The BBC German Service During the Second World War: Broadcasting to the Enemy

ISBN-13: 9783030740948 / Angielski / Miękka / 2022

Vike Martina Plock

Opis

This book, part media history and part group biography, tells the story of the BBC’s attempts to reach out to listeners in Nazi Germany at a time when Anglo-German relations were particularly strained. Who were the individuals behind the microphone, whose names could only be mentioned in whispered conversations on the continent? Who wrote the satirical sketches that offered comic relief to housewives struggling to obtain enough food to feed their families? And who made decisions about programme delivery and staffing? Drawing extensively on previously unexamined archival material, The BBC German Service during the Second World War: Broadcasting to the Enemy sheds light on the complex, often difficult working arrangements at the wartime BBC where people from different nationalities and socio-political backgrounds collaborated and argued about the delivery of an effective propaganda programme that would assist the Allies in defeating the Nazis.

Recenzje

"Plock's deep research and engaging writing style mean that this book could be enjoyed by anyone with an interest in the Second World War, inside or outside the academy. For media historians, it provides an excellent template ... towards those focused on programme-makers and audiences. This is an important book for anybody interested in the history of the BBC and its External Services, and should be the first port of call for anyone studying the German Service." (Christopher Day, Historical Journal of Film, Radio and Television, Vol. 42 (2), 2022)

Spis treści

Introduction: Speaking with Hitler.- PART I: PROGRAMMES.- 1. Straight News.- 2. News Talks.- 3. What Women Want: BBC Programmes for Women in Nazi Germany.- 4. Features and Satire.- PART II: PEOPLE.- 5. Voices in Exile: Personality Speakers from Germany.- 6. British Star Speakers.- 7. Enemy Aliens at the BBC.- 8. Monitoring.- 9. Inhaling English.- Epilogue.

O autorze

Vike Martina Plock is Professor of Modern Literature and Culture at the University of Exeter, UK. She is the author of Joyce, Medicine and Modernity (2010) and Modernism, Fashion and Interwar Women Writers (2017). She is co-editor of Literature & History and advisory editor of the James Joyce Quarterly. 

Blurb

This book, part media history and part group biography, tells the story of the BBC’s attempts to reach out to listeners in Nazi Germany at a time when Anglo-German relations were particularly strained. Who were the individuals behind the microphone, whose names could only be mentioned in whispered conversations on the continent? Who wrote the satirical sketches that offered comic relief to housewives struggling to obtain enough food to feed their families? And who made decisions about programme delivery and staffing? Drawing extensively on previously unexamined archival material, The BBC German Service during the Second World War: Broadcasting to the Enemy sheds light on the complex, often difficult working arrangements at the wartime BBC where people from different nationalities and socio-political backgrounds collaborated and argued about the delivery of an effective propaganda programme that would assist the Allies in defeating the Nazis.

Vike Martina Plock is Professor of Modern Literature and Culture at the University of Exeter. She is the author of Joyce, Medicine and Modernity (2010) and Modernism, Fashion and Interwar Women Writers (2017). She is co-editor of Literature & History and advisory editor of the James Joyce Quarterly.