By Stephen Spark |
These days, the arrival of Empire Windrush at Tilbury on 22 June 1948 is seen as a positive moment in Britain’s history. If it hadn’t been so tarnished by the Windrush Scandal, the name might seem almost benign, evoking the start of a new multicultural era to the strains of Lord Kitchener’s London is the Place for Me. Few of the passengers walking down the gangplank that day could have had any idea about the ship’s appalling past life, however.
The Windrush was built to carry migrants – but definitely not from the Caribbean to England. It was launched in 1930 as German passenger ship Monte Rosa, built to be a symbol of national pride. In the early 1930s it carried migrants from Depression-era Germany to a better life in Brazil, Argentina and Uruguay. The ship also had a more sinister purpose: spreading the racist and anti-Semitic ideology of Nazism throughout South America. Monte Rosa was a floating fascist state: Nazi rallies were held on board and crew members were all expected to be Nazi Party members. It even played a part in turning Argentina into a fascist nation that after the war welcomed Nazi war criminals with open arms.
It then moved to Nordic waters, where Monte Rosa functioned as a cruise ship, taking groups of holidaymakers from Hamburg up the coast of Norway to the majestic fjords. Except that these were not ordinary leisure travellers: they had signed up to the ‘Strength Through Joy’ programme of Nazi indoctrination. On more than 20 occasions in the late 1930s, the fascist pleasure palace, proudly flying the swastika flag, sailed up the Thames to London.
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