During the Second World War, there were a number of people who defected and betrayed
their country of origin to go and fight for the enemy. But it was during the conflict
that propaganda also had a huge and important role in trying to destroy morale. The Third
Reich would recruit a number of British speakers to take part in radio broadcasts to beam these
back to Britain, in an attempt to convince the British to give up the fight. Japan utilised
this method too, and one of the most famous World War 2 propagandists was the mysterious
and infamous Tokyo Rose. But there was one British traitor who was sentenced to death
and executed for his involvement in conspiring with the enemy, the Nazis. William Joyce was
known as Lord Haw Haw for his high upper class accent, and his show Germany Calling was listened
to by millions, but after the war he was executed by British execution Albert Pierrepoint. But
what did he do that resulted in his execution, and why was he sentenced to death for a crime
that was used during the reign of King Henry VIII to execute his two wives? Remember to
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On the 3rd January 1946 inside Wandsworth Prison, William Joyce made his way into the
execution chamber and was greeted by Albert Pierrepoint and the hangman’s noose. During
World War 2 he had become one of the most infamous traitors, but his involvement in
right wing politics began before the conflict. In 1932, he joined the British Union of Facists,
led by Sir Oswald Mosley and he was seen by the group as a talented speaker, who could
captivate crowds well. He was described as, ‘Thin, Pale, intense, he had not been speaking
many minutes before we were electricified by this man, so terrifying in its dynamic
force, so vituperative, so vitriolic.’ It was in his public speaking that he was compared
to Hitler in the way he could captivate a crowd, and in 1934 he became the BUF’s Director
of Propaganda, and he also became the deputy leader. He was also known for being a violent
fighter, who would beat the enemies of his movement. He continued to speak out and was
sacked from his position in the BUF when Mosley reduced the staff following the 1937 elections,
and Joyce tried to launch the National Socialist League, a pro-Nazi group.
But as the Second World War began, with the German invasion of Poland in September 1939,
William Joyce had already left Britain. Days before the Germans invaded, Joyce had moved
to Nazi Germany along with his wife as they believed that he would be arrested as he was
considered dangerous with his pro-nazi beliefs. However in the following year he became a
German citizen. Whilst he was in Berlin, he found it hard to get a job, but he did meet
with another British BUF member, who got him an audition at the Broadcasting House, and
this was successful as he was recruited to make radio announcements and also write scripts
for German radio’s English broadcasts that would be heard across the Channel. Joyce continued
to make radio broadcasts, but the name Lord Haw Haw that he became known for had been
previously given to another broadcaster Wolf Mittler who was described as ‘sounding like
a caricature of an Englishman,’ and there were other broadcasters inside Nazi Germany
linked to the name Lord Haw Haw, but Joyce is by far the most famous.
Inside of the Berlin studio’s, William Joyce’s broadcasts would reach Britain and in particular
he tried his hardest to break the morale of the English people. The government did not
ban the listening to Joyce’s messages and programmes, but they did discourage listening,
but the people in Britain knew the news about the war was heavily censored, and they wished
greatly to find out what was happening using information from Germany. His broadcasts began
with the infamous words spoken by Joyce saying, ‘Germany calling, Germany calling, Germany
calling.’ Following this, Joyce would spout pro-Nazi propaganda and report on heavy British
and allied casualties, and he was known for being sarcastic and menacing, calling the
British to surrender and give up and he was very popular. He would have 6 million regular
listeners and this rose to even 18 million listeners at times. He did later give up his
reach name, referring to himself as ‘William Joyce otherwise known as Lord Haw Haw.
One broadcast made by Joyce said, ‘Britain's victories are barren; they leave her poor,
and they leave her people hungry; they leave her bereft of the markets and the wealth that
she possessed six years ago. But above all, they leave her with an immensely greater problem
than she had then. We are nearing the end of one phase of Europe's history, but the
next will be no happier. It will be grimmer, harder and perhaps bloodier. And now I ask
you earnestly, can Britain survive? I am profoundly convinced that without German help she cannot.’
He also said, ‘Winston Churchill] is the servant, not of the British public, or of
the British Empire, This charge must be preferred against a man who has so signally violated
British tradition in the course of this war.’
He would mock the British saying, ‘The British Minister of Disinformation, has been conducting
a systematic campaign of frightening women and girls of the danger of being injured by
splinters from German bombs. The women have responded by asking for their hats to be made
from thin tin, and then covered by other draping materials.’ He continued to work on his
broadcast of Germany calling throughout the war, and even worked for the Nazis giving
out lectures to SS members at the University of Berlin of British racism,’ but his final
broadcast came on the 30th April 1945, during the Battle of Berlin. This was the same day
that Hitler shot himself inside of his underground complex known as the Fuhrerbunker. In his
final broadcast, Haw Haw appears drunk and rather rambling, and his message is rather
strange.
It’s clear he must have resulted to alcohol as the war was lost, he claimed there was
a spirit of unity and strength in Germany but the war was over in Europe as the Soviets
encircled the German capital and the heart of the Third Reich. Found next to his script
was a bottle of gin, and he claimed ‘whatever happens Germany will live, no measures of
tyranny, no matter what they introduce will not shatter Germany. Germany will live because
the people of Germany have in them the secret of life, endurance, will and purpose. I say
to you in these last words, you may not hear from me again for a few months, I say es liebe
Deutschland, Heil Hitler and farewell. This statement was broadcast from Radio Hamburg,
but Joyce had also committed many other crimes than broadcasting during the conflict.
He had written propaganda which was distributed amongst British prisoners of war and which
intended to break their will. In this he also tried to recruit them to join the British
Free Corp, a detachment of British soldiers who would fight inside the Waffen-SS. This
itself was treason, trying to convince British soldiers to turn over to the enemy. He also
wrote a book where he criticised British capitalist society and compared it with the ‘wonders’
of Germany under Hitler. He was awarded the War Merit Cross first and second class for
his work in the Broadcasts, but he never once met Hitler.
But on the 28th May 1945, William Joyce was arrested and captured by the British at Flensburg
where the last remaining members of the Nazi government had also fled to. He was found
looking dishevelled and gathering firewood, however was arrested wounded as a soldier
had shot him believing he was armed and about to shoot. He was then handed over to military
police before being taken to London and here he was tried at the Old Bailey. At Home Joyce
was a well known figure due to his involvement in there BUF before the war, and also his
broadcasts made him a celebrity. But he was tried at the old Bailey and was accused of
three counts of high treason. These were that, ‘ William Joyce, on 18 September 1939, and
on other days between that day and 29 May 1945, being a person owing allegiance to our
Lord the King, and while a war was being carried on by the German Realm against our King, did
traitorously adhere to the King's enemies in Germany, by broadcasting propaganda.
William Joyce, on 26 September 1940, being a person who owed allegiance as in the other
count, adhered to the King's enemies by purporting to become naturalized as a subject of Germany.
William Joyce, on 18 September 1939, and on other days between that day and 2 July 1940
being a person owing allegiance to our Lord the King, and while a war was being carried
on by the German Realm against our King, did traitorously adhere to the King's enemies
in Germany, by broadcasting propaganda.He said he was not guilty, and claimed that he
could not be found treasonous as he claimed he had never been a British subject due to
the fact he was born in America. But this was not accepted. He was found guilty, and
was sentenced to death.
He went to his death regretful of nothing and said, ‘In death as in life, I defy the
Jews who caused this last war, and I defy the power of darkness which they represent.
I warn the British people against the crushing imperialism of the Soviet Union. May Britain be great once
again and in the hour of the greatest danger in the West may the standard be raised from
the dust, crowned with the words – "You have conquered nevertheless". I am proud to
die for my ideals and I am sorry for the sons of Britain who have died without knowing why.’
He also said ‘may the swastika be raised from the dust.’
On the 3rd January 1946 at the age of 39 he was hanged at Wandsworth Prison, and was the
penultimate person hanged for a crime which wasn’t murder in the UK. The final would
be executed the following day, with Pierrepoint being the executioner. It was alleged that
as he fell from the trapdoor on the gallows that his infamous scar on his face split open.
But Lord Haw Haw was the Second World War propagandist who tried to affect the British
morale during the darkest parts of the conflict such as the Blitz. He was someone who was
an ardent anti-semite and a Nazi to his core, and someone who wished greatly to damage the
war effort of the British. He died a traitor, and despite there being some controversy about
his execution, he was regarded as one of the worst and most infamous traitors of the Second
World War.
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