German People's Radio (

German German(s) may refer to: * Germany, the country of the Germans and German things **Germania (Roman era) * Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language ** For citizenship in Germany, see also Ge ...

: ''Deutscher Volkssender'') was a

German-language German (, ) is a West Germanic language in the Indo-European language family, mainly spoken in Western and Central Europe. It is the majority and official (or co-official) language in Germany, Austria, Switzerland, and Liechtenstein. It is a ...

radio station operating from

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, 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 ...

History

In January 1937 German Freedom Radio was established by the

Communist Party of Germany The Communist Party of Germany (, ; KPD ) was a major Far-left politics, far-left political party in the Weimar Republic during the interwar period, German resistance to Nazism, underground resistance movement in Nazi Germany, and minor party ...

(KPD). Its

transmitter In electronics and telecommunications, a radio transmitter or just transmitter (often abbreviated as XMTR or TX in technical documents) is an electronic device which produces radio waves with an antenna (radio), antenna with the purpose of sig ...

and studios were located in

Madrid Madrid ( ; ) is the capital and List of largest cities in Spain, most populous municipality of Spain. It has almost 3.5 million inhabitants and a Madrid metropolitan area, metropolitan area population of approximately 7 million. It i ...

, but editorial direction was largely determined by the KPD leadership based in

Paris Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, largest city of France. With an estimated population of 2,048,472 residents in January 2025 in an area of more than , Paris is the List of ci ...

Ernest Hemingway Ernest Miller Hemingway ( ; July 21, 1899 – July 2, 1961) was an American novelist, short-story writer and journalist. Known for an economical, understated style that influenced later 20th-century writers, he has been romanticized fo ...

and

Heinrich Mann Luiz Heinrich Mann (; March 27, 1871 – March 11, 1950), best known as simply Heinrich Mann, was a German writer known for his sociopolitical novels. From 1930 until 1933, he was president of the fine poetry division of the Prussian Academy ...

both are recorded as having written scripts for German Freedom Radio. In March 1939, German Freedom Radio was forced off-air as Madrid fell to the Spanish Nationalist forces. It resurfaced in Moscow, signing on-air on 10 September 1941 as German People's Radio and using the slogan "the Voice of the International Peace Movement".

Programming

Operated by the KPD and largely staffed by Germans, German People's Radio broadcasts were designed to demoralize the German military and to inspire subversive acts within Germany. In order to inflate perceptions of the operational capacity of the

underground resistance Underground Resistance (commonly abbreviated to UR) are an American musical collective from Detroit, Michigan. Producing primarily Detroit techno since 1990 with a grungy four-track musical aesthetic, they are also renowned for their militant ...

to the

Nazi Party The Nazi Party, officially the National Socialist German Workers' Party ( or NSDAP), was a far-right politics, far-right political party in Germany active between 1920 and 1945 that created and supported the ideology of Nazism. Its precursor ...

, programs were presented as though they originated from inside Germany and that the station was a

pirate radio Pirate radio is a radio station that broadcasts without a valid license, whether an invalid license or no license at all. In some cases, radio stations are considered legal where the signal is transmitted, but illegal where the signals are rec ...

broadcaster operated by Germany-based critics of

Adolf Hitler Adolf Hitler (20 April 1889 – 30 April 1945) was an Austrian-born German politician who was the dictator of Nazi Germany from 1933 until Death of Adolf Hitler, his suicide in 1945. Adolf Hitler's rise to power, He rose to power as the lea ...

. The

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re-reported some broadcasts of German People's Radio; on 27 July 1944 it cited German People's Radio in describing that "demonstrations were spreading throughout

Upper Silesia Upper Silesia ( ; ; ; ; Silesian German: ; ) is the southeastern part of the historical and geographical region of Silesia, located today mostly in Poland, with small parts in the Czech Republic. The area is predominantly known for its heav ...

" and that "anti-Hitler opposition groups" had been staging protests in the coal mining districts of

Königshütte Königshütte may refer to: * Königshütte (Silesia) Königshütte may refer to: * Königshütte (Silesia), German name for Chorzów, Poland * Königshütte (Harz), a village in Germany {{geodis ..., German name for Chorzów, Poland * Königsh� ...

, Hindenburg,

Gleiwitz Gliwice (; , ) is a city in Upper Silesia, in southern Poland. The city is located in the Silesian Highlands, on the Kłodnica river (a tributary of the Oder River, Oder). It lies approximately 25 km west from Katowice, the regional capital ...

, and Breslau. The same year it reported on a German People's Radio story that "foreign workers" had ambushed an SS unit near

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and fought a three-day battle against it. Though it predated Soldatensender Calais, later broadcasts of German People's Radio were reportedly inspired by it.

Staff

Markus Wolf Markus Johannes Wolf (19 January 1923 – 9 November 2006), also known as Mischa, was a German spymaster who served as the head of the Main Directorate for Reconnaissance (), the foreign intelligence division of East Germany's Ministry for Sta ...

, later head of the

Main Directorate for Reconnaissance The Main Directorate for Reconnaissance (; , ) was the foreign intelligence service of the Ministry of State Security (''Stasi''), the main security agency of the German Democratic Republic (East Germany), from 1955 to 1990. The HVA was an in ...

of the

German Democratic Republic East Germany, officially known as the German Democratic Republic (GDR), was a country in Central Europe from Foundation of East Germany, its formation on 7 October 1949 until German reunification, its reunification with West Germany (FRG) on ...

's Ministry of State Security, worked as a newsreader on German People's Radio from 1943 to 1945. Other people who worked at the station at various times included

Walter Ulbricht Walter Ernst Paul Ulbricht (; ; 30 June 18931 August 1973) was a German communist politician. Ulbricht played a leading role in the creation of the Weimar republic, Weimar-era Communist Party of Germany (KPD) and later in the early development ...

Erich Weinert Erich Bernhard Gustav Weinert (4 August 1890 – 20 April 1953) was a Germans, German Communist writer and a member of the Communist Party of Germany (KPD). Early life Weinert was born in 1890 in Magdeburg to a family supporting the Social ...

Hedda Zinner Hedda Zinner, or Hedda Erpenbeck-Zinner (20 May 1904 – 1 July 1994), was a German political writer, actress, comedian, journalist and radio director. Biography Hedda Zinner was born in Lviv (then known as Lemberg) on 20 May 1904. She atten ...

Anton Ackermann Anton Ackermann (born Eugen Hanisch, 25 November 1905 – 4 May 1973) was an East German politician. In 1953, he briefly served as Minister of Foreign Affairs. Life and career He was born into the family of a weaver and worked as an unskilled la ...

Willi Bredel Willi Bredel (2 May 1901 – 27 October 1964) was a German writer and president of the East Germany, East German Academy of Arts, Berlin. Born in Hamburg, he was a pioneer of socialist realist literature. Life and career Born into the fami ...

, and

Wilhelm Pieck Friedrich Wilhelm Reinhold Pieck (; 3 January 1876 – 7 September 1960) was a German communist politician who served as the Leadership of East Germany, chairman of the Socialist Unity Party from 1946 to 1950 and as the only president of the Ger ...

References

{{reflist Radio stations established in 1941 Communist Party of Germany World War II propaganda Soviet propaganda organizations Germany–Soviet Union relations Radio stations in the Soviet Union Propaganda in the Soviet Union World War II propaganda radio stations Radio stations disestablished in 1945 Moscow in World War II

History

Programming

Staff

See also

References