Mildred elizabeth gillars

Nicknamed "Axis Sally" by her American soldier listeners, she was found guilty of treason in a United States court after the war mildred elizabeth gillars spent twelve years in prison. Gillars was born on November 29, She was born as Mildred Elizabeth Sisk in Portland, Maine, to Mae Hewitson Sisk, a painter, mildred elizabeth gillars, and Vincent Sisk, an indifferent husband and father who didn't cherish the idea of having children. When Gillars was seven years old, her father abandoned the small family.

Her lawyer, James J. Laughlin, tells the judge that he wants to call President Harry S. When Adolf Hitler invaded Poland on September 1, and began the war, Gillars, an Ohio native, had been living in Germany for five years, and she chose to remain even after the last Americans departed the Nazi-run country. In , the German state radio network hired Gillars, who started as a disc jockey and became a master propagandist for the Nazis while her lover, Max Otto Koischwitz , protected her. Gillars became the personification of Nazi propaganda to American soldiers, who called her Axis Sally.

Mildred elizabeth gillars

It was and Axis Sally was, once again, on the air. Shortwave radio enthusiast Richard Lucas, doing promotional work for his new book on the infamous American broadcaster employed by the Nazis, did a double take when he saw her name surface, via Google Alert, on a neo-Nazi website. So it started to worry me quite a bit. Years earlier, Lucas had come across an online trove of the real broadcasts hosted by Axis Sally, whose messages were scripted by her married German lover to sow discord in the American armed forces and the homefront during the war. A freelance writer, Lucas used the recordings as an opportunity to dive into the true story of the woman behind the name, one Mildred Gillars. He combed through declassified federal documents and newspaper archives to write the first full-length biography on Axis Sally and her Reich Radio broadcasts—programs that ultimately made Gillars one of the few people ever convicted for treason in the United States. People are not black and white; there are all kinds of tradeoffs that lead them to become who they are. Lucas is currently working on his next book about journalist and broadcaster Dorothy Thompson. For her part, Gillars vacillated easily between playing hot swing-era, big-band hits and denouncing the Jews, Franklin Roosevelt and the British on air. Growing up, she had dreams of becoming an actress. Success never came. By the age of 31, disillusioned by her lack of theatrical success in New York, she followed a British-born man Jewish, as it happened to his posting in Algiers, where it appears that they were lovers, says Lucas. After mother and daughter met up in Budapest, the women traveled on, fatefully, to Berlin. While her mother was soon ready to return to the States, Midge, reluctant to return to a stalled theater career, decided to stay and study music.

The impression created was that of a massacre, and the ambitious effort would later prove Gillars' undoing in the American court. People are not black mildred elizabeth gillars white; there are all kinds of tradeoffs that lead them to become who they are. For the most part, mildred elizabeth gillars, the program was broadcast from Berlin, but Gillars also worked from German-occupied territories including Chartres and Paris in France and Hilversum in the Netherlands.

Mildred 'Axis Sally' Gillars taunted U. Her program was filled with hateful rhetoric directed against U. President Franklin D. Her radio broadcasts were heard not only by U. Girls, watch out!

Mildred 'Axis Sally' Gillars taunted U. Her program was filled with hateful rhetoric directed against U. President Franklin D. Her radio broadcasts were heard not only by U. Girls, watch out! Hundreds of thousands of American servicemen in North Africa, the Mediterranean, and northwestern Europe listened to her broadcasts from to at the height of World War II. They instantly recognized both her distinctive voice and appealing format that encompassed Big Band-era tunes played by a live orchestra.

Mildred elizabeth gillars

It was and Axis Sally was, once again, on the air. Shortwave radio enthusiast Richard Lucas, doing promotional work for his new book on the infamous American broadcaster employed by the Nazis, did a double take when he saw her name surface, via Google Alert, on a neo-Nazi website. So it started to worry me quite a bit. Years earlier, Lucas had come across an online trove of the real broadcasts hosted by Axis Sally, whose messages were scripted by her married German lover to sow discord in the American armed forces and the homefront during the war. A freelance writer, Lucas used the recordings as an opportunity to dive into the true story of the woman behind the name, one Mildred Gillars. He combed through declassified federal documents and newspaper archives to write the first full-length biography on Axis Sally and her Reich Radio broadcasts—programs that ultimately made Gillars one of the few people ever convicted for treason in the United States.

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Despite excelling in speech, language and her drama studies, she failed to graduate. Gillars speaks to reporters upon her return to Washington, D. He and Counterintelligence Corps special agent Hans Winzen only had one solid lead: Raymond Kurtz, a B pilot shot down by the Germans, recalled that a woman who had visited his prison camp seeking interviews was the broadcaster who called herself "Midge at the Mike", and had used the alias Barbara Mome. Very interesting movie of Axis Sally! She insisted she was a paid performer and not a traitor, and that she remained a patriotic American. March 26, Six other World War II radio broadcasters tried for treason had been sentenced to life in prison. Harper recounted in World War II magazine. The parole board approved her release on January 12, , with the stipulation that she report to her parole officer every two weeks into , for another 18 years of supervision, to which she complied. Lucas is currently working on his next book about journalist and broadcaster Dorothy Thompson. We still miss him terribly. Girls, watch out! Retrieved March 9, The prosecution relied on the large number of her programs recorded by the Federal Communications Commission , stationed in Silver Hill, Maryland , to show her participation in propaganda activities directed at the United States.

American-born radio personality who was convicted of wartime treason for broadcasting Nazi propaganda from Germany during World War II. Born Mildred E. Born in and raised in Portland, Maine, Mildred Gillars tried her hand at acting after college in both New York and Europe, with little success.

In , she went to Europe with her mother. That's where the radio is playing a big part in winning the war. According to Lucas, her neighbors had no idea about her past life until the media came calling after her death in But Gillars had other ambitions; she dreamed of becoming a famous star of the stage. August 23, When she was eleven, her name was changed to Mildred Gillars, after her mother officially divorced Vincent Sisk and married Dr. Still, Gillars demonstrated a resourceful deviousness that greatly offended the stateside audience and the U. Archived from the original on November 6, Gill, Zillah Smith — In January of , Gillars, who had converted to Catholicism while in prison, was paroled. Love is indeed blind… I think she got caught in the mess and brainwashed. Midge at the Mike Axis Sally. Retrieved March 9, I think the effect is directly opposite.