Mitford, Unity (1914-1948), a member of the British aristocratic Mitford family, was known for her right-wing views and her support of the German Nazi Party. Her family included the writers Jessica and Nancy Mitford and the writer and right-wing political activist Diana Mitford.
Unity Valkyrie Freeman-Mitford was born in London on Aug. 8, 1914, and educated at home. In 1933, she became a member of the British Union of Fascists, led by Oswald Mosley, her sister Diana’s future husband. Mitford visited Germany with Diana as a British delegate to a Nazi Party rally in Nuremberg in 1933. While there, she became an admirer and close friend of Adolf Hitler. Mitford was shocked when the United Kingdom and Germany became enemies in World War II (1939-1945). In 1939, she attempted suicide in Munich but survived with brain damage from a gunshot wound. The bullet remained in her brain. She returned to England in 1940, with special permission from Hitler. Mitford died on May 28, 1948, of meningitis caused by an infection at the site of the bullet.
See also Mitford, Jessica ; Mitford, Nancy ; Mosley, Sir Oswald .
