The Nazi Rumors and Disney

Over the years, at various times, Walt Disney’s been labeled anti-Semitic, a Nazi sympathizer, and a racist. When Leni Riefenstahl (1902-2003) visited Hollywood to promote her Olympia film in 1938, Walt Disney was the rare exception of a Hollywood studio owner willing to receive the Nazi filmmaker (on December 8, 1938). That and other events in Walt Disney’s life have inspired speculation about his possible fascist, anti-Jewish, anti-labor leanings.

Did Walt Disney visit Neuschwanstein Castle when he was in Bavaria in 1935? PHOTO: H. Flippo

None other than Meryl Streep insinuated in a January 2014 speech that Walt Disney was an antisemite. She also directly claimed that he was a misogynist and a racist. The truth is more complicated. (Streep’s Disney-bashing tirade has been widely criticized for ignoring key aspects of Disney’s life and historical events. Streep was presenting an award to Emma Thompson, who plays P.L. Travers in the Disney film Saving Mr. Banks.) But Disney could be a tightwad and ruthless with employees, especially when they had the nerve to go on strike. But he and his studio produced some of the toughest anti-Nazi propaganda films during WWII, as in the photo below.

The 1943 Disney cartoon “Der Fuehrer’s Face” was an anti-Nazi WWII propaganda film featuring Donald Duck. PHOTO: Disney

Disney also borrowed (and sometimes stole) from Austrian and German sources, so it comes as no surprise that he spent a lot his time in Germany in book stores. As you’ll learn below, he brought back hundreds of books from Europe. But he did not need to go to Europe to find such material. Besides all the copyright-free fairy tales, the Disney Studios turned many German-language novels into animated and live-action films. Bambi, Emil and the Detectives, The Parent Trap, The Shaggy Dog, and Swiss Family Robinson were all based on books by Austrian, Swiss, and German authors – most of whom received little or nothing for the rights.

From Amazon.com: Disney’s Grand Tour: Walt and Roy’s European Vacation, Summer 1935, 2013, Theme Park Press

In light of all this, Walt Disney’s visit to Germany, Austria, and Switzerland during a family European tour becomes even more interesting to biographers and historians. But until recently very little was known about Walt Disney’s 1935 grand tour. In fact, it was almost unknown to most people. There were no known photographs and almost nothing in print about the two-month trip. Until 2015.

That year French historian Didier Ghez published a carefully researched book about the European tour that Walt and his brother Roy undertook in the 1930s, at a time when Hitler and the Nazis were in power in Germany. The Great Depression was still impacting the world, and the Second World War would erupt only four years after the Disneys’ journey.

The Disney Grand Tour

In the summer of 1935, at a time when he was working on a revolutionary new project, a full-length animated feature film (Snow White), Walt Disney and his brother Roy, accompanied by their wives, embarked on a two-month European grand tour. Walt was a notorious workaholic, which is the main reason Roy had talked him into the European trip. Walt had already suffered what was then called “a nervous breakdown” in 1931. But both men knew that a good percentage of their time in Europe would be more than just a pleasure trip. The Disney organization already had offices and distribution rights in Europe. Mickey Mouse (“Micky Maus” in German) and Disney were very well-known and popular in Europe and Germany at the time. (Although Donald Duck would become more popular in Germany after WWII, thanks to Disney translator Erika Fuchs.) Besides the tourism, the Disney brothers had people to see and things to do. And books to buy.

Walt’s Books

Walt brought back or shipped a total of 335 books that he had purchased in Europe. Of those, almost half were bought at book stores in Germany (including Hugendubel in Munich). Many of the books bought elsewhere (90 in France, 81 in England, 15 in Italy) also had to do with German topics: fables/fairy tales, Wagnerian operas, and illustrations by noted European artists. All 335 books were archived by Helen Josephine DeForce, whom Walt had hired as the first Disney librarian, in anticipation of his plan to use the European trip to fortify the Disney library.

As Didier Ghez writes in his book about the trip: “The impact of Walt and Roy Disney’s 1935 European adventure would be felt in multiple ways over the following three decades, in the movies Walt produced, in the artists he hired, and in the ideas he used in the design of Disneyland.” – Disney’s Grand Tour: Walt and Roy’s European Vacation, Summer 1935, 2013, Theme Park Press

California to Europe

The Disney party of four – Walt and his wife Lillian, Roy and his wife Edna – boarded the Santa Fe Chief passenger train in Pasadena on Sunday, June 2 in the evening. (It is from Edna’s trip diary that we know many details of the journey.) The all-Pullman train took a little over 58 hours to reach Chicago from California in 1935. It was a favorite of Hollywood stars and other rich and famous people, and Walt Disney was not the only famous personality on the Santa Fe. In Chicago the Disneys switched to the 20th Century Limited, arriving in New York City on June 6. They stayed at the St. Regis Hotel for one night, and the next day they would take a ship to Europe.

The Normandie was the French Line’s brand new, state-of-the-art passenger ship. She had set a new record on her maiden voyage from Le Havre, crossing the Atlantic in just four days and a few hours. On June 7, despite media and public attention (including a giant Mickey Mouse Macy’s parade balloon) at the New York City pier, the Disneys boarded the Normandie privately via the galley gangway, out of public sight. The reason was a pending lawsuit and avoiding possible process servers.

At 2:00 p.m. the ship sailed out of New York Harbor bound for Plymouth, England. Enjoying the company of other celebrities and dignitaries abroad the luxurious ship, the Disney group arrived in England on June 12, met by crowds of admirers in Plymouth. A special train whisked the Americans to Paddington Station in London, where more throngs awaited them. The police had difficulty keeping order. In London the Disneys checked in at the Grosvenor House, the first of many posh hotels enjoyed by the four during their European trip. But unlike the others, the Grosvenor was also had an international gaggle of reporters trying to interview Walt and his wife Lillian (Lilly).

Roy, the Disney business manager, paid a visit to the Astoria House, which hosted three separate entities all related to Disney: Mickey Mouse Ltd., Kamen Limited, and the Willibank Company. It should be noted that George Kamen, Disney’s head of merchandizing in London (Kamen Ltd.), was one of many Jewish artists, musicians, and executives working in the Disney organization, at home and abroad, in the 1930s and later.

Roy also met other European team members in London. From Ghez’s book: “Roy got to know the German Robert S. Hartmann, who, since October 1, 1934, was in charge of Disney’s licensing activities in Scandinavia, Finland, and the Baltic countries, as well as Hartmann’s General Manager for Norway and Denmark, V.M. Bolvig. Both men had traveled from Copenhagen especially to meet Walt’s brother for the first time, and, like the Disneys, were staying at the Grosvenor House.”

Following very public visits to the London Zoo, Oxford, the Elstree film studios, the English countryside, lunch with H.G. Wells, a drive to Scotland, a visit to a children’s hospital, and other activities, the Disneys celebrated Roy’s 42nd birthday on June 24, their last day in the United Kingdom.

Flying to France

On Tuesday, June 25, the Disneys and George Kamen flew on an Imperial Airways four-engine aircraft from London to Paris. The flight was rough, and George got airsick on the way to Le Bourget Field outside Paris. (The same airfield where Charles Lindbergh had landed in May 1927 after his solo flight from New York.) The group went to Paris by car to the Hotel Crillon. Following business (a contract with the French publisher Hachette; visiting the office of Walt Disney–Mickey Mouse S.A.) and pleasure (Walt’s book buying) for in the French capital, on July 3 the foursome hired a car and chauffeur to tour Reims via Chantilly, Compiègne, Soissons, Château-Thierry, and Belleau Wood, and other World War I sites that Walt knew from his days as a Red Cross driver.

At the American Cemetery of Belleau Wood, Walt and Roy paid honor to the fallen dead. The Disneys stayed overnight at the Lion d’Or in Reims. The next day the four Americans celebrated July 4th on the battlegrounds of Verdun

Strasbourg to Baden-Baden

In a chapter entitled “The Clock That Walt Loved,” we learn about Walt’s fascination with the mechanical clock of Strasbourg, a city near the Franco-German border. Walt drew sketches of the clock and tried (unsuccessfully) to figure out how it worked. At a bank in Strasbourg the Disney group exchanged money for “registered marks” and then drove across the Rhine into Germany. Edna remarked that at the border there was “no baggage inspection, only a check on our money.” They soon had a short drive to Baden-Baden where they spent two nights at the posh Brenners Stephanie Hotel (since 1872), now the Brenners Park-Hotel & Spa.

In earlier days the Brenners Stephanie Hotel (Hotel Stéphanie) in Baden-Baden advertised “two lifts.” PHOTO: Brenners Park-Hotel & Spa (oetkercollection.com)

In 1935 the world was still recovering from the Great Depression, and not many people could afford to do what the Disneys were doing. But the Brenners Stephanie Hotel was doing well with its 200 rooms catering to an upscale clientele. It recorded 40,000 overnight stays in 1937, just two years after the Disneys stayed there.

Munich (July 7-8)

After driving through the Black Forest to Freiburg, Ulm, and Augsburg, the Disneys arrived in Munich at the Grand Hotel Continental. Since 1892 the Continental had hosted dignitaries and royalty, from Austrian Empress Sissi to Thomas Mann. In July 1935 it hosted the Disneys, who spent two nights in the luxury hotel, which stood on Max-Joseph-Straße until 1994, when it made way for a new office building (completed in 1997).

Hotel Grand Continental, Munich

As we now know, the Disney brothers had more than sightseeing on their minds. There was a reason that Munich was on their itinerary, but not Berlin and Babelsberg, the home of UFA film studio. Unhappy with an earlier deal made with UFA for the distribution of Disney cartoons in Germany, Walt and Roy wanted to get a new and improved agreement with Bavaria Film A.G., which was located in Munich. On the morning of Monday, July 8, both brothers met with two executives from Bavaria Film in Munich. That afternoon Walt went shopping for books. That night they all had dinner and went to a show that featured a yodeling Bavarian lady. The next day (9 July) they headed for Switzerland.

Lindau and Lucerne (July 10)

From Munich the group headed southwest toward Lindau, Germany on Lake Constance (der Bodensee). Driving through scenic Upper Bavaria they came close to Neuschwanstein Castle, which would later serve as the model for the castle at Disneyland in California. Disneyland would open on 17 July 1955, almost exactly twenty years after the grand tour. But in 1935, Walt Disney and his party drove oh so close to King Ludwig II’s castle in Füssen, but never got closer than the city of Kempten, a mere 44 kilometers (27 miles) away. Whatever the reason, they drove on to Lindau via Landsberg and Kempten without even trying to see Neuschwanstein.

This is the view today from a restaurant terrace overlooking Lindau’s harbor. The Disneys would have seen a similar scene in 1935. PHOTO: Hyde Flippo

In scenic Lindau they stopped for lunch at a hotel with a terrace overlooking the harbor. Edna noted in her diary: “The big aircraft Graf Zeppelin came close by overhead. Its home base, Friedrichshafen, Germany, is not far from Lindau.” Today the Zeppelin Museum in Friedrichshafen is a popular tourist attraction.

Leaving Lindau, the Disneys soon crossed the border into a corner of Austria, driving through Bregenz and only a short distance before entering Switzerland. Turning away from Lake Constance, the Disneys drove on via St. Gallen, Zurich, and Zug to Lucerne, arriving around 7:30 p.m. That night they stayed at the Grand Hotel National, directly on the Lake Lucerne (der Vierwaldstättersee). First opened in 1870, the National was managed by none other than César Ritz from 1877 to 1890. The Swiss hotelier would later become famous for his Hotel Ritz in Paris. The five-star National in Lucerne is still ritzy, and it was one of the finest hotels of the Disneys’ 1935 grand tour.

The Grand Hotel National in Lucerne as it looks today. It was one of the first hotels to offer apartment-like luxury suites. PHOTO: Grand Hotel National

Following their long drive from Munich, the group relaxed, taking a lake tour aboard a boat named the Wilhelm Tell and enjoying the day in Lucerne. But the very next day they were back in their rented car headed south across the Alps driving over the St. Gothard Pass, then passing through Bellinzona, Lugano, and Chiasso before arriving at the hotel Villa d’Este at Lake Como in Italy.

Milan, Rome, and Mussolini

With the Villa d’Este as their base, the Disneys explored northern Italy, traveling by train to Milan. Walt and Lillian celebrated their wedding anniversary at Lake Como on July 13, 1935. But as always, there was business to be done in Italy. Roy and George Kamen (who had flown down from Paris) went to Milan to resolve some problems they were having with their Italian distributor.

On July 19 it was time to catch the train to Rome. They were greeted there by Luigi Freddi, head of the General Directorate of Cinematography since 1934, who would found the Cinecittà studios in 1937. But the enthusiastic reception in Rome was chaotic. In Rome they were treated well, but there was no meeting with the pope, and none with Mussolini, as has often falsely been claimed. The Disneys did see St. Peters Cathedral and have lunch with members of the Mussolini family.

On July 24, after six weeks in Europe, the four travelers boarded the Italian liner Rex in Naples. After stops in Genoa, Villefranche, and Gibraltar, they enjoyed a relaxing voyage to New York, arriving on August 1. Roy and his wife stayed in New York for a week, but Walt and Lillian once again crossed the USA by train, reaching Pasadena on August 13. Walt was refreshed and felt better than he had in a long time.

Snow White

His daring project, a first of its kind full-length animated feature film based on a Grimm fairy tale would be a resounding success. Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs would premiere at the Carthay Circle Theatre in Los Angeles on December 21, 1937. Following its nationwide release, the film was a critical and commercial success, with international box-office earnings of $8 million, briefly setting a record. It was released many times over the years before the advent of home video and streaming. Adjusted for inflation, it is one of the top-ten performers at the North American box office and the highest-grossing animated film of all time.

One Last Thing

What Walt Disney did NOT do in 1935:

• Visit Neuschwanstein Castle.
• Meet with Hitler or Nazis in Berlin (or anywhere else).
• Meet Mussolini. Disney and his wife did briefly meet Mussolini’s wife, son, and two daughters at Villa Torlonia, but Il Duce was not even in Rome at the time.

– HF