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Hitler's English Girlfriend: The Story of Unity Mitford
A free-spirited rebel from the start, Unity will do and say just about anything to get herself in trouble. She's different, an outsider. In Adolf Hitler, she finds her idol of nonconformity. But soon her mind is also brainwashed by his racist ideology. She becomes obsessed with seeking to win his love, and she wants to make her native England and his Germany become as one to prevent another world war. If she can achieve these goals, she will be the happiest woman in the world. If not, she plans to end her life. Basing his account on the known facts, David Rehak tells the shocking story of Unity Mitford, an English girl who turned into Hitler's most beloved groupie and most unlikely intimate friend. Through Rehak's compelling narrative, we learn about a truly strange and fascinating young girl and her extraordinary relationship with perhaps the most evil and mysterious man in world history.
160 pages, Paperback
First published August 1, 2012
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Displaying 1 - 9 of 9 reviews
May 18, 2025
The title of the book is misleading as Unity Mitford was not Hitler's "girlfriend"; she was more of a sychophantic "teenager/young woman" with an immature mind. The autor wrote like a child himself; used the F word twice -- which I'm no prude, say the F word all the time, but in a book like this? It was just dumb. Unity Mitford was obviously a very troubled young person.
January 15, 2026
What a terrible book. It reads like it was written by a schoolchild. When you consider the subject matter- a woman born into one of the most well known aristocratic families of the time befriends the man who literally started WW2 and will always be known as one of the most brutal men of all time- and this book doesn’t even have an index. Really poor quality photos. Awful.
October 14, 2018
The subject matter is interesting, but I found the writing itself clumsy and juvenile, so if you are only going to read one book on Unity Mitford, I don't think this should be it!
February 27, 2020
Poorly researched and written, I felt.
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November 30, 2012*Warning folks- spoilerage contained within*
Hmm, so I find the Mitfords absolutely fascinating and I felt that, having read Mary Lovell's family biography and moving on the Hons and Rebels and A Life of Contrasts as well as books on Nancy, that it was worth giving Unity more time away from the family as it were. In order to do this there seemed to be two choices, this and the biography by David Pryce-Jones written in the 70s.
I can now say since the package fell on the door mat this morning, through my feverish read that I might have been better off with the biography.
The problem with this book is that it is trying to do two jobs at once and as such is doing neither terribly well. Rather than acting as an interesting biography, this fictionalized account of her life and relationship with her mother as well as Jessica seems to me to be riddled with biographical errors and guesswork.
It is broken into three sections where it clearly gets facts wrong. Unity is set up as some sort of satan child, however pretty, and is portrayed in a way that one imagines Damien in The Omen. As it appears the author has gathered most of his information from reading the Mitford biographies and as such has played fast and loose with the facts. His making up of what he suggests to be accurate dialogue is also somewhat troubling. In the second part Unity runs off to Germany and meets Hitler... Maybe Unity was sexually promiscuous, but somehow the assumption that this was the case serves to make her seem just the all round 'bad 'un' that Rehak has been building up to since the beginning. We know that Unity was a troubling person, it is one of the reasons perhaps more biographies should be written of her, but this shoe horning in of 'bad gurl' detail grates somewhat. In part 3 Unity comes back to Britain and seems to under go a full transformation as if, now she has shot herself she has been redeemed of her former Nazism and is reformed, and rather stresses that more than the severe brain damage she obviously suffered.
A major issue I had was with the factual errors and the role of Jessica. We know from reading other books that Jessica has ran away with Esmond Romily by this point, and while being in some ways dedicated to 'the Boud' as she called her, would not become her friend and confidant at home or in London as she moved to America shortly afterwards. While I have a lot of admiration for Jessica, and hope I am not doing her a massive disservice, I have never imagined her to be sage depicted in these pages, rather more living and experiencing life on a wing and a prayer (note, am a massive Decca fan, but a spade is a spade). Also to make Jessica the sage seems to suggest that of the two ideologies embraced by the sister's that Communism was a benign influence, which some members of the former USSR, China and North Korea might argue, which makes it rather contentious. It also seems that the famous model for Uncle Matthew is a sweet doddery old fool here, Mum evil, with hints of Electra and it is all a bit uncomfortable. Also wrong photo credits.
However, I feel that the main problem which affects this is the bias Rehak takes. I agree obviously that the Nazi war atrocities were terrible and it is sometimes useful to be reminded of this when reading the accounts of young ladies seduced by the glamour of German fascism. Rehak is however, rather too heavy handed in this regard. As such the reader is not treated as an intelligent free thinking reader who can work this out for themselves, but spreads the bias thick and clogs up his narrative with his agenda. Having said this, I approve of the portion of sales going to Holocaust foundations and charities.
All in all, a bit disappointed. I would advise anyone wanting to learn more to try the other biography or stick to Lovell of Guiness. Or read the Letters between Six sisters for more first hand accounts.
Hmm, so I find the Mitfords absolutely fascinating and I felt that, having read Mary Lovell's family biography and moving on the Hons and Rebels and A Life of Contrasts as well as books on Nancy, that it was worth giving Unity more time away from the family as it were. In order to do this there seemed to be two choices, this and the biography by David Pryce-Jones written in the 70s.
I can now say since the package fell on the door mat this morning, through my feverish read that I might have been better off with the biography.
The problem with this book is that it is trying to do two jobs at once and as such is doing neither terribly well. Rather than acting as an interesting biography, this fictionalized account of her life and relationship with her mother as well as Jessica seems to me to be riddled with biographical errors and guesswork.
It is broken into three sections where it clearly gets facts wrong. Unity is set up as some sort of satan child, however pretty, and is portrayed in a way that one imagines Damien in The Omen. As it appears the author has gathered most of his information from reading the Mitford biographies and as such has played fast and loose with the facts. His making up of what he suggests to be accurate dialogue is also somewhat troubling. In the second part Unity runs off to Germany and meets Hitler... Maybe Unity was sexually promiscuous, but somehow the assumption that this was the case serves to make her seem just the all round 'bad 'un' that Rehak has been building up to since the beginning. We know that Unity was a troubling person, it is one of the reasons perhaps more biographies should be written of her, but this shoe horning in of 'bad gurl' detail grates somewhat. In part 3 Unity comes back to Britain and seems to under go a full transformation as if, now she has shot herself she has been redeemed of her former Nazism and is reformed, and rather stresses that more than the severe brain damage she obviously suffered.
A major issue I had was with the factual errors and the role of Jessica. We know from reading other books that Jessica has ran away with Esmond Romily by this point, and while being in some ways dedicated to 'the Boud' as she called her, would not become her friend and confidant at home or in London as she moved to America shortly afterwards. While I have a lot of admiration for Jessica, and hope I am not doing her a massive disservice, I have never imagined her to be sage depicted in these pages, rather more living and experiencing life on a wing and a prayer (note, am a massive Decca fan, but a spade is a spade). Also to make Jessica the sage seems to suggest that of the two ideologies embraced by the sister's that Communism was a benign influence, which some members of the former USSR, China and North Korea might argue, which makes it rather contentious. It also seems that the famous model for Uncle Matthew is a sweet doddery old fool here, Mum evil, with hints of Electra and it is all a bit uncomfortable. Also wrong photo credits.
However, I feel that the main problem which affects this is the bias Rehak takes. I agree obviously that the Nazi war atrocities were terrible and it is sometimes useful to be reminded of this when reading the accounts of young ladies seduced by the glamour of German fascism. Rehak is however, rather too heavy handed in this regard. As such the reader is not treated as an intelligent free thinking reader who can work this out for themselves, but spreads the bias thick and clogs up his narrative with his agenda. Having said this, I approve of the portion of sales going to Holocaust foundations and charities.
All in all, a bit disappointed. I would advise anyone wanting to learn more to try the other biography or stick to Lovell of Guiness. Or read the Letters between Six sisters for more first hand accounts.
April 3, 2012
Such a nasty renegade!
Waiting for the USA Amazon.com page to offer the opportunity to review David Rehak's newest book HITLER'S ENGLISH GIRLFRIEND: THE STORY OF UNITY MITFORD as usual sends readers from the other side of the pond to Amazon.co.uk to seek the answer for the delay. And what a surprise to see the varying responses to Rehak's 'non-fiction novel'! But then time and proximity to the Germany that for a while belonged to Hitler's mad mind and the subsequent destruction of so much of the beauty of England and the enormous loss of lives certainly gives a different perspective to a book about an English girl who likely represents much of the painful memories that persist. Not being a Brit this reader read the story with a slightly different view: not having heard about the sassy Miss Mitford (we all do know of Eva Braun) makes the book more of a novel than a biography and as such it is far more interesting than had we known about the person Unity Mitford.
Rehak takes us from the wealthy childhood background of this strange girl, shares with us how she was always a bit on the sociopathic side, allows us to watch her gradually grow into a woman consumed with an irresponsible and near neurotic passion for Adolph Hitler, how that created schisms in her already embarrassed family, bonded her to her equally strange sisters Jessica and Diana who reacted to Communism, Fascism, and those in charge of the factions that bred them, and we accompany her to Munich and her proximity to her adored Hitler. She became proficient in German, donned the heinous cloak of anti-Semitism, and then balked when her many meetings with Hitler did not result in her capturing the complete attention and returned love of the Führer. Eva Braun assumed the role she treasured. Throughout this part of the book Rehak has inserted many photographs of the distasteful Unity Mitford along with images of those around her. As war became imminent and Hitler planned attacks on England in 1939, Mitford attempted suicide and was returned to England where she eventually spent her days in quasi-isolation until her death in the form of reactive meningitis in 1948.
For the reader who is unfamiliar with all of the facts of this rather repugnant, mentally warped British girl's involvement with Hitler and the accompanying insanity of WW II this story is a fascinating one. No, Rehak is not a brilliant novelist, but he does usually manage to get a fairly solid grip on his characters and unveil them like the dispersal of Salome's veils. It is a moment in history colored by many hard feelings and at no time does the reader find anything about Unity Mitford to like. But there she is, like it or not, and it is 'entertaining' to hear about a girl so malfocused on evil that we can look back with more than just a simple tsk-tsk. Rehak has accomplished that, and if all the facts are not true then he as cautioned us in the beginning that this is a 'non-fiction novel'.
Grady Harp
Waiting for the USA Amazon.com page to offer the opportunity to review David Rehak's newest book HITLER'S ENGLISH GIRLFRIEND: THE STORY OF UNITY MITFORD as usual sends readers from the other side of the pond to Amazon.co.uk to seek the answer for the delay. And what a surprise to see the varying responses to Rehak's 'non-fiction novel'! But then time and proximity to the Germany that for a while belonged to Hitler's mad mind and the subsequent destruction of so much of the beauty of England and the enormous loss of lives certainly gives a different perspective to a book about an English girl who likely represents much of the painful memories that persist. Not being a Brit this reader read the story with a slightly different view: not having heard about the sassy Miss Mitford (we all do know of Eva Braun) makes the book more of a novel than a biography and as such it is far more interesting than had we known about the person Unity Mitford.
Rehak takes us from the wealthy childhood background of this strange girl, shares with us how she was always a bit on the sociopathic side, allows us to watch her gradually grow into a woman consumed with an irresponsible and near neurotic passion for Adolph Hitler, how that created schisms in her already embarrassed family, bonded her to her equally strange sisters Jessica and Diana who reacted to Communism, Fascism, and those in charge of the factions that bred them, and we accompany her to Munich and her proximity to her adored Hitler. She became proficient in German, donned the heinous cloak of anti-Semitism, and then balked when her many meetings with Hitler did not result in her capturing the complete attention and returned love of the Führer. Eva Braun assumed the role she treasured. Throughout this part of the book Rehak has inserted many photographs of the distasteful Unity Mitford along with images of those around her. As war became imminent and Hitler planned attacks on England in 1939, Mitford attempted suicide and was returned to England where she eventually spent her days in quasi-isolation until her death in the form of reactive meningitis in 1948.
For the reader who is unfamiliar with all of the facts of this rather repugnant, mentally warped British girl's involvement with Hitler and the accompanying insanity of WW II this story is a fascinating one. No, Rehak is not a brilliant novelist, but he does usually manage to get a fairly solid grip on his characters and unveil them like the dispersal of Salome's veils. It is a moment in history colored by many hard feelings and at no time does the reader find anything about Unity Mitford to like. But there she is, like it or not, and it is 'entertaining' to hear about a girl so malfocused on evil that we can look back with more than just a simple tsk-tsk. Rehak has accomplished that, and if all the facts are not true then he as cautioned us in the beginning that this is a 'non-fiction novel'.
Grady Harp
June 22, 2013
This book is the wrong combination of patronising and assuming. The narrative style of writing just doesn't work and it feels more like a child's storybook than historical biography. Yet it drops references now and again that no one without a background knowledge of fascism would understand, such as the introduction of Brian Mosley simply as, "Mosley", with no description or indication to who he was or what role he played. I was looking for an interesting read on Unity Mitford and her relationship with Hitler (indicative by the title) and yet I can't struggle past the first 40 pages. I wouldn't recommend it.
Read
February 23, 2013Badly written and not terribly accurate. Try David Pryce-Jones' Unity Mitford: A Quest instead.
Read
March 19, 2019I'm not sure this really belongs in my library's non-fiction section given the liberties the author takes in his 'novel-like' narrative. I found myself repeating "citation needed" like a mantra for the first couple of chapters until I stopped caring. After that, I tried to think of it as historical fiction, but it fails on that level too, since the characterization wasn't vivid and there's practically no sense of time or place, no atmosphere. I've read multiple books about and by the Mitford sisters but I barely recognized their personalities here. Most irritating of all, Rehak misidentifies Nancy as Jessica in one of the photos. Credibility shot with a single name.
Displaying 1 - 9 of 9 reviews