How Britain fought Hitler with humour
BBCHow Britain fought Hitler with humour Getty Hitler The BBC’s German Service used satire to reach ordinary Germans in World War Two. Austrian exile Robert Lucas created satirical radio programmes for the BBC’s German Service from 1940 The Nazis could not stop foreign radio waves crossing into Germany but they could make listening to enemy stations a crime. The satire programmes relied upon an unlikely coalition between the BBC, British propaganda officials and disaffected German-speaking exiles Indeed, when Lucas began writing Die Briefe des Gefreiten Adolf Hirnschal he had “no idea whether there would be at least 50 people in Germany listening”. That his programme – along with two other satire series called Frau Wernicke and Kurt und Willi – was commissioned in 1940 reveals the bold, experimental approach adopted by the German Service in its infancy.
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