4.4 • 1.6K Ratings
🗓️ 23 January 2024
⏱️ 10 minutes
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In 1949, Mildred Gillars – otherwise known as Axis Sally – became the first woman in American history to be convicted of treason.
The former Broadway showgirl broadcast antisemitic Nazi propaganda on German State Radio during World War Two.
Her weekly shows were heard by thousands of American servicemen who gave her the nickname Axis Sally.
After her capture, she denied being a traitor, but a jury in Washington convicted her of treason, and she served 12 years in prison. Jane Wilkinson has been looking through the BBC archives to uncover her story.
(Photo: Mildred Gillars. Credit: Bettmann, Getty Images)
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0:00.0 | You're about to listen to a BBC podcast and maybe it's when I had a hand in. |
0:04.0 | I'm Tammy Walker and I produce podcasts for the BBC. |
0:07.3 | My role is to give new and diverse creators a voice with the opportunity to build a career. |
0:12.1 | That's the thing I love about Podcast. |
0:14.0 | You start with just a good idea. |
0:16.0 | But then you have the space to see where it goes. |
0:18.0 | And doing that at the BBC means we can really run with the best stories |
0:21.0 | while developing the most unique audio talent. |
0:24.0 | So if you like what you hear, why not check out the huge range of |
0:27.2 | podcast we've got on BBC Sounds. Hello, welcome to the Witness History Podcast from the BBC World Service with me |
0:38.7 | Jane Wilkinson. I'm taking you back through the archives to 1948 and the trial of a |
0:45.0 | former Broadway chorus girl accused of treason during World War II and who |
0:50.4 | became known as Axis Sally. |
0:52.8 | This is Berlin Calling. |
0:54.8 | Berlin Calling, the American Mother's rise from St. |
0:58.9 | Clapp. |
0:59.9 | And I just like to say there was that the Lin call it pays to listen because there's an American |
1:06.1 | girl sitting at the microphone with a few words of truth to her country women back home. |
1:13.0 | That's an original 1943 recording of Mildred Gillars |
1:18.0 | broadcasting from Germany to the families of American troops. |
1:22.0 | But this isn't a friendly radio show aimed at raising morale for |
1:26.2 | the allies. This is hateful, anti-Semitic Nazi propaganda and Gillars is its voice. |
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