This book explores a facet of British propaganda during the Second World
War that has previously hardly been addressed or considered: the
apparent anomaly that much of Britain's wartime propaganda was prepared
and delivered by foreigners, not least those officially designated as
'enemy aliens'. German-speaking refugees were involved in every aspect
of British propaganda: for the Ministry of Information; the BBC and for
the intelligence organisations such as Electra House, the Special
Operations Executive and the Political Warfare Executive. They played a
significant role in propaganda designed for the Home Front, for neutral
and Allied countries, and in propaganda directed at the enemy, and were
engaged in both 'white' and 'black' (i.e. covert) materials.
The book considers the preparedness of the British authorities to avail
themselves of the talents of the 'enemy aliens' and the eagerness of
many of the refugees to contribute to the British war effort. They
brought with them knowledge of every aspect of their home countries as
well as their obvious linguistic skills, all of which could be usefully
exploited for propaganda purposes. Refugee artists, writers,
journalists, broadcasters, actors and academics were all drawn into
different aspects of the British propaganda mill.
The relationship between the British authorities and the refugees proved
a mutually beneficial one. Inevitably, however, problems arose, ranging
from internment, through deportation to espionage. All in all, it
examines and evaluates an intriguing aspect of British wartime
propaganda, the hitherto largely unacknowledged contribution made by
German-speaking refugees to the British war effort.
