Radio Treason: The Trials of Lord Haw-Haw, the British Voice of Nazi Germany

by Rebecca West, Katie Roiphe (foreword)

The gripping courtroom drama of a Brooklyn-born Englishman who became the voice of Nazi Germany, by “one of the most brilliant and erudite journalists of the century” (The New York Times).


In 1945, The New Yorker commissioned star reporter Rebecca West to cover the London trial of William Joyce, who stood accused by the British government of aiding the Third Reich. Captured by British forces in Germany, Joyce was alleged to have hosted a radio program, Germany Calling, devoted to Nazi propaganda and calls for a British surrender.


The legal case against Joyce (known as “Lord Haw-Haw” for his supposedly posh accent) proved to be tenuous and full of uncertainties. Yet each new piece of evidence added to West’s timeless portrait of a social reject who turned to the far right, who rose through the ranks without ever being liked, and who sought validation through a set of shared hatreds—of elites, of communists, and especially of Jews.


As a work of psychological suspense, Rebecca West’s Radio Treason anticipates Truman Capote, Janet Malcolm, and Joan Didion at their best. As a study in political extremism, as Katie Roiphe writes in her foreword, “It is as if Lord Haw-Haw has been transported from her time into ours.”

Genres: Nonfiction, Audiobook, World War II, Journalism, British Literature, History

192 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1949

About the author

Cicely Isabel Fairfield, known by her pen name Rebecca West, or Dame Rebecca West, DBE was an English author, journalist, literary critic, and travel writer. She was brought up in Edinburgh, Scotland, where she attended George Watson's Ladies College.

A prolific, protean author who wrote in many genres, West was committed to feminist and liberal principles and was one of the foremost public intellectuals of the twentieth century. She reviewed books for The Times, the New York Herald Tribune, the Sunday Telegraph, and the New Republic, and she was a correspondent for The Bookman. Her major works include Black Lamb and Grey Falcon (1941), on the history and culture of Yugoslavia; A Train of Powder (1955), her coverage of the Nuremberg trials, published originally in The New Yorker; The Meaning of Treason, later The New Meaning of Treason, a study of World War II and Communist traitors; The Return of the Soldier, a modernist World War I novel; and the "Aubrey trilogy" of autobiographical novels, The Fountain Overflows, This Real Night, and Cousin Rosamund. Time called her "indisputably the world's number one woman writer" in 1947. She was made CBE in 1949, and DBE in 1959, in recognition of her outstanding contributions to British letters.

Reviews

[Sophie Gilbert · Rating 4 out of 5]

Really elegantly written and surprisingly thrilling with the courtroom backdrop, but also so much contemporary resonance.

[Adam Mele · Rating 3 out of 5]

Has some passages that really sing, but there are a lot of others that feel like chewing a piece of steak that should have been cut into smaller bits. It's also a little too distractable to fully work as a narrative. She's great at deconstructing the types of personalities attracted to fascism, but the constant equating its appeal with that of communism can feel a bit shallow. West absolutely would be writing for The Atlantic if she were alive today.

[Glenn · Rating 5 out of 5]

Chiling, harrowing, and tragic despite the irredeemable nature of William Joyce's character. West's detachment and wit are not used in the service of masking her moral indignation but to buttress and expand it.

[Kevin Price · Rating 4 out of 5]

Some sections are incredible, Rebecca is such a talented writer. The depiction of a fascist, particular a collaborationist fascist in England during WW2, as a pathetic figure grasping for prestige in a world not fit for them seems apt at the moment. I do think there could have been another round of revisions for legibilities sake, though. Can’t wait to read Grey Lamb Black Falcon

[Michael Reilly · Rating 4 out of 5]

McNally Jacckson, the New York City book Store chain, has been publishing McNally Editions. They have republished an eclectic collection of interesting, clever and neglected books. I recently read their edition of Dorothy Parker's "Constant Reader".

This is a republication of Rebecca West's 1949 reports on the English treason trial of William Joyce. He broadcasted radio propaganda to England during WW2. He was known by the nickname "Lord Haw-Haw". He was captured after the war. He was tried, convicted and hung for treason.

West was commissioned by the "New Yorker" to cover his trial. She was a well-known and successful writer on politics. This book is a reworking of her "New Yorker" articles. She was very interested in the class elements of the story. Class in England was the defining characteristic of a person in pre-WW2 England.

Oswald Mosely was the leader of the English fascists before WW2. He was a baron and an aristocrat. Joyce as one of his key aides, but Joyce was lower middle class, at best. He was an embarrassment to Mosely, according to West. She quotes one of Mosely's rich supporters saying, "We didn't know how we were going to get rid of all these dreadful common people we had to use to get power."

Joyce finally left Mosely and founded his own group. West repeats the idea that Joce was "a queer little Irish peasant" and "not a gentleman.". When the war broke out, Joyce fled to Germany and began his treasonous broadcasts.

West describes the odd world of English men n Berlin helping the Germans recruit English volunteers from the English POWs. I would have liked to hear more of the broadcasts made by Joyce.

Joyce was captured after the war. West reports on his trials and appeals. He was born a US citizen. His parents had moved to the US and then returned to Ireland and England. This raised some serious legal questions about whether he could be convicted of treason to the English crown. He had applied for and received a British passport, fraudulently it appears. That seemed to be the basis for convicting him. I am not as convinced by the prosecution's legal arguments as West was.

West has a tendency towards grand statements and pontificating. I also didn't get a good feel for what Joyce was like to deal with or how he could attract the following that he did.

West does a good job following a very twisting and complicated story and paying attention to the moral and ethical issues it raised.

[Mike Barat · Rating 5 out of 5]

What can I say except what a book. In spite of the book's title there's not that much information about the first trial or the appeal, Rebeca West decides to go deeper into the human psyche instead of concentrating on the courtroom. What is it in the human psyche that makes a person join a fascist party, or any kind of an extreme organization for that matter? Is it a lack of friends growing up? Is it poor parenting, is it a lack of love, is it a lack discipline in childhood? That the direction Rebecca West Takes this book, which gives this story an interesting perspective. We also hear about others that decided to join fascist parties in England before WW2 as Rebecca West searches for patterns in the human psyche. I never heard of Rebecca West before reading this book, however I definitely plan on reading more books she has written.

[Gef · Rating 3 out of 5]

“It is possible that in these last days Fascism had passed out of the field of [Joyce’s] close attention, that what absorbed him was the satisfaction which he felt at being, for the first time in his life, taken seriously. It had at last been conceded that what he was and what he did were matters of supreme importance. It was recognized that he had been involved by his birth in a war between the forces in the community which desired to live and those which desired to die, a war between the forces in himself which desired to live and those which desired to die.

It was an end to mediocrity.” (174)



horrifying

[Fionnán de Goeas Malone · Rating 4 out of 5]

4/5 stars.

The interesting thing about fascism is its inherent contradictory nature. An American child of protestants from Ireland becomes a fascist figurehead, believing he is a British übermensch. The introduction from Kaite Rophie helps to even more cement its timeliness.

[CMP · Rating 3 out of 5]

The subject matter here is not even secondary; it's barely important. This is something one reads for the writing, not the story; and as such, the writing overpowers the story from the start to the known ending.

[George Fulton · Rating 3 out of 5]

It’s a crazy story and involves a lot more than just seen on the surface but it gets a little into the weeds on some details that are pretty boring. A ton of talk about fascist leaders in that era and not as much WW2 as I would’ve liked!

[Jordan Schneider · Rating 4 out of 5]

writing dressed to the nines

worth listening to some haw haw recordings to hear the man as his voice is so central to the story

[Jeff · Rating 2 out of 5]

Great writing but pretty boring. Not sure why they'd choose to rerelease this. Abandoning halfway through.

[Sophie · Rating 4 out of 5]

make writers mean again

[Doug Wood · Rating 5 out of 5]

Riveting account of the traitor William Joyce, better known as Lord Haw Haw. Rebecca West was an extremely gifted journalist, novelist, and literary critic.

[Lauren · Rating 4 out of 5]

It turns out the legality of passport renewals can be really interesting. Who knew?

[Toad Soup · Rating 4 out of 5]

Sucks to suck

[Louis · Rating 4 out of 5]

“The God with whom man can have a perfect relationship is the dream of disappointed sons imagining a perfect Father who shall be better than all fathers, or is more real than reality.”