Podbit · Empire: World History
During the WWI naval blockade, German civilians starved through what became known as 'the Turnip Winter.' Catherine remained in Kassel even as hundreds of thousands died of malnutrition and disease — refusing to leave Lena behind. Only when she herself was starving did Sophia finally manage to extract her.
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At 24:53 · chapter starts 21:55
The First World War catches Catherine on the wrong side of the border. As a British citizen, she has every right to return home; she refuses, because Lena — a German — cannot leave. Sophia bombards the India Office with requests to extract her, and the authorities monitor the situation. Then Catherine's secret letter to Sophia is intercepted: it describes Germany as orderly and peaceful, calls the war unjust, and — using a coded star symbol — begs her brother Victor not to fight. Anand reads it aloud: it amounts to suborning treason. William Dalrymple notes this is a period of total censorship, and the letter goes into a file alongside an assessment that Catherine is 'decidedly pro-German' but 'not a serious threat.' She is left to remain in Germany. Only in 1918, starving and with Lena seriously ill, does Sophia succeed in extracting her via the Dutch embassy in Berlin — on Armistice Day itself. [1] — Anita Anand "Catherine wrote a secret letter to her sister Sophia during WWI urging their brother Victor not to fight against Germany, calling the war '…" 22:00
Catherine wrote a secret letter to her sister Sophia during WWI urging their brother Victor not to fight against Germany, calling the war 'unjust.' British censors intercepted it, deemed her 'decidedly pro-German,' and filed it away — a decision that would haunt her for decades.
Catherine Duleep Singh's letter urging Victor not to fight against Germany was intercepted by British censors during WWI and filed as evidence that she was 'decidedly pro-German' but not a serious threat.
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