Radio Hitler: Nazi Airwaves in the Second World War

by Nathan Morley, Wolfgang Bauernfeind (Foreword)

Radio Hitler follows the life of Deutschlandsender, the Nazi equivalent of BBC Radio 4, and its sister stations that transmitted to Germany and the world at large. Using first-hand interviews, archives, diaries, letters and memoirs, this book examines what Nazi radio was and what it stood for.Detailed here is the vast ‘fake news’ effort, which bombarded audiences in the Middle East, Africa, the United States and Great Britain. A light is also shone on the home service stations that, with their monumental announcements including Stalingrad, the assassination attempt on Hitler and the invasion of France, provided the soundtrack to everyday life in Nazi Germany. Details of entertainment shows and programmes designed to lift morale on the Home Front are abundant and offer a fresh insight into the psyche of the nation. The book also looks at Nazi attempts to develop television throughout Germany and in occupied France.A rich cast of characters is featured throughout, including Ernst Himmler, brother of Heinrich, who worked as technical chief at Deutschlandsender, and Lord Haw-Haw, the infamous British mouthpiece of the Nazi propaganda machine.Nathan Morley had unlimited access to former Reich radio studios and transmitter sites in Hamburg, Berlin, and Vienna, as well as to a vast archive of recordings and transcripts. The result is a fascinating and revealing portrait of propaganda, communication and media in Nazi Germany.

Genres: World War II

Kindle Edition

Published June 15, 2021

Reviews

[Mark Allinson · Rating 4 out of 5]

A lively and wide ranging account of broadcasting in the Third Reich and through the Second World War, with some discussion of its reception in Britain, the US and elsewhere. Besides the story of broadcasting within Germany, there is also detailed coverage of Germany’s shortwave transmissions around the globe and some discussion of German control of broadcasting in the countries it occupied (including the bizarre tale of German television in Paris). Besides detailed research from a variety of sources, the author has also tracked down the few remaining survivors of those far off days for fascinating insider witness accounts. The whole is well contextualised against the rise and fall of Hitler and his Reich. For all the good content and coverage, and the lovely writing style, it’s a great pity that the book was not properly copy edited - numerous errors litter the German, but there is odd English too. The referencing is hit and miss and the bibliography is incomplete. Maybe only academic readers will be dismayed at this, but these issues do somewhat detract from an otherwise fascinating read.

[orla :) · Rating 4 out of 5]

found this to be a very interesting angle of nazi propaganda, which i am familiar with but found the aspect of radio as a cultural and political weapon during the third reich in less obvious ways to be really interesting. was written in an entertaining way that wasn’t too complex compared to some other history books

[Malcolm Davis · Rating 4 out of 5]

I have read many books relating to propaganda in the Second World War but I think that it is the first that concentrates on radio.Though I have read the biography of William Joyce so some of the information is familiar. Nevertheless an informative and absorbing book.