SEW/12 - Second World War years, general (1938-1945, mainly 1939-1945)
Previous number: boxes 32, 33, 34, 35, 43 and K
During the Second World War, RWSW once more took up Government service. In September 1939 he became head of the South-Eastern Europe Section of the Foreign Research and Press Service (FRPS), which came under the control of the Political Intelligence Department of the Foreign Office. It was formed from a section of the Royal Institute of International Affairs, Chatham House. The FRPS's duties were to provide a weekly summary of the foreign press, to produce background papers and to answer Foreign Office queries. In October 1940, RWSW went to work for the Political Intelligence Department itself where he was responsible for producing the section of a weekly political intelligence summary that covered Southeastern Europe. He was also concerned with producing propaganda. Another official duty RWSW undertook was membership of the tribunal for internees opposed to the Nazi system, which met between Sept 1940 and May 1941 to consider the cases of Germans and Austrians who wished to support the British war effort.
RWSW did not find his official employment satisfactory as he was not allowed to discuss policy or to publish his work in the press. He did not have the same access to the top decision makers that he had had in the First World War. In Sept 1942 he resigned and spent the remainder of the war in academic life, mainly lecturing on military courses. He still had some influential contacts, for example he saw Edward Beneš, Czechoslovakia's President in exile, frequently. He was involved as a private individual with Yugoslav affairs, eventually giving his support to Partisan forces under Josip Tito.
Contents: papers and correspondence re RWSW's work for the Foreign and Research Press Service and the Political Intelligence Department, including political intelligence summaries; papers re RWSW's work for the Tribunal for internees opposed to the Nazi system; papers by RWSW and others re Balkan and Danubian territories in Second World War
6 boxes
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