HISTORY This Week Axis Sally’s Nazi Radio
Mar 9, 2026
Michael Flamm, a history professor who contextualizes Mildred Gillars' life, and Richard Lucas, biographer of Axis Sally, explore how a struggling Maine actress became a Nazi radio voice. They trace her rise in Berlin, the propaganda tactics she used to target American soldiers, her capture and treason trial, and questions about coercion, ambition, and culpability.
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Radio Was A Core Nazi Weapon
- Radio became central to Nazi propaganda as Joseph Goebbels pushed cheap mass radios to reach every home and cross borders with German messaging.
- Reichsradio targeted foreign audiences to demoralize enemies and shape opinions abroad, making shortwave broadcasts to North America in 1940.
Accent Made Gillars Valuable To Reichsradio
- Reichsradio needed native-sounding English voices because most English broadcasters had thick German accents, so they recruited Mildred Gillars for her American diction.
- Gillars' acting background made her voice sound like an American film star, which quickly landed her a job introducing music and reading IDs.
Loyalty Oath And Legal Twilight Zone
- After Pearl Harbor, Gillars signed a loyalty note to the Reich and became effectively trapped: stripped of a passport but still a U.S. citizen living in Nazi Germany.
- The U.S. Embassy confiscated her passport when she refused to resign, creating a legal gray area she later used in defense.
