During

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

, the Political Warfare Executive (PWE) was a British clandestine body created to produce and disseminate both

white White is the lightest color and is achromatic (having no chroma). It is the color of objects such as snow, chalk, and milk, and is the opposite of black. White objects fully (or almost fully) reflect and scatter all the visible wa ...

and

black propaganda Black propaganda is a form of propaganda intended to create the impression that it was created by those it is supposed to discredit. Black propaganda contrasts with gray propaganda, which does not identify its source, as well as white propagan ...

, with the aim of damaging enemy

morale Morale ( , ) is the capacity of a group's members to maintain belief in an institution or goal, particularly in the face of opposition or hardship. Morale is often referenced by authority figures as a generic value judgment of the willpower, ...

and sustaining the morale of countries occupied or allied with Nazi Germany.

History

The Executive was formed in August 1941, reporting to the

Foreign Office Foreign may refer to: Government * Foreign policy, how a country interacts with other countries * Ministry of Foreign Affairs, in many countries ** Foreign Office, a department of the UK government ** Foreign office and foreign minister * United ...

. The staff came mostly from SO1, which had been until then the propaganda arm of the

Special Operations Executive Special Operations Executive (SOE) was a British organisation formed in 1940 to conduct espionage, sabotage and reconnaissance in German-occupied Europe and to aid local Resistance during World War II, resistance movements during World War II. ...

. The organisation was governed by a committee initially comprising

Anthony Eden Robert Anthony Eden, 1st Earl of Avon (12 June 1897 – 14 January 1977) was a British politician who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom and Leader of the Conservative Party from 1955 until his resignation in 1957. Achi ...

(Foreign Secretary),

Brendan Bracken Brendan Rendall Bracken, 1st Viscount Bracken (15 February 1901 – 8 August 1958), was an Irish-born businessman, politician and a Minister of Information and First Lord of the Admiralty in Winston Churchill's War Cabinet. He is best remembe ...

(Minister of Information) and

Hugh Dalton Edward Hugh John Neale Dalton, Baron Dalton, (16 August 1887 – 13 February 1962) was a British Labour Party (UK), Labour Party economist and politician who served as Chancellor of the Exchequer from 1945 to 1947. He shaped Labour Party foreig ...

(Minister of Economic Warfare), together with officials Rex Leeper and Dallas Brooks, and Robert Bruce Lockhart as chairman (and later Director General). Roundell Palmer (the future 3rd Earl of Selbourne) later replaced Dalton when he was moved to become

President of the Board of Trade The president of the Board of Trade is head of the Board of Trade. A committee of the His Majesty's Most Honourable Privy Council, Privy Council of the United Kingdom, it was first established as a temporary committee of inquiry in the 17th centur ...

. Ivone Kirkpatrick, an advisor to the

BBC The British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) is a British public service broadcaster headquartered at Broadcasting House in London, England. Originally established in 1922 as the British Broadcasting Company, it evolved into its current sta ...

and formerly a diplomat in Berlin, also joined the committee, while Leeper left to become British Ambassador to Greece. PWE included staff from the Ministry of Information, the

propaganda Propaganda is communication that is primarily used to influence or persuade an audience to further an agenda, which may not be objective and may be selectively presenting facts to encourage a particular synthesis or perception, or using loaded l ...

elements of the

, and from the

. Its main headquarters was at

Woburn Abbey Woburn Abbey (), occupying the east of the village of Woburn, Bedfordshire, England, is a country house, the family seat of the Duke of Bedford. Although it is still a family home to the current duke, it is open on specified days to visitors, ...

with London offices at the BBC's Bush House. As the Political Warfare Executive was a secret department, when dealing with the outside world it used the cover name Political Intelligence Department (PID). After

D-Day The Normandy landings were the landing operations and associated airborne operations on 6 June 1944 of the Allied invasion of Normandy in Operation Overlord during the Second World War. Codenamed Operation Neptune and often referred to as ...

most of PWE's white propaganda staff transferred to the Psychological Warfare Division (PWD/SHAEF) of

SHAEF Supreme Headquarters Allied Expeditionary Force (SHAEF; ) was the headquarters of the Commander of Allies of World War II, Allied forces in northwest Europe, from late 1943 until the end of World War II. US General Dwight D. Eisenhower was the ...

. At the end of World War II PWE were tasked with the re-education of German

prisoners of war A prisoner of war (POW) is a person held captive by a belligerent power during or immediately after an armed conflict. The earliest recorded usage of the phrase "prisoner of war" dates back to 1610. Belligerents hold prisoners of war for a ...

. As with different types of propaganda, PWE used the same 'white', 'grey', and 'black' classifications for German POWs. Prisoners classed as 'black' were considered dangerous ardent Nazis, with anti-Nazis classed as 'white' and regular non-political soldiers classed as 'grey'.

Activities

Activities of the PWE included distributing covert propaganda ranging from broadcasts to loudspeaker operations to lower morale and encourage desertion, leaflet drops, and underground publications in occupied countries, running rumour campaigns and creating forgeries, among others. The main forms of propaganda were in the form of radio broadcasts and printed postcards, leaflets and documents. PWE created a number of clandestine radio stations including Gustav Siegfried Eins, Soldatensender Calais and Kurzwellesender Atlantik. In order to deliver its

subversive Subversion () refers to a process by which the values and principles of a system in place are contradicted or reversed in an attempt to sabotage the established social order and its structures of power, authority, tradition, hierarchy, and socia ...

messages, PWE also disseminated information on events in Germany and the occupied countries, gathering intelligence from other services and agencies, including

POW POW is "prisoner of war", a person, whether civilian or combatant, who is held in custody by an enemy power during or immediately after an armed conflict. POW or pow may also refer to: Music * P.O.W (Bullet for My Valentine song), "P.O.W" (Bull ...

interrogations, and newspapers obtained from occupied countries, and bombing raid photo analysis. This last source was used to broadcast lists of streets (and even individual houses) that had been destroyed and on occasion to mock up faked "real time" reports of the German media. Some of PWE's activities were controversial, such as impersonating deceased German soldiers and sending food parcels to their families with pacifist messages on their behalf. Later, Sefton Delmer, who ran British black propaganda radio stations during the war, quipped that although family hopes to see their loved ones were false, the ham was real.Cull, Nicholas John, David Holbrook Culbert, and David Welch
''Propaganda and Mass Persuasion: A Historical Encyclopedia, 1500 to the Present'' (2003)

References

External links

The PsyWar Society: Black Propaganda and propaganda leaflets database
a website with articles on psychological warfare and a library of propaganda leaflets from World War I to the present day.
Allied Propaganda in World War II and the British Political Warfare Executive
the files of the Political Warfare Executive (PWE) kept at the U.K. National Archives
The Political Warfare Executive, Covert Propaganda, and British Culture
''The Centre for Modern Conflicts and Cultures, Durham University'' {{Authority control British Empire in World War II British intelligence services of World War II British propaganda organisations Foreign Office during World War II Government agencies established in 1941 History of telecommunications in the United Kingdom Military history of Bedfordshire Psychological warfare Science and technology in Bedfordshire Woburn, Bedfordshire 1941 establishments in the United Kingdom Black propaganda organisations Anthony Eden British propaganda during World War II

History

Activities

See also

References

Further reading

External links