''Germany Calling'' was an English language propaganda radio programme, broadcast 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 Lord Haw-Haw was a nickname applied to William Joyce, who broadcast Nazi propaganda to the UK from Germany during the Second World War. The broadcasts opened with "Germany calling, Germany calling", spoken in an affected upper-class English acc ...

— most notably,

William Joyce William Brooke Joyce (24 April 1906 – 3 January 1946), nicknamed Lord Haw-Haw, was an American-born fascist and Nazi propaganda broadcaster during the Second World War. After moving from New York to Ireland and subsequently to England, ...

, 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 Jazz is a music genre that originated in the African-American communities of New Orleans, Louisiana in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, with its roots in blues and ragtime. Since the 1920s Jazz Age, it has been recognized as a maj ...

(which was banned, as " Negermusik", 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 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 (male), (female) en, Hamburger(s), Hamburgian(s) , timezone1 = Central (CET) , utc_offset1 = +1 , timezone1_DST = Central (CEST) , utc_offset1_DST = +2 , postal ...

was overrun by the British Army.

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Contrary to the station announcement, ''Germany Calling'' was not recorded in Bremen, but at Osterloog transmitting station, although at different stages during the war the broadcasts originated variously from

Berlin Berlin ( , ) is the capital and List of cities in Germany by population, largest city of Germany by both area and population. Its 3.7 million inhabitants make it the European Union's List of cities in the European Union by population within ci ...

, Luxembourg, and

Apen Apen (Low German: ''Aap'') is a municipality in the district of Ammerland, in Lower Saxony, Germany Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europ ...

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

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See also

References