Podcast A. Emily Hall Tremaine fights back: Nazis in California (1933-45)

Nazis in California: Emily Hall Tremaine fights back (1933-45) (history incl Leni Riefenstahl, Georg Gyssling, Duke of Saxe Coburg and Gotha, Ellis M. Zacharias, Elza Temary). This book preview / audio recording [13-min narrative + discussion] introduces the complicated life of Post-WWII art collector Emily Hall Tremaine (1908-87) (then known as Emily von Romberg & Emily Spreckels) in the social set, based in Santa Barbara, during the chaotic 1930s battle between Nazi and anti-Nazi forces. On 6 September 1940, Emily publicly accused her second husband of a year of being pro-Nazi in a divorce filing, which erupted into a national scandal reported across the United States in media waves for over four months.

This introduction adds to our knowledge about the pro-Nazi threat in SoCal as described in books like "Hitler in Los Angeles: How Jews foiled Nazi plots in Hollywood and America" by Stephen J. Ross; "Hollywood's spies" by Laura Rosenzweig, and addressed in Rachel Maddow's "Prequel".

Mentioned in the preview are Georg Gyssling, German Consul to Los Angeles; filmmaker Leni Riefenstahl; and the Duke of Saxe Coburg and Gotha.

After WWII, Emily Hall Tremaine (1908-87) bought iconic, contemporary artworks-- with her third husband Burton Tremaine as the first owners-- including Jasper Johns's "Three flags", now at the Whitney in New York; Warhol's "Marilyn Monroe diptych", now at Tate Modern; and Mondrian's last work "Victory boogie woogie", now in the Hague. All three are-- or appear to be-- related to Emily's WWII life.

Was Emily pro-Nazi, a US patriot-spy, or both? 4000+ sources in, R. J. Preece says, at this juncture, he thinks Emily was most likely an "eyes and ears" spy for the southern California division of US Naval Intelligence, the main receiver of information about pro-Nazi activity in the area, that was sent to FBI Director J. Edgar Hoover. The research continues...

See released documentation, including excerpts from an unearthed secret deposition of Emily Hall Tremaine, found buried in a 1940 divorce case record, at artdesigncafe.com. For the first time, in a Q&A, Emily "herself" joins the discussion!

To see samples of the national media coverage covering Emily's 1940-41 divorce case, go to https://www.artdesigncafe.com/emily-hall-tremaine-fights-back

For more information about Emily's crazy 1930s and her fab art collection built after WWII with Burton Tremaine, go to https://www.artdesigncafe.com/emily-hall-tremaine