Witness History - Colin Jordan and the British Nazi rally - BBC Sounds "In 1960s Britain extreme right-wing groups were on the rise. A schoolteacher called Colin Jordan led a Nazi rally in Trafalgar Square in central London. He openly praised Hitler and called for Britain to be freed from what he called 'Jewish control'. He was also a white supremacist who called for the repatriation of black people. Claire Bowes has been speaking to Gerry Gable, a Jewish anti-fascist activist who helped infiltrate Jordan's National Socialist Movement as well as helping secure the arrest of his former wife, Francoise Dior, for inciting arson attacks on two London synagogues. Photo:British neo-Nazi politician Colin Jordan and French socialite Francoise Dior, UK, 7th October 1963; she is wearing a swastika shaped pendant and behind them, a portrait of Adolf Hitler. (Photo by Felkin/Daily Express/Hulton Archive/Getty Images)" Ridley Road (novel) - Wikipedia
Just finished the BBC show and I looked up Colin Jordan as I’d never heard of him. Not a time period l’m at all familiar with and I’ll admit I was shocked there were groups openly displaying the swastika and idolising Nazis. With WW2 veterans being in their late 30s/40s at the time I’m sure a few angry heads must been turned on seeing swastikas in Trafalgar Square!
The 62 group which features in the BBC programme Ridley Road was a reincarnation of the 43 Group which was formed immediately post war by a number of anti fascist Jewish ex servicemen. That group included Gerald Flamberg from 156 Parachute Battalion who won the Military Medal at Arnhem. As a result of the 43 Group’s activities he was arrested on suspicion of attempted murder but was acquitted at trial. The 43 Group dissolved in 1950 but was replaced by the 62 group which was formed in 1962.
