{"id":6675,"date":"2021-11-22T17:48:50","date_gmt":"2021-11-22T16:48:50","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.historyextra.com\/?p=192257"},"modified":"2021-11-22T18:09:27","modified_gmt":"2021-11-22T17:09:27","slug":"in-pictures-interwar-fascism","status":"publish","type":"rss_feed","link":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbchistory\/rss_feed\/in-pictures-interwar-fascism\/","title":{"rendered":"In pictures: Interwar fascism"},"content":{"rendered":"

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By Rachel Dinning\n \t\t<\/p>

Published: Monday, 22 November 2021 at 12:00 am<\/p>

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Fascist political parties, militia and movements emerged across Europe in the years after the First World War<\/a>. United by ultra-nationalist ideas and similarities of style and action, these movements shaped \u2013 and in some places remade \u2013 politics and society. They mobilised on the streets to attack their opponents and to support the accession to power of fascist parties in countries such as Italy, Germany and Austria. Later, they helped to enable German occupations and the Nazis\u2019 policies of persecution and genocide across Europe.<\/p>\n

Now, a new exhibition at The Wiener Holocaust Library in London aims to shine a light on the experiences of rank-and-file members of fascist movements during the interwar period. \u201cAs right-wing radicalism grows in strength in Europe and elsewhere, this timely exhibition looks back to the first manifestations of the destructive phenomenon of fascism,\u201d says a spokesperson for the exhibition, which was produced in conjunction with the European Fascist Movements 1918\u201341 project<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Here, we reveal 10 fascinating images from This Fascist Life<\/a> that offer an insight into interwar fascism \u2013 from a female supporter of the British Imperial Fascist League to Nazi propaganda in the years leading up to the Second World War\u2026<\/p>

1<\/span>

Female supporter of the Imperial Fascist League, c1930s<\/h3>\n<\/div>
\""Supporter\"<\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/picture><\/div>
Female supporter of the Imperial Fascist League, c1930s. (Photo courtesy of Wiener Holocaust Library Collections)<\/span><\/figcaption><\/div>\n

Although fascist movements were largely male-centred and misogynistic, women were sometimes actively involved. Fascists in Britain in particular embraced women as activists. The woman in the image here was a supporter of the Imperial Fascist League, a British movement that embraced many Nazi ideas.<\/p>

2<\/span>

\u2018Five Policy Points of the National Socialist League\u2019 c1937\u201339<\/h3>\n<\/div>
\""'Five\"<\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/picture><\/div>
\u2018Five Policy Points of the National Socialist League\u2019 c1937\u201339. (Photo courtesy of Wiener Holocaust Library Collections)<\/span><\/figcaption><\/div>\n

Fascist movements were often influenced by fascists in other countries, in their ideas and style of dress for example. Here, a short-lived British group, founded by William Joyce in 1937, took its name from the Nazi movement in Germany.<\/p>

3<\/span>

Front page of the fascist newspaper of Oswald Mosley\u2019s British Union of Fascists, Action<\/em>, 9 July 1936<\/h3>\n<\/div>

\u00a0<\/p>\n

\""Front\"<\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/picture><\/div>
Front page of the fascist newspaper of Oswald Mosley\u2019s British Union of Fascists, Action, 9 July 1936. (Photo courtesy of Wiener Holocaust Library Collections)<\/span><\/figcaption><\/div>\n

Whether it was dressed up in uniforms \u2013 sculpted to reflect idealised notions of muscular masculinity \u2013 or marched through city streets, the fascist body was the most visible symbol of the movement. The above shows the front page of a newspaper published by Oswald Mosley\u2019s British Union of Fascists; its headline \u2018The return of manhood\u2019 exemplifying the preference for \u2018strong\u2019 masculine ideals.<\/p>\n