January 03, 2023

Hanging Lord Haw Haw

12 minutes

Nazi propagandist William Joyce, best known to British radio listeners as ‘Lord Haw Haw’, was hanged by Albert Pierrepoint at Wandsworth Prison on 3rd January, 1946.

At the peak of his powers, his anti-Allied broadcasts from Hamburg reached up to 50% of the UK listening public, who tuned in to hear the German perspective on the looming confrontations, correspondence from British prisoners of War, and Joyce’s compelling, menacing, yet gossipy delivery of Hitler’s aims and accomplishments. And a bit of Jazz.

In this episode, Arion, Rebecca and Olly explain how there were not just one, but in fact three ‘Lords Haw Haw’; consider how Joyce leaned into his celebrity status during World War II; and reveal how his fraudulently-obtained British passport helped to seal his fate on the hangman’s noose…

Further Reading:

‘Treason law reform and the Lord Haw-Haw case 75 years on’ (House of Lords Library, 2020): https://lordslibrary.parliament.uk/treason-law-reform-and-the-lord-haw-haw-case-75-years-on/

‘Lord Haw-Haw: popularity of wartime Nazi propagandist made the BBC up its game’ (The Conversation, 2021): https://theconversation.com/lord-haw-haw-popularity-of-wartime-nazi-propagandist-made-the-bbc-up-its-game-150787#:~:text=Haw-Haw%2C%20wrote%20Hobson%2C%20had%20increased%20the%20nation%E2%80%99s%20Christmas,made%20an%20impact%20because%20he%20faced%20no%20contradiction.

‘Germany Calling: Lord Haw Haw’s Final Broadcast’ (Station Bremen, 1945): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Oe-THrWu_4I

#40s #WW2 #Nazis #Germany

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The Retrospectors are Olly Mann, Rebecca Messina & Arion McNicoll, with Matt Hill.

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