be false, he nonetheless projects a vaguely aristocratic image, in keeping with this trope.
* 1945's ''Hotel Berlin'' features an apparent Nazi blueblood named "Von Stetten" who attempts to escape to South America and start a new Nazi regime there.
* The film ''[[Enemy
** Though in König's case it wasn't so much Nazi ideology as it was his wish to avenge his son's death, his son having been killed in the earliest days of the battle.
** The Soviets [[Playing
* This trope possibly appears in the 1943 war movie ''Bomber's Moon''; the villain of the piece is a Luftwaffe Major named Von
* ''The Master Race'', made in 1944, depicts unrepentant Nazi "Colonel Friedrich Von Beck" deviously fomenting hatred and dissent in a liberated Belgian town.
* Averted in ''Cross of Iron''. Both Sergeant Steiner and his aristocratic nemesis Captain Stransky have a cynical and distasteful view of the Nazis, the former because he has seen enough of the war to know how insane it is and the latter because of his aristocratic Prussian background and distaste for the Nazi belief in social mobility among Germans.
* Averted in ''[[The Sound of Music]]''. Captain von Trapp hates and despises Nazis, tears up their flag contemptuously, destroys them with his [[Death Glare]] and escapes across the border.
** This could just as well fit in the [[Real Life]] section below, as the Captain really did exist; he was a well-known Austro-Hungarian war hero in World War I, commander of several U-boats (yes, Austria-Hungary did have a navy, based in the Adriatic) in which he executed several highly successful war patrols.
* Averted big-time in ''[[Valkyrie (
* Baron von Sepper ([[Richard Burton (actor)|Richard Burton]]) in ''Bluebeard'' (1972).
* ''[[
** It may be worth mentioning that von Kluck was an actual German general in [[World War I]], whose inability to coordinate with von Bülow's signaled the failure of the Schlieffen Plan and led to the extended trench warfare of that conflict.
* ''[[The Rocky Horror Picture Show]]'' invokes this trope in typical B movie style (which is to say, reversed) where referring to Dr. Scott as Dr. Von Scott is enough to establish him as a Nazi (even though this is never actually said).
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* The short story ''Poison Victory'' uses a Nazi Nobleman, and [[Lampshade Hanging|lampshades]] the inaccuracy by having one character remark "Another Nazi nobleman... And to think how Hitler hated the aristocracy!"
* Norman Katov's novel ''The Judas Kiss'' depicts an Austrian Nazi Baron who collaborates with [[Adolf Hitler|Hitler]] in [[Torture Technician|torturing prisoners]].
* [[
** It should be pointed out that Spode abandons his attempts to become a dictator precisely when he succeeds to the title. Moreover, when "Joy in the Morning" was written, Wodehouse probably had not yet invented a title for Spode to inherit.
* Several members of the Vanger family in ''[[The Millennium Trilogy]]'' were enthusiastic supporters of Nazi ideology.
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* The aforementioned "Baroness von Gunther", from the ''[[Wonder Woman]]'' franchise, made an appearance on the 1970s TV show.
* Colonel Klink from ''[[Hogan's Heroes]]'' was depicted as a man of Prussian aristocratic descent, though his apparent lack of enthusiasm for Nazi ideology may exempt him from this trope.
* ''[[Jeeves and Wooster (TV series)|Jeeves and Wooster]]'': Lord Sidcup, mentioned in "Literature" section above, made an appearance on several episodes.
* Averted in ''[['Allo 'Allo
== Music ==
* While not ''exactly'' a Nazi, [[David Bowie]] described his "Thin White Duke" persona (which was during his transition from "plastic [[Soul
* In the 1940s Soviet wartime song ''Baron von der Pshick" by Leonid Utesov, the titular baron is the [[Anthropomorphic Personification]] of the Wehrmacht and gets his ass totally handed to him in Russia.
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== Real Life ==
=== Straight examples
* Successful tank commander and nobleman Hyazinth Graf Strachwitz von Gross-Zauche und Camminetz nicknamed by his troops der Panzergraf (Tank count).[
* Hermann Göring started styling himself as one once in power, and by the end of the war he had made it the last [[The Pirates Who Don't Do Anything|"job"]] he actually did.
* At least one aristocratic German relative of Britain's Prince Philip attained a high position in the Nazi Party. Prince Christopher of Hesse-Cassel was an intimate of Hermann Gōring and became head of the wiretapping unit organized by Gōring that became the forerunner to the Gestapo.
* The Mitfords were perfect examples of British nobility who sympathised with the Nazis; though a distinct minority, their massive publicity over the years has caused many in the public to believe their position was reflective of opinion among the vast majority of British nobility. As among German nobility, ''it wasn't''.
** Perhaps it would be useful to illustrate through the example of the Mitfords themselves. The most strongly Nazi Mitfords were Unity (whose middle name was [[Prophetic Names|Valkyrie]], and attempted suicide when Britain declared war on Germany) and Diana (who married Sir Oswald
* Sir Oswald Mosley, 6th Baronet, was a real-life example of the British variant (though [[Knight Fever|technically not a true "Nobleman"]]), and was the inspiration for Roderick Spode, listed above.
* Josias, Hereditary Prince of Waldeck and Pyrmont became a senior SS officer and served as High Commissioner of Police in German-occupied France. He served three years in prison after the war. Himmler was godfather to his son.
* [[Ass in Ambassador|Franz von Papen]] was an opportunistic supporter of the Nazis. He was a widely disliked figure and German political exiles compared him to Judas or even to [[Satan]]. Furthermore he had the dangerous combination of a delight in intrigue with an overestimation of his strategic talent. When an attempt was made on his life in Ankara the Turkish investigators were presented with a problem well known from detective novels: [[Everyone Is a Suspect| anyone might have wanted to kill him.]]
** He was notably an outspoken opponent of the Nazis (though [[With Friends Like These...|counterproductive]] to say the least) prior to the Night of the Long Knives when various associates of his including his personal adviser were [https://web.archive.org/web/20120529204804/http://books.google.com/books?id=xvZmPB8W1WwC&pg=PA171&dq=von+papen&hl=en&ei=06mNTYCuFZSssAPY05WOCQ&sa=X were killed], and he personally only [http://books.google.com/books?id=zjkcgDyJPmsC&pg=PA112&dq=narrowly+escaped&hl=en "narrowly escaped"] Hitler's purge by the SS.
*** In the previous war, Papen had been the head of Imperial Germany's intelligence effort in the US, where his recommendation that German submarines should start sinking American merchant ships [[Take That|did so much to keep America neutral and win the war for the Kaiser.]] He was appointed Hitler's deputy by [[General Failure|President Hindenburg]], who figured that a man with [[Some Anvils Need to Be Dropped|Papen's record of success]] would be just the fellow to keep this damned Bohemian corporal in line.
=== [[Averted Trope|Aversions]] and [[Subverted Trope|Subversions]]
* Joachim von Ribbentrop was a subversion, in that he acquired the aristocratic "von" when he was adopted by an aunt who had married a nobleman. At the age of 37, no less, and it's alleged that money changed hands in order to bring it about. Before taking his post in Hitler's cabinet he was a liquor salesman, and his pretensions did not endear him to the true German nobility in the least.
* Real-life Austrian aristocrat Erik Maria Ritter von Kuehnelt-Leddihn, author of the above quote, complained about this trope in his book ''Leftism Revisited'', where the full quote [http://www.lewrockwell.com/baltzersen/baltzersen10.html reads] ''"During my wartime years in the United States I heard not a single 'morale-building' story about Central Europe that did not involve a 'Nazi nobleman'. Some did of course exist -- as did Jews who paid conscience money to the NSDAP, and Catholic priests who held 'brown' sympathies. Exceptions confirm the rule. But National Socialism was a plebeian movement; significantly, at the big Nuremberg Trial, not a single nobleman was among those condemned to death."'' (It should be noted that Kuehnelt-Leddihn's [http://www.lewrockwell.com/north/north776.html own father] had served in the German army, but decidedly without any enthusiasm for the Nazi cause).
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* While he supported German nationalism and the Nazi goals of making Germany great again, Wilhelm II, the last German Emperor, refused to meet with Hitler and condemned the Nazis near the end of his life. Several of his sons and other family members, however, did join the Wehrmacht. His second wife [[Horrible Judge of Character|was also quite a fan]] of [[Adolf Hitler|that Austrian corporal]].
* German spy Princess Stephanie Julianne von Hohenlohe was close the Hitler and Göring. She was also Jewish.
* Colonel Claus Schenk Graf von Stauffenberg did get a bit of a [[Historical Hero Upgrade]] in the 2008 film ''[[Valkyrie (
* The Duke of Windsor is only rumored to have been a Nazi
** With minor exceptions though the British nobility from the King himself to the most piddling Younger Son, were as loyal to Britain as during any war and thus were anti-nazi by default-and left their bones on battlefields all over the world. If the Duke of Windsor is to be mentioned these also are to be mentioned.
* The heirs to both the Bourbon and Bonapartist thrones, though forbidden French citizenship (for obvious if mildly distasteful reasons) by French law, joined the Free French Foreign Legion and fought gallantly.
* Boris of Bulgaria is a zig-zag. He co-operated with the Germans reluctantly while attempting to protect his Jewish citizens. Or at least he attempted avoid oppressing them more then the very minimum needed to avoid being overthrown. Whether he is a collaborator or a hero depends on how you look at it.
* Gustav Mannerheim, Field Marshal of Finland and former Czarist flunkey was an ally of convenience of the Nazis. He did not particularly like them so much as he disliked Communists.
* The military proper (as opposed to the [[Praetorian Guard|SS]]) was more sympathetic to the old traditions and had a number of old-style nobility in it who were [[Just Following Orders]]. This was a great bother to [[Adolf Hitler]] who couldn't get along without them but absolutely hated officers; partly because he had once been an enlisted man, partly because they often had minds of their own within the confines of their profession, and partly because they deflected loyalty away from ''him''.
**[[Reconstructed Trope]]: However the military in general went along with the thing including often cooperating directly with atrocities. A lot of that was from simple bribery and [[I Have Your Wife| other methods]]. And of course an old-school officer that was to horrified at the whole thing would simply have done a [[The Sound of Music| Captain von Trap]] long ago and ended up gambling away the war in some [[Casablanca| neutral city]] somewhere. Moreover the number of atrocities done by the Wehrmacht is not always telling. Out of hundreds of thousands of armed adolescents, hungry, horny, and frustrated at hardship you can always find someone willing to take it out on civilians if professional standards are not enforced rigorously especially if they are actively encouraged by the regime in power. There [[Zig Zag|were, in fact]], officers who made some effort to enforce [[The Laws and Customs of War]] and even one or two who managed to get written up on the Yad Vashem. [[All Germans Are Nazis|Being born between the Danube and the Rhine]] [[You Should Know This Already|does not automatically make you exceptionally evil]] - but there was more pressure to be evil on Germans in those days. And that included the Junker class.
* The German tennis player Gottfried von Cramm, despite playing Davis Cup matches for the Nazis, was did not represent the "Aryan ideal" that the Germans sought from their athletes. Von Cramm, openly opposed the Nazis' dismissal of his Jewish doubles partner Daniel Prenn from the Davis Cup team. Furthermore, he lived his life as a closeted gay man and narrowly avoided being sent to a concentration camp because of his sexuality.
* Lazlo Almasy, the Hungarian Egyptologist, came from a family with a castle of it's own and an exploring tradition, as well as a curious legacy of occult speculations (one could bet on one of his family being a vampire if one believed in such things and wanted to bet on that for anyone). He served as the Hungarian liason to the Afrika Korps as an expert in desert special operations. There is no evidence that he was ever a Nazi or even an Arrow Cross (the Hungarian version) and the likelihood is highly improbable. Insofar as he had an ideology it probably would have been monarchism, and the main reason he served with German forces was that Hungary happened to be allied to Germany.
* Raoul Wallenberg is the most famous Righteous Gentile. It is hard to find a Wallenberg Patent of Nobility in the other Wiki though there is at least one knighthood. However the Wallenberg's status as Old Money was so sound that it might as well have been noble.
* The Sultan of Morocco protested against new Vichy Race laws and continued to receive audiences from Jews. And he may have given secret support. In general he seems to have considered the new laws a personal affront to his jurisdiction as it was his understanding that older laws should apply and he held to a rather easy going interpretation of Sharia. Conceivably he could have done more but he was in the unhappy position of being puppet to a puppet.
* Abdullah of Jordan was a political rival of the Zionists rather then a racial enemy and possibly no more a rival then with many Arabs. While this claim is something of [[Some of My Best Friends Are X|a cliche]] it seems to have been true in his case. Moreover his army kept order in parts of the Middle East the British could not spare troops for. And it actively assisted in the conquest of Syria from the Vichyites (one of the few instances where Jordan and Israel were fighting on the same side).
* Haile Selassie, Emperor of Ethiopia (perhaps High King might be a better rendering given the political set up in Ethiopia) took sides with the British to reclaim his throne from the Italians. Obviously he had no interest in being a Nazi.
* Indian Kshatriya (roughly the counterpart of knights) often enrolled in the [[Kipling's Finest|Indian Army]] and fought the Germans. Usually for [[Punch Clock Hero|money]] or [[Proud Warrior Race Guy|tradition]] rather then active anti-naziism but they were hardly pro nazi. And the best pf them were fearsome foes indeed.
* American old-money were not aristocrats as patents of nobility were (and are) unconstitutional, and there was too much land in America for an enclosed clique to get an oligopoly. They were, however, often dynasties and often indistinguishable from nobles proper. They had a record as mixed as any. Joe Kennedy seems to have backed positions that with the benefit of hindsight look like collaboration. But John (the later President) was a well-known naval officer. Bush senior was a Navy pilot. And a number of old money sorts got into the OSS; being an entitled traveler or an apprentice to a multinational was a great cover for doing strange things in a strange city. One of these was the famous Alan Dulles, who spent large parts of his career intriguing with anti-Nazi conspirators in Germany from his Swiss base. He was from a "Boston Brahman" family and had an ancestor on the Mayflower.
* Basically nobles sided with either their country or their political convictions. Or followed their interests. Or just got out of the way as best they could. In other words they kind of behaved like, [[Captain Obvious|everyone else in the entire world.]] There was no inherent reason for Nazis and Nobles to gravitate toward each other. Nobles had more then enough flattery for their bloodline anyway. And they would have been biased against the idea of an erratic state that might not protect their property.
** Moreover the aristocracy had an ideology of its own that was entirely different. It was more cosmopolitan and less nativist; aristocrats often went to the same parties and schools and even when they were on opposite sides in war preferred [[Let's Fight Like Gentlemen|to fight like gentlemen]]. They also did not possess the insatiable racial hatred of Nazis. Which is not to say they couldn't be horribly bigoted both about race and class -- just that it was a more lazy sort of bigotry which was not inclined to commit atrocities [[For the Evulz]], though an evil aristocrat might do so [[Pragmatic Villainy|to get something he wanted.]] There was really no reason an aristocrat would find a place in Nazism to tempt either his ambition or ideological convictions and plenty not.
{{reflist}}
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[[Category:Reichstropen]]
[[Category:Nazi Nobleman]]
[[Category:Alliterative Trope Titles]]
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