''Germany Calling'' was an English language propaganda radio programme,

broadcast Broadcasting is the distribution of audio or video content to a dispersed audience via any electronic mass communications medium, but typically one using the electromagnetic spectrum ( radio waves), in a one-to-many model. Broadcasting began ...

by Nazi German radio to audiences in the British Isles and North America during the Second World War. Every broadcast began with the station announcement: "Germany calling! Here are the Reichssender Hamburg, station Bremen". Today, it is best known for its employment of several radio presenters jointly known as Lord Haw-Haw — most notably, William Joyce, who was German radio's most prominent English language speaker and to whom the name gradually came to be exclusively applied. The regular content included news and jazz music (which was banned, as "

Negermusik ''Negermusik'' ("Negro music") was a derogatory term used by the Nazi Party during the Nazi Germany, Third Reich to demonize musical styles that had been invented by black people such as swing music, swing and jazz. The Nazi Party viewed these m ...

", on German domestic stations). The announcers were an integral part of the programme, making various announcements and enabling prisoners of war to personally send regards to relatives in their native countries, which made the programme quite popular with listeners of war participating states, especially the United Kingdom and the United States. ''Germany Calling'' was founded on behalf of Reichsminister of Propaganda

Joseph Goebbels Paul Joseph Goebbels (; 29 October 1897 – 1 May 1945) was a German Nazi politician who was the ''Gauleiter'' (district leader) of Berlin, chief propagandist for the Nazi Party, and then Reich Minister of Propaganda from 1933 to 19 ...

as a propaganda radio programme aimed mainly at audiences in the United Kingdom and the United States, as well as other parts of the world. Broadcasts were sent via shortwave in approximately 30 languages. ''Germany Calling'' ceased broadcasting on 30 April 1945, when Hamburg was overrun by the British Army.

Studio

Contrary to the station announcement, ''Germany Calling'' was not recorded in

Bremen Bremen (Low German also: ''Breem'' or ''Bräm''), officially the City Municipality of Bremen (german: Stadtgemeinde Bremen, ), is the capital of the German state Free Hanseatic City of Bremen (''Freie Hansestadt Bremen''), a two-city-state consis ...

, but at Osterloog transmitting station, although at different stages during the war the broadcasts originated variously from Berlin, Luxembourg, and Apen.

References

{{Reflist Defunct radio stations in Germany International broadcasters World War II propaganda Nazi propaganda Nazi propaganda radio Radio during World War II Radio stations disestablished in 1945

Studio

See also

References