List of English-language broadcasters for Nazi Germany explained

Rundfunkhaus was a radio station based in Berlin. It was used for broadcasting Nazi propaganda by the Ministry of Propaganda.

Broadcasters included: -

No.NamePrevious OccupationDetailsdata-sort-type="number"ProsecutionAlias/ Pseudonym/ Nickname
1John Ameryfilm producerdata-sort-value="99"Death sentence at the Central Criminal Court for high treason
2Norman Baillie-Stewartsoldier (former) - subaltern in the Seaforth Highlandersdata-sort-value="5"Five years' penal servitude at the Central Criminal Court for offences under the Defence Regulations"Sinister Sam" (possibly)[1]
3Leonard Banningteacher in Germany at the outbreak of wardata-sort-value="10"Ten years[2] "John Brown" and "William Brown"
4Margaret Frances Bothamley"member of the Ealing Branch of the pre-war pro-Nazi group The Link'She ... stayed [in Germany in September 1939], broadcasting Nazi propaganda alongside William Joyce.'[3] [4] data-sort-value="1"'She was tried in March 1946 but, unlike Joyce, she was only handed down a year's imprisonment.[5]
Depositions - CRIM 1/1763
4AEdward Salvin BowlbyLiving in Budapest at the outbreak of war, where he hoped to start at language schoolHome Office file HO 45/25789 Dominions Office file - DO 130/74 [6] data-sort-value="0"Not prosecuted - partly because he had been born in IrelandBroadcast under his own name
5Elsa Gertrude BrietzmannDual national - British and German - lived in Germany from 1923[7] data-sort-value="0.1"Bound over for two years at the Central Criminal Court
Depositions - CRIM 1/1764
6Arthur Chapplesoldier - Sergeant in the Royal Army Service Corps - mobilised Navy, Army and Air Force Institutes manager.[8] One of a group of 'Service renegades [who had] been employed in editing, writing scripts, and broadcasting for the enemy, and in certain cases the same men [were] also employed in journalism.[9] The National Archives Security Service file KV 2/443data-sort-value="15"15 years' imprisonment, which was later reduced to 10 years
National Archives Court-martial papers - WO 71/1133
"Lang"
7James Clarkeschoolboy[10] data-sort-value="0.1"Bound over for two years at the Central Criminal Court for offences under the Defence Regulations
Depositions - CRIM 1/1736
8William Colledge alias Wintersoldier - member of the North Somerset Yeomanry'continued to broadcast until 1943.'[11] Special Investigation Branch, Royal Air Force - Statement of Activitiesdata-sort-value="97"National Archives Court-martial papers - WO 71/1131 - penal servitude for life"Winter"
8ARoderick Anton Eduard Dietzebroadcaster born in Glasgow of a mixed German-British-Hungarian family background,[12] - "son of a German father and Scottish mother ... in the early 1930s he became the BBC's commentator in Berlin"[13] The National Archives Security Service file KV 2/428data-sort-value="0""in view of his nationality, it was decided not to prosecute him as a renegade"
8BPatrick Joseph DillonMerchant Seaman - Fireman on SS Brisbane - "taken prisoner in 1940 after his ship was sunk"Home Office file - HO 45/25815
The National Archives Security Service files KV 2/434 - 436 -
data-sort-value="10"Ten years' penal servitude at the Central Criminal Court for offences under the Defence Regulations[14] Depositions - CRIM 1/1732"Patrick Callaghan"[15]
9Frances Dorothy Eckersleywife of Edward Clark[16] data-sort-value="1"One year's hard labour at the Central Criminal Court for offences under the Defence Regulations
Depositions - CRIM 1/1736
10Benson Railton Metcalf FreemanRAF flying officer - No. 16 Squadron RAFAlso served in the SS-Standarte Kurt Eggers[17] The National Archives Security Service file KV 2/631data-sort-value="10"Ten years penal servitude and cashiered
National Archives Court-martial papers - AIR 18/27
N/A - scriptwriter
10ACharles Patrick GilbertMoved to Germany from the Channel Islands in 1940Home Office - HO 45/25833 The National Archives Security Service file KV 2/442 data-sort-value="0.75"Nine months' prison sentence[18] - Depositions - CRIM 1/1783"Kenneth James"
11Donald Alexander Fraser Granttravelling salesman - on an exchange trip when war broke outThe National Archives Security Service file KV 2/424 - 425[19] data-sort-value="0.5"Six months imprisonment[20] - Depositions - CRIM 1/1833"Derrick Grant", "Donald Palmer", "Jock Palmer", et al., as well as his own name "Donald Grant"; dubbed: "Scotland's Lord Haw-Haw"
12William Humphrey Griffithssoldier - Guardsman in the Welsh GuardsOne of a group of 'Service renegades [who had] been employed in editing, writing scripts, and broadcasting for the enemy, and in certain cases the same men [were] also employed in journalism.[21] [22] data-sort-value="7"Seven years penal servitude
National Archives Court-martial papers - WO 71/1110
12AGerald Percy Sandys Hewittteacher of languagesa British citizen who lived most of his life in Paris and had been associated with Action Française.[23] The National Archives Security Service file KV 2/426 - 427data-sort-value="12"Twelve years penal servitude at the Central Criminal Court for offences under the Defence Regulations[24] Depositions - CRIM 1/1658"Smith"
13Susan Dorothea Mary Therese Hilton"member pre-war of the British Union of Fascists, she was twice shipwrecked before detention in France in Autumn, 1940." Possibly the 'Plain Lady' captured by the German commerce raider Atlantis when it sank the passenger ship Kemmendine. Ulrich More, first officer of the Atlantis, says that after she had left the ship the crew learned that she was Irish and worked with William Joyce. The second shipwreck would be the Norwegian Tirranna, a prize of Atlantis, sunk by the British submarine HMS Tuna while carrying Kemmendine's passengers and crew to German-occupied Europe.Worked in Irland-Redaktion. The National Archives Security Service file KV 2/423 - "Soon released, she worked for the German propaganda service as a broadcaster and scriptwriter until 1943, when she moved to Austria. Interned in August 1944 at her own request"data-sort-value="1.5"18 months' imprisonment for aiding the enemy
Depositions - CRIM 1/1745
14Cyril Charles Hoskinssoldier - King's Royal Rifle CorpsThe principal speaker and writer of the 'Christian Peace Movement'. This purported to be the output of an underground organization of pacifists agitating against British involvement in an immoral war.[25]
15Raymond Davies HughesRAF warrant officer - Air gunner"he was shot down over Germany and imprisoned. He aided the enemy in various ways including broadcasting propaganda." - see The National Archives Security Service files KV 2/262 and KV 2/263[26] National Archives - German documents - AIR 40/2298data-sort-value="5""In 1945 he was court martialled, sentenced to 5 years imprisonment and reduced to the ranks."
National Archives Court-martial papers - AIR 18/26
"John Baker", "George Becker", "Raymond Sharples"
16Reginald Arthur Humphriesteacher in Germany at the outbreak of war (according to his The National Archives Security Service file) or seaman on HMS Royal Arthur (shore establishment), Skegness "he was interned and made broadcasts from Germany from 1943 onwards under the names, 'Father Donovan' and 'Jeffries'." - see The National Archives Security Service file KV 2/258 and Home Office file HO 45/25796 [27] [28] [29] data-sort-value="5"Five years' penal servitude at the Central Criminal Court for offences under the Defence Regulations Depositions - CRIM 1/1739"Father Donovan"
17Lewis Barrington (Barry) Payne JonesSee An Illustrated Dictionary of the Third Reich, by Jean-Denis G.G. Lepage, P 141 Home Office file HO 45/25786 The National Archives Security Service files KV 2/632 to 633data-sort-value="0""After his arrest in April 1945 he claimed to have adopted German nationality in 1939 and he was therefore not prosecuted"
17AMargaret JoyceWife of William JoyceThe National Archives Security Service file KV 2/253data-sort-value="0"Not prosecuted - naturalised as a German citizen in 1940[30] Broadcast under her real name from 1942[31]
18William JoyceDirector of Propaganda of the British Union of Fascistsdata-sort-value="99"Death sentence at the Central Criminal Court for high treason"Lord Haw-Haw"
18AKenneth Vincent Landerteacher at Hermann Lietz Schule, Schloss Bieberstein, near Fulda, Germany at the outbreak of warHome Office file - HO 45/25827 - broadcast for the New British Broadcasting Servicedata-sort-value="0.05"'let go with a warning as to [his] future conduct.[32]
19John LingshawSalvation Army social worker on Jerseydata-sort-value="5"Five years' penal servitude at the Central Criminal Court for offences under the Defence Regulations Depositions - CRIM 1/1759
20Francis Paul Matonsoldier - Corporal in the Royal ArtilleryThe National Archives Security Service file KV 2/264data-sort-value="10"Court martialled in 1945, he was sentenced to 10 years imprisonment for voluntarily aiding the enemy.[33]
National Archives Court-martial papers - WO 71/1117
21Martin James MontiUnited States Army Air Force pilot data-sort-value="25"25 years in prison at Leavenworth Penitentiary for treason.[34] - paroled in 1960
22Professor Professor of Celtic languages at Frederick William University, Berlin
22ALiam Mullally[35] data-sort-value="0"Not prosecuted - Irish citizen
23John O'ReillyIrish seasonal worker stranded on Jersey[36] Irish section of German radio - Irland-Redaktion[37] data-sort-value="1.5"Taken into Garda Síochána custody on 17 December 1943 - 'effectively interned' ...in the military prison at Arbour Hill in Dublin ... until the end of the war[38] "Pat O'Brien", then under his own name
23AWilliam James Edward PercivalAir correspondent - travelled to Berlin and Cologne in late August 1939 to write on German aviation industryThe National Archives Security Service file KV 2/429 - Home Office file - HO 45/25781
23BRalph PowellTeacher (language) in the NetherlandsTranslator and newsreader in the German Foreign Ministrydata-sort-value="0"Not prosecuted - "claimed that he was forced to work for the Nazis by threats of reprisals against his German wife's family"[39]
23CSuzanne Louise Provost-BoothWas living in France when it was overrun by the Germans in 1940Home Office file - HO 45/25806[40] "Mrs Evans"
24Roy Walter PurdyMerchant Navy officer, serving as a sub lieutenant in the Royal Navy on an emergency commission[41] propaganda broadcaster and informer at Colditz "reprieved on the grounds that [he] had been [a follower] in treason rather than [a leader] ... released from prison ... in December 1954"[42] - died in 1982. Security Service files on him are held by the National Archives under references KV 2/259 to KV 2/261.data-sort-value="98"Death sentence at the Central Criminal Court for high treason
Depositions - CRIM 1/1738
(1946) 10 JCL 182 - reprieved
Central Criminal Court- Pardon - released 1954
"Pointer"
25Ronald Spillmansoldier - lance-corporalOne of a group of 'Service renegades [who had] been employed in editing, writing scripts, and broadcasting for the enemy, and in certain cases the same men [were] also employed in journalism.[43] [44] The National Archives Security Service files KV 2/437 to KV 2/438data-sort-value="7"Seven years penal servitude
National Archives Court-martial papers - WO 71/1112
26Vivian StrandersRAF Captain (permission to retain rank withdrawn, 1933)[45]
previously Lieutenant, Kent Fortress Royal Engineers,[46] (deprived of rank of lieutenant, 1933)[47]
"broadcast on the English Section"[48] data-sort-value="0"Not prosecuted - had been naturalized as a German citizen in 1933[49]
26AFrancis StuartLecturer in English and Irish literature at Berlin University data-sort-value="0"Not prosecuted - Irish citizen
27 Jack Trevor (né Anthony Cedric Sebastian Steane)actorR v Steane
The National Archives Security Service files KV 2/622 to 624
data-sort-value="3"Three years' imprisonment[50] but the sentence was quashed on appeal as he was held to be acting under duress.
28Pearl Vardonteacher on Jersey data-sort-value="0.75"Nine months imprisonment at the Central Criminal Court for offences under the Defence Regulations - Depositions - CRIM 1/1761
28AJohn Alexander Wardtranslator in FrankfurtHome Office file HO 45/25826 - 'employed in various duties by German radio' "gave 'defeatist' talks"[51] "Private Donald Hodgson" of 3rd Battalion, the Gloucestershire Regiment (his former army unit).
29Henry William Wicks"[H]e went to Germany with his family in 1939 before war was declared and refused to return. Interned from July 1940 to November 1942, he was released and worked for German Radio in 1943-1944." - see The National Archives Security Service files KV 2/418 to KV 2/422. data-sort-value="4""Sentenced in 1945 to four years' imprisonment for acts likely to assist the enemy, his appeal against conviction and sentence was dismissed." - Depositions - CRIM 1/1767
30P. G. Wodehouseauthordata-sort-value="0"Not prosecuted[52] [53] Broadcast under his own name
31Edward Vieth SittlerEducatordata-sort-value="0"Not prosecuted (renounced US citizenship in 1939 on his naturalisation as a German citizen. Returned to the US post-war as a witness for the US Justice Department. Twice deported and failed to regain US citizenship.[54] [55] [56] [57]
32Charles Veith SittlerEducatordata-sort-value="0"Not prosecuted although, unlike, brother Edward Vieth Sittler, he had never renounced his US Citizenship. Also returned to the US by the Justice Department as a witness (arrived in the United States at Westover Field on the 18 January 1949, on a military flight via the Azores with Egidius A. Houben, both as Government witnesses destined for the United States Attorney's office in the Federal Building at Brooklyn, New York City). Remained in the US, employed by the University of Chicago in 1960 where another brother, Joseph Sittler, was also employed.

Edward Vieth Sittler

See also

Notes and References

  1. https://books.google.com/books?id=nvRNx6YM7LIC&pg=PA13 Nazi Wireless Propaganda: Lord Haw-Haw and British Public Opinion in the Second World War
  2. Sean Murphy, Letting the Side Down: British Traitors of the Second World War, Stroud, 2006, P 216
  3. https://web.archive.org/web/20160314125408/http://www.statesecrets.co.uk/who/index-b.html State secrets
  4. Sean Murphy, Letting the Side Down: British Traitors of the Second World War, Stroud, 2006, P74-5
  5. https://archive.org/stream/in.ernet.dli.2015.216340/2015.216340.The-Trial#page/n193/mode/2up/search/Fryer The Trial of William Joyce, P181
  6. Sean Murphy, Letting the Side Down: British Traitors of the Second World War, Stroud, 2006, PP 93-4, 209-10
  7. https://archive.org/stream/in.ernet.dli.2015.216340/2015.216340.The-Trial#page/n193/mode/2up/search/Fryer The Trial of William Joyce, P181
  8. Weale, Adrian (2014-11-12). Renegades (Kindle Locations 1936). Random House. Kindle Edition.
  9. Weale, Adrian (2014-11-12). Renegades (Kindle Locations 3649-3661). Random House. Kindle Edition.
  10. https://archive.org/stream/in.ernet.dli.2015.216340/2015.216340.The-Trial#page/n195/mode/2up/search/Fryer The Trial of William Joyce, P184
  11. Weale, Adrian (2014-11-12). Renegades (Kindle Locations 891-892). Random House. Kindle Edition.
  12. Book: Doherty, M. A. Nazi wireless propaganda: Lord Haw-Haw and British public opinion in the Second World War. 2000. Edinburgh University Press. Edinburgh. 0-7486-1363-3. Organisation of Nazi Wireless Propaganda. 7.
  13. Sean Murphy, Letting the Side Down: British Traitors of the Second World War, Stroud, 2006, P 50
  14. https://archive.org/stream/in.ernet.dli.2015.216340/2015.216340.The-Trial#page/n195/mode/2up/search/Fryer The Trial of William Joyce, PP 183-4
  15. Book: Bulloch, John . 1966 . Akin to Treason . London . Arthur Barker Limited . 60–61 . John Bulloch (journalist).
  16. https://archive.org/stream/in.ernet.dli.2015.216340/2015.216340.The-Trial#page/n195/mode/2up/search/Fryer The Trial of William Joyce, P184
  17. https://archive.org/stream/in.ernet.dli.2015.216340/2015.216340.The-Trial#page/n195/mode/2up/search/Fryer The Trial of William Joyce, P184
  18. Sean Murphy, Letting the Side Down: British Traitors of the Second World War, Stroud, 2006, P 216
  19. Sean Murphy, Letting the Side Down: British Traitors of the Second World War, Stroud, 2006, pp. 89-90
  20. Sean Murphy, Letting the Side Down: British Traitors of the Second World War, Stroud, 2006, P 216
  21. Weale, Adrian (2014-11-12). Renegades (Kindle Locations 3649-3661). Random House. Kindle Edition.
  22. https://archive.org/stream/in.ernet.dli.2015.216340/2015.216340.The-Trial#page/n197/mode/2up/search/Fryer The Trial of William Joyce, P185
  23. Sean Murphy, Letting the Side Down: British Traitors of the Second World War, Stroud, 2006, pp. 83-84
  24. https://archive.org/stream/in.ernet.dli.2015.216340/2015.216340.The-Trial#page/n197/mode/2up/search/Fryer The Trial of William Joyce, PP 185-6
  25. Weale, Adrian (2014-11-12). Renegades (Kindle Locations 893-895). Random House. Kindle Edition.
  26. https://archive.org/stream/in.ernet.dli.2015.216340/2015.216340.The-Trial#page/n197/mode/2up/search/Fryer The Trial of William Joyce, P186
  27. https://archive.org/stream/in.ernet.dli.2015.216340/2015.216340.The-Trial#page/n197/mode/2up/search/Fryer The Trial of William Joyce, P186
  28. http://find.galegroup.com/ttda/infomark.do?&source=gale&prodId=TTDA&userGroupName=qubelfast&tabID=T003&docPage=article&searchType=AdvancedSearchForm&docId=CS34685282&type=multipage&contentSet=LTO&version=1.0 "Aiding Enemy Charges."
  29. http://find.galegroup.com/ttda/infomark.do?&source=gale&prodId=TTDA&userGroupName=qubelfast&tabID=T003&docPage=article&searchType=AdvancedSearchForm&docId=CS35340655&type=multipage&contentSet=LTO&version=1.0 "Committals On Charges Of Aiding Enemy."
  30. Farndale . Nigel . 9 May 2005 . Love and treachery . The Daily Telegraph . London . 25 April 2017.
  31. Sean Murphy, Letting the Side Down: British Traitors of the Second World War, Stroud, 2006, P76
  32. Weale, Adrian. Renegades (Kindle Location 3381). Random House. Kindle Edition.
  33. http://discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk/details/r/C10907205 KV 2/264
  34. News: Ex-Flier Confesses 21 Acts of Treason. April 18, 2015. New York Times. January 18, 1949.
  35. O'Reilly, Terence Hitler's Irishmen, pages 115-7 - 2008
  36. O'Reilly, Terence Hitler's Irishmen, page 55 - 2008
  37. O'Reilly, Terence Hitler's Irishmen, page 82 - 2008
  38. O'Reilly, Terence Hitler's Irishmen, pages 176, 179, 181 - 2008
  39. Sean Murphy, Letting the Side Down: British Traitors of the Second World War, Stroud, 2006, PP 82, 219
  40. Sean Murphy, Letting the Side Down: British Traitors of the Second World War, Stroud, 2006, P74-5
  41. Weale, Adrian. Renegades (Kindle Location 936). Random House. Kindle Edition.
  42. Weale, Adrian (2014-11-12). Renegades (Kindle Location 3356). Random House. Kindle Edition
  43. Weale, Adrian (2014-11-12). Renegades (Kindle Locations 3649-3661). Random House. Kindle Edition.
  44. https://archive.org/stream/in.ernet.dli.2015.216340/2015.216340.The-Trial#page/n201/mode/2up/search/Fryer The Trial of William Joyce, P189
  45. https://www.thegazette.co.uk/London/issue/33975/page/5803 London Gazette, 5 September 1933, Page 5803, Issue 33975
  46. https://www.thegazette.co.uk/London/issue/28757/page/6633 London Gazette, 19 September 1913, Page 6633, Issue 28757
  47. https://www.thegazette.co.uk/London/issue/33968/page/5349 London Gazette, 11 August 1933, Page 5349, Issue 33968
  48. Sean Murphy, Letting the Side Down: British Traitors of the Second World War, Stroud, 2006, P 73
  49. Weale, Adrian (2014-11-12). Renegades (Kindle Location 2510). Random House. Kindle Edition.
  50. Book: Trow, M. J.. M. J. Trow. War Crimes. Barnsley. Pen & Sword. 2008. 978-1-84415-728-0.
  51. Sean Murphy, Letting the Side Down: British Traitors of the Second World War, Stroud, 2006, P 83
  52. Book: Phelps, Barry . P.G. Wodehouse: Man and Myth . 1992. London . Constable . 978-0-09-471620-9. p. 220
  53. Book: McCrum, Robert . Robert McCrum. Wodehouse: A Life . 2004 . London . Viking . 978-0-670-89692-9 . p. 346
  54. News: . U.S. Immigration Authorities Asked to Investigate the Sittler Case . Jewish Telegraphic Agency . 1959-12-16 . 2021-06-23.
  55. News: . Ex-nazi Professor Sittler Resigns from Long Island University . Jewish Telegraphic Agency . 1959-12-17 . 2021-06-23.
  56. Web site: Edward Vieth Sittler, Petitioner-appellant, v. United States of America, Respondent-appellee, 316 F.2d 312 (2d Cir. 1963). US Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit - 316 F.2d 312 (2d Cir. 1963). Argued January 10, 1963. Decided April 12, 1963. . . JUSTIA . 2021-06-23 .
  57. Web site: Edward V. Sittler Dismissal Records, 1949-1962; Michigan College of Mining and Technology . . ARCHIVE GRID . Michigan Technological University - J.R. Van Pelt and Opie Library . 2021-06-23 .