This is taken from the June 1940 issue of Reader's Digest, originally published in The American Legion Magazine, and written by Allan A. Michie, journalist, author, and foreign correspondent.
"That nations may speak together in peace," the motto of the British Broadcasting Corporation, is now but an ironic memory.
Twenty-four hours a day, from a hundred stations, and in forty-three languages, Germany, France and Britain pour forth radio propaganda. Some of it breeds hate, some of it is warm and friendly. By turns it is smashingly brutal and winningly subtle. The propaganda aimed at the United States is mild stuff, compared with what we get in Europe.
From fifty stations the Nazis keep up an unending assault on the British. Venom and ridicule color every phrase. Anthony Eden is the man "known for his good tailor and poor speeches." Ronald H. Cross, Minister for Economic Warfare, is "Minister for Starvation," one of the few Nazi admissions that the British blockade hurts. The Prime Minister, of course, is always "Warmonger Chamberlain."
Smooth-talking sinister-voiced Hans Fritsche of Berlin harps interminably upon British naval losses. "British people, ask Churchill, your First Lord of the Sea Bottom, what he has done with the battleships Hood and Renown. You are being fed on lies..."
Fritsche's insinuations, repeated night after night, strike at the hearts of those who have relatives in the navy. He persisted so long with his claim that the Ark Royal had been sunk that the Admiralty finally sent her on a personal-appearance tour.
The Germans apparently pick the names of vessels from old registries, for they sink ships that have been retired from service. For a fortnight Fritsche persistently announced that a Nazi submarine had torpedoed HMS Vernon- the Navy's School of Mines, which stands on dry land at Portsmouth.
Sometimes it is hard to understand what the Germans hope to accomplish. Much of their broadcasting can only irritate English listeners. For example, after American swing band recordings attract listeners, the commentator cuts in. "Our subject tonight is Germany's enemy and England's misfortune- Winston Churchill! How did Mr. Churchill get into the Cabinet? For years, British prime ministers have found something repulsive about the fellow personally. But when Britain went to war against the German people, then scruples had to be overcome- because he is a close friend of the American Jew, Barney Baruch! In order that this Jewish international financier might establish complete control over the policy of the British Cabinet, it was necessary that a new position should be held by some new gentleman more Jewish than the Jew himself!"
From Berlin persons of all nations broadcast "news" in all languages to every part of the earth. One way the Nazis get some of them is illustrated by the experience of M. Fakousa, an Egyptian who was caught in Germany when the war began. Fakousa was told that he could broadcast propaganda in Arabic or spend the rest of the war in a prison camp. He prefers broadcasting. "Eminent Hindus" describe Britain's bloody colonial methods, but it is noted that they have curious Prussian accents. An "American doctor," always unnamed, who "has just arrived from Poland," describes the land of milk and honey. Captured British soldiers and airmen- real or pretended- are put on to tell their folks at home that the German prison camps are better than first class hotels. An American broadcaster recognized one of the "prisoners" as a Nazi frequently seen around the station.
The outstanding personality of the radio war is Lord Haw Haw. More Britishers listen to this impersonator of a doughty old aristocrat, with his ludicrously affected accent, than listen to all the other foreign broadcasts combined. A London radio editor named him and wrote a burlesque biography of him. A London musical show is named after him; and a music-hall song was written around him. British authorities, at first unconcerned, now are undecided what to do about him, but so far have done nothing, except to broadcast a series on "How to Listen to German Propaganda."
In addition to his "news," Haw Haw plays up the minor inconveniences of the war: rationing ("It is typical of of your money-grabbing British government that your meat ration is based on price- one shilling and tenpence worth a week- instead of weight, as in Germany"), and evacuation (What right has the government to separate you from your husband? How do you know what your husband is doing now, since you are safely out of town?"). "Don't worry, British workers," he says. "The Fuhrer realizes that the British upper classes brought on this war and are using you as cannon fodder." The average British workman gets a big kick out of this; he was ready to fight Hitler long before Chamberlain was.
Haw Haw is William Joyce, an Englishman who broke away from Oswald Mosley to start a Nazi-Fascist party of his own. When there was some trouble about the disappearance of party funds, he skipped to Germany. Now he is the highest-paid man among Germany's "foreign" broadcasters, receiving about $60 a week. Captain Baillie-Stewart, a Scotch army officer convicted of selling military secrets to Germany, is another of the renegade broadcasters.
Nazi radio playlets are designed to show that contentment reigns in the land of Hitler. A Hamburg butcher will be overheard explaining to his customers that there is absolutely no shortage, that they need but name their meat to get it. Inconsistency never troubles the Nazis. An hour later they are likely to include a crying baby and wailing mother to prove that Britain's blockade is inhuman.
-To be continued later today-
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