The World War Ii Alliance between Winston ChurchillsGreat Britain and the leaders of european nations who fled to london following the nazi occupation of their countries. She details how the british and their exiled allies helped one another to combat the germans prior to u. S. Entry into the war. The National WorldWar Ii Museum hosted and recorded this event in may 2017. Good evening, ladies and gentlemen. Thank you for being here. I am president and ceo of the National Civil war museum. I think a lot of familiar people are out there. Fors great to see you all our distinguished speaker. Share her latest work with us. Before we get started, is always our tradition to recognize any world war ii veterans who may be with us. If there are, stand or wave. Anyone from working on the home front . Dont be bashful. [applause] i saw them earlier. Any survivors of the holocaust to might be here . We like to recognize them as well. Veterans of any time, will you still stand. [applause] thank you very much. Thank you all for your service. And thank you for being here. Ofthe Early Morning hours , world war ii officially came to end in europe. With the surrender of a German Military commander and the signing of surrender documents. Yesterday, may 8, is the anniversary date of ve day. It celebrates the allied defeat of the nazis. 72 years ago, the west was facing a new beginning. A Herculean Task to ensure that another war but not break out on the european continent. Aspects of world war ii that we celebrate and honor museum areplore this the legacies of world war ii. One of them is to celebrate the fact that peace has been maintained. Century old rivals such as the germans, the french, and the british. This can be attributed in some part to the formation of the European Union. We are watching it closely these days with brexit and the recent french president ial elections. They give us some hope that perhaps things are not moving in the wrong direction. It also raises questions about unionture of the european and whether america will continue to support nato, the eu , and the principles of freedom and democracy that we have advanced since 1945 as major champions of freedom in the world. Legacy. A major one that is very important to us today. Week we were the host of an event here sponsored by the french consulate featuring the European Unions ambassador to the u. S. In his speech, he spoke of this union as the Key Partnership with the u. S. As being a primary reason that another continental war has not erupted since 1945. Will bes speaker discussing just how those european leaders whose territory was overrun or threatened by germany came together in a britain during the very darkest days, forging bonds that would prove critical to securing a lasting peace. During those years learned to live and work together. They helped to advance the cause of freedom and the postwar world we have come to know and study. She really needs little introduction. For those of you who are close followers of her books and even our programming here on previous occasions. Her books have been bestsellers. Very popular. Im sure many of you are here im sure many of you are here because you are avid readers of. Er books the book she will be speaking about tonight, if you have not get it, you will be able to a signed copy. She was born in hawaii and graduated magna come loudly from university of arizona before cloudy magna laude from university of arizona. She left the Associated Press to join the Washington Bureau of the Baltimore Sun where she covered National Politics and eventually the white house. Not only has she appeared here at the museum as a featured speaker of our churchill symposium, but she has also served as our lead consulting scholar for our permanent exhibit that will be opening in june, just about a month from now, entitled the arsenal democracy the hermann and george brown salute to the home front. It is an extraordinary exhibit on par with our road to berlin and road to tokyo exhibits, and has been helping us for several years as we refine the story and narrative that you will find mesmerizing when you come after that permanent exhibit opens here in a month. She is also going to join us as one of our featured tour historians on board the 75th anniversary cruise to normandy in 2019. A long way off, but believe it or not, without any advertising, we already have about 1 3 of the ship sold out or committed. Lynne will be with us on that cruise, and if you have not signed up, better get your name on the list soon. Without further ado, please join me in welcoming back to americas National World war ii olson. Lynne [applause] thank you so much. Im doing a fairly extensive tour for this book, but there was one place i was so excited to come to and definitely wanted to come to. Touring can get exhausting, but this is one place that i was absolutely determined to come to, the world War Ii Museum. I said before that i feel like this is my home away from home these days. I have been and nick got a hold of me about two and a half years ago, i think, and asked about the possibility of my working on this, the redesign of this wonderful exhibit, and i said yes, and i did not realize how much fun i was going to have and how close i feel to this museum and to the people who work in it. I have never seen such. Ommitment, skill, intelligence it has just been a joy to come down here. Geteart lifts every time i off the plane in new orleans. I thank you for giving me that opportunity, and i want to thank everybody that i have worked with at this museum. The mostone of wonderful museums in the world. It really is fantastic. [applause] and i mean every word of that. To talk to young about my latest book called last hope island. Id like to take you back to june 1940, which was one of the darkest moments, if not the darkest moment in british history. Months, nazif germany had conquered czechoslovakia, poland, norway, denmark, belgium, holland, luxembourg, and then, to everyones shock, the biggest prize of all france. Great britain was now left is the only hope of freedom and democracy in all of europe. Yet, although britains future looked impossibly bleak at that point, many people who live were lived there relieved and even exhilarated that they now stood alone. For much of its history, their country had done its best to stay clear of europe and its entanglements. As an island people, the british had never been comfortable with oriances, european otherwise. One person who felt that way was king george vi, who rode to his mother, queen mary, personally, i feel happier now that we have no allies to be polite to or to pamper wrote to his mother. Winston churchill, the british Prime Minister, was much more a realist. He knew that if britain wanted allies or not, it desperately needed them. You have to remember that in 1940, obviously, the u. S. Was still neutral and nowhere close to getting into the war. So what did churchill do . To the dismay of many officials in his government, he threw open politicaldoors to the leaders and armed forces of occupied europe. On june 18, 1940, just before , polands new Prime Minister and commanderinchief , wanted and forces urgent meeting with churchill. He asked written help rescue the thousands of polish troops then fighting in france so they could continue the battle against germany. Churchill immediately replied, tell your army that we are their comrades in life and death. We shall conquer together or we shall die together. The Prime Minister then ordered his government to rescue as many former foreign troops and airmen who were fighting in france as possible, regardless of their politics or nationality. Thanks to churchill, london quickly became the wartime refuge for the government and military of six occupied European Countries czechoslovakia, poland, norway, holland, belgium, and luxembourg. The selfappointed representative of free france, general charles de gaulle, also re. D thei most of these exiled leaders had initially resisted leaving their country, feeling the same way about britain that did about them. They were horrified by britains earlier refusal to confront hitlers end come to their countries aid. That occurred under the leadership of Neville Chamberlain, churchills predecessor. At that point, what alternative did they have . Energized in the nick of time by churchill, britain was the only nation in europe Still Holding out against germany. Only there could allied governments join forces and continue the fight. It is important to note that while churchills hospitality was unquestionably heartfelt, it involved strong elements of national selfinterest. The british, who were about to experience the full fury of german power, would have to rely on those foreigners they had so disdained to help them survive in the desperate struggle to come. Last hope island focuses on this Unlikely Partnership between britain and occupied europe during the war. This is the first book ever to be written about the ever to be written about the subject, believe it or not. Most of the countries who did provide substantial support for dossiers ofin those 1940 and 1941 helped save it from defeat and in the latter part of the war proved to be a great benefit to the overall allied victory. Let me give you just a few examples. Pilotsalmost 20 of the who flew in the battle of britain were, in fact, from occupied europe, particularly from poland. In the opinion of numerous british officials, the contributions of the polish pilots, more than 100 in all, made the difference between victory and defeat in the battle. Second, most of you many of you anyway have probably seen the movie imitation game, right . It was a big hit movie a couple of years ago. According to conventional wisdom, alan turing and the code breaking operation was solely responsible for breaking the germans enigma code. Britains code breaking success was due in large part to previous work by the french and, es. Ve all, by the pol the ultra code breaking operation would never have gotten off the ground if we had not learned from the poles in the nick of time the details of the enigma machine and how it was used. Another one concerns norway. Way is a Little Country its not a Little Country geographically. It is quite huge geographically, but in the beginning of the war, it only had 3 million in population, but it also has the fourth largest merchant marine fleet in the world and the most modern. The norwegians at the beginning of the war, at least after they had been invaded, leased more than 1500 ships to the british, which helped keep open supply lines to north america, to keep the lines british from being strangled. You never hear about the norwegians and what they contributed. I could go on and on, but one final contribution virtually all the intelligence about German Military operations in occupied europe came from european intelligence services, rather than britains famed mi six, which nevertheless took all the credit. Mi 6, which i said in the book, is still regarded to this day is still regarded as the ultimate all seeing, allknowing intelligence service. That was certainly true at the beginning of world war ii. Winston churchill thought that. So did adolf hitler. For some reason i blank on his name because he was such a bad guy, i think. Anyway, the two top guys in the ss revered mi6. They considered it to be thats what they wanted to be. Hitler signed some of his letters with the c, which is signed hisad of mi6 letters with. The reason for this is because britishrilliance of a spy novelist around the turn of severalury who wrote wonderful spy novels that talked about these intrepid british gentlemen spies, who, you know, dated beautiful women, married beautiful women, eight at the finest were at the finest clubs and occasionally would go off and dabble in intelligence work and would come back and save written and go back to their lives going backhounds and to the club would come back and save britain. So mi6 has this reputation. During world war ii, there was no reason for that reputation except for the fact that they were given that they took credit for the work that european services, who were , andng basically for them the enigma code is a perfect example. I talked about what the poles did, and i could go into great detail. There are many examples of such aid provided by the europeans, but interestingly and ironically, these contributions have been basically ignored by most historians, who generally portray the allied victory in what what you as an americanbritishsoviet triumph the allied victory in world war ii. Thats one of the reasons i rode the book, to give credit where credit is due, but i also have to make clear the occupied countries received enormous amount an enormous amount from the british in return. The first major gift, of course, is that britain gave european leaders a safe haven when they needed it most, but it also provided hope and inspiration for the millions of people in captive europe. For europeans, the mayor fact that britains continued was aance to hitlers sign that not everything was lost the mere fact that britain continued resistance to hitler. They took out radio sets which had been outlawed by germans, from wherever they had hidden them, and turned them onto hear the chiming of big ben and the magical words, this is london calling. During and after the war, theseans described secretive moments listening to as a lifelineams to freedom. Hows impossible to explain much we depended on the bbc. In the beginning, it was everything. Another escapee, a belgian journalist, who managed to flee from a nazi concentration camp, said,d in london, as he drunk with happiness. Do you know i have been dreaming of this moment for months, he exclaimed to a british friend, adding, millions of people across the continent are thinking this moment of britain. A Freedom Fighter declared that getting to london was like adding to heaven. Pilots who flew with the raf lasted to britain as hope island, which is where i got the title of my book. Another reason i wrote the book is that like previous books of rich it is an amazing, human story with a an enormous cast of wonderful largerthanlife characters. Some are wellknown like charles de gaulle, but most are not. They range from kings and queens to scientists, spies, and saboteurs. One of the major characters, for example, is the king of norway who showed extraordinary courage during the war and became the focal point of his countrys resistance movement. Another major one is one of my favorites the earl of suffolk. He was a swashbuckling young english aristocrat who rescued two Nuclear Scientists from france just before it fell. Those scientists later played a crucial role in developing the first atomic bomb in the manhattan project. And then there is a beautiful young french spy who flirted with german officers in paris to find out their secrets about. Itlers new terror weapons i also write about some really interesting bit players, including a teenaged audrey hepburn, who, before she became a movie star, served as a courier for the dutch resistance. And the daughter of a czech Government Official in london who survived the blitz and grew up to become u. S. Secretary of state madeleine albright. Finally, theres Queen Wilhelmina of holland. Shes my favorite character of the book, and im going to spend a little more time talking about her. At that point, when the war when holland was invaded, she had been queen for 49 years. She assumed the throne at the age of 10. Her life up to that point had been extremely frustrating. She grew up in what she despairingly called the cage, which was her name for the oppressive, formal, strict atmosphere of the dutch royal court. She was raised with almost no friends or companions her own age. When she went ice skating in the winter, the canals in amsterdam were cleared of all people, and she was forced to skate alone. She was once overheard scolding one of her dolls, if you are not he, i shall make you into a queen and then you wont have any other little children to play with if you are naughty. Her dream from childhood was to perform what she called great deeds, like those of her famed. Ncestors of she saw no possibility fulfilling that dream. As her government ministers repeatedly made clear to her, she no longer possessed the orange andlliam of her other famed predecessors. Since the middle of the 19th century, holland had been a constitutional monarchy, which meant that wilhelmina, to her great frustration, had almost no power. Encouragee right to and warn her government and the right to be consulted and informed, but the leader of the Coalition Governments that presided over the country during her rule did not consult her, and when she gave them unsolicited advice, like the possibility that hitlers might indeed invade holland, that they mpf, liked mein ka she had, they usually paid little or no attention. This really made her angry. She had a real temper. Later in the war, Winston Churchill would say he actually did say this i fear no man but Queen Wilhelmina. She had a real temper, but there was not much she could do about it until her country was invaded by germany in world war ii. From london, she became the center and the soul of hollands resistance. She delivered passionate, fiery, antinazi countrymen. O her the dutch found it almost impossible to believe this was the same remote, aloof queen who had ruled them for over 40 years. Her first broadcast, made the day after she arrived in england from holland, she made it clear she would never compromise with hitlers, whom she called the arch enemy of mankind she would never compromise with hitler. During the war, a joke made the rounds in holland that wilhelminas young granddaughters were for britain to listen to her on the radio she used such subtle l