World War II: Axis Sally – Mildred Gillars FBI & U.S. Department of Justice Files

Description

Axis Sally: The Story of Mildred Gillars

Timeline of Events

• 1900: Mildred Elizabeth Sisk is born in Portland, Maine.
• 1911: Mildred Elizabeth Sisk takes the surname Gillars after her mother remarries.
• 1918: Gillars enrolls at Ohio Wesleyan University to study dramatic arts but leaves without graduating.
• Post-1918: Gillars moves to Greenwich Village, New York City, works in various jobs, takes drama lessons, tours with stock companies, and appears in vaudeville, but fails to establish a successful theatrical career.
• 1934: Gillars moves to Dresden, Germany, to study music.
• Pre-1940: Gillars works as a teacher of English at the Berlitz School of Languages in Berlin.
• 1940: Gillars obtains work as an announcer with the Reichs-Rundfunk-Gesellschaft (RRG), German State Radio.
• By 1941: The US State Department advises American nationals to leave Germany and German-occupied territories. Gillars chooses to stay due to her fiancé, Paul Karlson.
• During WWII (early): Gillars’ broadcasts are initially largely apolitical.
• 1942: Max Otto Koischwitz casts Gillars in a new RRG program called “Home Sweet Home.”
• During WWII (mid): Gillars’ program “Home Sweet Home” is broadcast on shortwave by Radio Berlin throughout Europe and the United States. She uses the name “Midge” and intersperses American music with Nazi propaganda. Her broadcasts aim to undermine the morale of American soldiers and depict the horrors of war. She also announces the names of captured or wounded soldiers.
• May 11, 1944: Gillars participates in the broadcast play “Vision of Invasion,” portraying an American mother whose son dies during the Allied invasion.
• During WWII: The US Federal Communications Commission monitors and records Gillars’ broadcasts. The FBI and US Department of Justice classify them as psychological warfare and begin building a case against her.
• End of WWII: Locating Gillars in Europe becomes problematic for US authorities. The Department of Justice enlists the help of the U.S. Army’s Counter Intelligence Corps (CIC).
• Post-WWII: CIC agents investigate Gillars’ whereabouts in the Berlin area, finding evidence of her selling belongings.
• Post-WWII: The CIC requests German police to station themselves in the homes of Gillars’ friends.
• Post-WWII: CIC agents locate a piece of furniture believed to belong to Gillars in an antique store and obtain the address of the seller.
• Post-WWII: CIC agents arrest Gillars at her apartment after waiting for her return.
• December 1946: Gillars is released by Army authorities in Germany pending the trials of other American citizens accused of treason.
• January 1947: The Justice Department requests the Army to take Gillars back into custody.
• November 1947: The Justice Department asks the CIC for further assistance in the investigation by finding witnesses against Gillars.
• August 20, 1948: Gillars is flown to the United States to stand trial.
• Early 1949: Gillars’ trial begins. Recordings of her broadcasts are used as key evidence. Soldiers testify about her impersonating a Red Cross worker to record messages and altering them.
• March 8, 1949: Gillars is convicted of treason and sentenced to 10 to 30 years of imprisonment at the Federal Women’s Reformatory in West Virginia, and fined $10,000.
• After 12 years (circa 1961): Gillars is paroled.
• 1973: Gillars returns to Ohio Wesleyan University to complete her degree.
• June 25, 1988: Mildred Elizabeth Gillars dies of colon cancer at Grant Medical Center in Columbus.

Cast of Characters

• Mildred Elizabeth Gillars (1900 – 1988): An American citizen who moved to Germany and became a propagandist broadcaster for German State Radio during World War II. Known as “Axis Sally,” she hosted the program “Home Sweet Home,” interspersing American music with Nazi propaganda aimed at undermining the morale of Allied soldiers. She was convicted of treason by the United States after the war.
• Rita Zucca: An Italian American who broadcasted English-language propaganda for Italy during World War II. She, along with Mildred Gillars, was known by the generic nickname “Axis Sally.”
• Paul Karlson: Gillars’ fiancé, a naturalized German citizen. He was the reason Gillars chose to remain in Germany despite the US State Department’s advice. He was killed in action on the Eastern Front.
• Max Otto Koischwitz: The program director in the USA Zone at the Reichs-Rundfunk-Gesellschaft (RRG). He cast Mildred Gillars in the “Home Sweet Home” program, marking a shift towards more direct propaganda in her broadcasts.
• U.S. Federal Communications Commission: A US government agency that monitored and recorded foreign broadcasts during World War II, including those of Mildred Gillars.
• Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI): The primary US federal law enforcement agency that, along with the Department of Justice, classified Gillars’ broadcasts as psychological warfare and began building a case against her.
• U.S. Department of Justice: The US government department responsible for the prosecution of federal crimes. They played a key role in investigating and prosecuting Mildred Gillars for treason.
• U.S. Army’s Counter Intelligence Corps (CIC): A branch of the US Army tasked with counterintelligence activities. They were enlisted by the Department of Justice after World War II to locate and apprehend Mildred Gillars in Germany. CIC agents were successful in finding and arresting her.
• Unnamed Soldiers: Several American soldiers who testified at Gillars’ trial. They recounted instances where Gillars impersonated a Red Cross worker in hospitals and POW camps to record messages to their families, which she then altered with pro-Nazi sentiments before broadcasting them.

World War II: Axis Sally – Mildred Gillars FBI & U.S. Department of Justice Files & Audio Recording

1,681 pages of FBI & U.S. Department of Justice files, and a 56-minute audio recording, covering American World War II propagandist broadcaster for Germany, Mildred Gillars, also known as “Axis Sally.” She was convicted of treason by the United States and on 8 March 1949 was sentenced to ten to thirty years of imprisonment.

Files date from 1943 to 1966 and cover the recognition of her activity, the search for her in Europe after the war, her return to the United States, and aspects and procedures of her prosecution. Highlights include synopses of broadcasts in which she participated. Collection includes a 56-minute audio recording of a “Home Sweet Home” broadcast from Berlin to Allied forces including American music and comments by “Midge,” Mildred Elizabeth Gillars

Axis Sally was the generic nickname given to two female radio personalities who broadcasted English-language propaganda on behalf of the European Axis Powers during World War II. They were Rita Zucca, an Italian American who broadcasted for Italy and Mildred Gillars, a German American who broadcasted for Germany.

Mildred Elizabeth Gillars (1900 – 1988), was born Mildred Elizabeth Sisk in Portland, Maine, she took the surname Gillars in 1911 after her mother remarried. In 1918, she enrolled at Ohio Wesleyan University to study dramatic arts, but left without graduating. She then moved to Greenwich Village, New York City, where she worked in various low-skilled jobs to finance drama lessons. She toured with stock companies and appeared in vaudeville, but she was unable to establish a theatrical career.

In 1934, she moved to Dresden, Germany, to study music, and was later employed as a teacher of English at the Berlitz School of Languages in Berlin. In 1940, she obtained work as an announcer with the Reichs-Rundfunk-Gesellschaft (RRG), German State Radio.

By 1941, the US State Department was advising American nationals to leave Germany and German occupied territories. However, Gillars chose to remain because of her fiancé, Paul Karlson, a naturalized German citizen. Karlson was sent to the Eastern Front, where he was killed in action.

Gillars’ broadcasts initially were largely apolitical. This changed in 1942 when Max Otto Koischwitz, the program director in the USA Zone at the RRG, cast Gillars in a new show called Home Sweet Home.

During the war, Radio Berlin broadcast her program “Home Sweet Home” on shortwave throughout the European theater and the United States. Midge, as she called herself, interspersed popular American music with Nazi propaganda to undermine the morale of American Soldiers and “to depict the horrors of war to her listeners.” She teased Soldiers about their concern for the families they left at home and incited fear in the US by announcing the names, serial numbers, and hometowns of captured or wounded Soldiers.

On May 11, 1944, Gillars was in a broadcast play titled “Vision of Invasion.” Playing the role of an American mother, Gillars dreamed that her son, part of the Allied invasion force, died when the ship carrying him across the English Channel burned and sank. The play included realistic sound effects of gunfire and the cries of the wounded and the pronouncement that D in D-Day stood for doom and death.

Little did Gillars know, the US Federal Communications Commission in Maryland had been monitoring and recording her broadcasts, and the FBI and US Department of Justice had classified them as psychological warfare. They began building their case but could not apprehend Gillars until the war ended. By then, locating her was problematic. The Department of Justice asked the U.S. Army’s Counter Intelligence Corps (CIC) to assist.

The CIC’s official history gave an account of their investigation. Agents determined that she was in the Berlin area; she had been seen in restaurants, beauty shops, and other stores. To make money, she was selling her property, which she had scattered in the homes of her friends living throughout the city. To catch her, the CIC requested German police station themselves inside the homes of all her friends. They concentrated on the Kurfurstendamm area where sightings of her were most common. “With thoroughness, agents combed the commercial shops until an antique store was located which contained a piece of furniture believed to belong to Gillars.” CIC agents were able to coax the address of the seller from the store owner. They waited three hours at her apartment for her return, at which time she was placed under arrest.

Gillars was held by Army authorities in Germany until December 1946. She was then released pending the outcomes of trials of two other American citizens with similar counts of treason. Justice Department officials felt they needed more time to properly develop a case against her. Just one month later, the Justice Department requested that the Army again take her into custody and, in November 1947, asked the CIC to further assist in the investigation by finding witnesses against her. The Army retained her in custody until August 20, 1948, when she was flown to the United States to stand trial.

When she went to trial in early 1949, recordings of her broadcasts became the most damning evidence against her. Additionally, several Soldiers testified that she had impersonated a Red Cross worker in Paris hospitals and German prisoner of war camps and convinced them to record messages to their families. She then altered the messages with pro-Nazi sentiments before broadcasting them.

After a six-week trial, a jury convicted Gillars of treason primarily because of her “Vision of Invasion” play. She was sentenced to 10-30 years in the Federal Women’s Reformatory in West Virginia and fined $10,000. After 12 years, she was paroled.

In 1973 she returned to Ohio Wesleyan University to complete her degree.

Gillars died of colon cancer at Grant Medical Center in Columbus on June 25, 1988.