Richard Stanbery

Got a Q I need a little help with. I am trying to find out just how Hitler was covered in the electronic media of Western Europe outside Germany (France, UK, Holland, Belgium) in the late 1930s. How was this done? I mean, did folks just see a glimpse of the rallys when they went to the movies and saw a news reel? Or maybe just hear a soundbite once in a while on the radio? Was it as thin as that?

Were there any radio talk shows dedicated to political or news coverage? Was there anything like "Meet the Press", or Fox News that we have in America?

Somebody tell me about the radio news coverage of Hitler in late 1930s Western Europe?

Thanks!

Heidi XX

This is avery good question,i am interested in this topic aswell.
I can't really help you that much but i can recall newspapers doing alot of advertising.
Also what you have mentioned at the movies there were news reels of what was going on with ww2.

In 1930's there were radio shows (like tv shows we have today)so i am guessing there were talk back radio shows going on before ww2 began,also today you can fined tapes and recornd s of oginial british radio talking about germany and ww2,i saw this on the antics road show,but i am too (like Richard) want to know from some one more expert on this subject.

Pedro

This ought to answer, if obliquely, most of your question.

Under the Treaty of Versailles, the future of the Saar was to be settled by a League of Nations plebiscite in 1935.
In January 1934, however, Goebbels had pre-empted this by setting up a specific office to coordinate propaganda broadcasts into the Saar area with the innocuous title of the Westdeutsche Gemeinschaftsdienst. He also distributed cheap radio sets and encouraged National Socialist listeners’ associations to organise community listening to important Nazi events. The content of these broadcasts was based on highly charged emotional appeals to past German grievances. In January 1935, 91 per cent of those who voted in the plebiscite opted for the return of their province to a National Socialist Germany.

Although the Nazis were unlikely to lose in the plebiscite, there can be little doubt that Goebbels’ broadcasts played a decisive part in achieving such a clear majority. It should be noted that in conjunction with these broadcasts the Nazis instigated a ruthless campaign of ‘whispered propaganda’ (Flüsterpropaganda). This was a typical Nazi psychological device, intended to convince the voter that the Party knew how individuals voted and therefore, by implication, that they would be punished or rewarded accordingly. Needless to say, the success of the Saarland campaign convinced Nazi agitators that the planned use of radio propaganda could achieve almost any political goal. Not surprisingly, radio was used extensively for propaganda purposes in the following year for the 1936 Berlin Olympic Games. The extensive radio coverage provided by the Nazis together with their impressive technical know-how made an indelible impression on foreign audiences and on journalists reporting the Games.

The technical mobilisation of German radio as the ‘voice of the nation’ is a history of remarkable accomplishment. To increase the number of listeners, the Nazis persuaded manufacturers to produce one of the cheapest wireless sets in Europe, the VE 3031 or Volksempfänger (‘people’s receiver’). The ‘people’s radio’ was heavily subsidised so that it would be affordable to all workers. In fact two versions of radio receivers were quickly produced: one for 75RM, and the Volksempfänger for 35RM payable in instalments. A poster issued by the RMVP advertising the Volksempfänger showed one of these uniform radio sets surrounded by thousands of people, with the caption: ‘All Germany listens to the Führer with the People’s Radio.’

One-and-a-half million sets were produced during 1933, and in 1934 the figure for radio sets passed the 6 million mark, indicating an increase of more than 1 million in a single year. The long-term aim was to install a set in every home in Germany. Indeed, by the beginning of the war over 70 per cent of all households owned a wireless set – the highest percentage anywhere in the world. The ‘people’s receivers’ were designed with a limited range, which meant that Germans who purchased them were unable to receive foreign broadcasts. Great emphasis was placed on the encouragement of community listening, changing listeners’ thinking from what Hadamovsky referred to as ‘the anarchic intellectualism of the individual to the organically developed spirituality of the community’. Moreover, in order to ensure the widest possible listening audience, local Party branches were encouraged to organise community listening. On these occasions an army of National Socialist radio functionaries (Funkwarte) took charge of the event and staged what came to be referred to as ‘National Moments’ (Stunden der Nation). When a speech by a Nazi leader or an important announcement was to be made, this network of radio wardens established loudspeakers in public squares, factories, offices, schools, even restaurants.

Sirens would howl and professional life throughout the nation would stop for the duration of the ‘community reception’ in an effort to persuade the individual citizen to identify with the nation. The radio warden was also responsible for popularising the radio and encouraging people to share their sets with friends and neighbours. In addition, these wardens, who were invariably Party members, forwarded criticism of and requests for specific programmes. A leading Nazi radio propagandist compared communal listening with the total experience of worship in a church.19 More sinisterly, the wardens also monitored for compliance; it being forbidden to move from one’s desk or machinery until the broadcast had finished. The radio warden became notorious during the war, when he reported those Germans listening to foreign broadcasts . The radio soon came to be regarded as the Nazi regime’s principal propaganda medium for the dissemination of National Socialist ideas and the creation of a single public opinion.

In order to achieve these objectives, special emphasis was placed on political broadcasts. Listeners soon learned to associate signature tunes with various Party leaders who would make regular speeches over the radio. Hitler’s speeches were preceded by his favourite march, the Badenweiler; Goebbels’ annual eulogy on Hitler’s birthday was accompanied by Wagner’s ‘Meistersinger’ overture, and the Führer’s speech on Heroes’ Day by Beethoven’s ‘Eroica’ symphony.

It has been estimated that in 1933 alone, fifty speeches by Hitler were transmitted. By 1935, Hitler’s speeches reached an audience of over 56,000,000. The radio was, not surprisingly, described as ‘the towering herald of National Socialism’, the means of expression of a united State. In his desire to create ‘one single public opinion’ Goebbels maintained that it was imperative that this ‘spiritual weapon of the totalitarian State’ should enjoy the confidence of the people. With the radio, he declared, ‘we have destroyed the spirit of rebellion’. Although the radio continued to play an important part in the Nazis’ propaganda arsenal, it was not without its shortcomings.

The first disappointment was the discovery that Hitler, if confined in the studio without an audience, was uncomfortable, and ineffective as a speaker. Accordingly from October 1933, when he announced Germany’s departure from the League of Nations, until the end of the war Hitler did not speak in a studio again. Instead his speeches would be transmitted from public meetings (often specially assembled for the purpose), where he gained direct contact with an audience and was thus provided with the essential stimulus for his oratory.

The second disappointment was that in the middle of the war the intense concentration on political broadcasting was proving to be counterproductive with the average listener. Radio wardens were reporting that listeners were so bored that they were switching off. Therefore in 1942 Goebbels decided that almost 70 per cent of transmissions should be devoted to light music in order to guarantee a large audience for the important political bulletins.

Indeed, the most popular wartime radio programme was Wunschkonzert, a request show of songs, music and words designed to link the home and fighting fronts. Thus there were limits to radio’s ability to create uniformity of opinion and action. But Goebbels learned to mix the content of transmissions accordingly, and this corresponded to his wider belief as Minister for Propaganda in mixing entertainment with propaganda. Despite these drawbacks, there can be little doubt that the most impressive achievement of Nazi broadcasting lay in the creation of such a mass listening public. Neither fascist Italy nor the Soviet Union used the radio to such a degree on its less literate population.

Pedro

Here is the visual that goes with the above.

avon

Nice posts, Pedro!!

Pedro

I starting to get it back. Thanks.

tjadams

From what I recall, Lord Halifax helped sooth Hitler's feelings when the British press wrote critical stories about him or his government. He went so far as to apply serious political pressure to newspapers that were outspoken of Hitler. The BBC was a different story as they were mostly self-censored & weren't so rabidly critical. The US public opinion was totally limited to what little news filtered down to their daily lives. When Hitler's aggressive actions later couldn't be hidden any longer, more mass coverage of Nazi aggression changed public opinon towards the negative & alarm.

Heidi XX

I can see that happaning TJ, the brits putting down hitler (which he deserves) The german radio also did the same to Churchill (which he did not deserve)

tjadams

Yes Heidi, you're correct. Churchill was against German rearmament as far back as 1932 & a vocal opponent to many of Chamerberlain's policies. Naturally Churchill's writings & words made him an easy target & fodder for Nazi propaganda.

Heidi XX

YAY, TJ said i was right! Lucky I read a little bit.