Treason on the Airwaves: Three Allied Broadcasters on Axis Radio during World War II

by Judith Keene, Istvan Deak (Foreword by)

Overview

Treason on the Airwaves traces the journeys of three World War II radio broadcasters whose wartime choices became treason in Britain, Australia, and the United States.

John Amery was a virulent anti-Semite and member of a highly respected British family who joined Hitler’s propagandists in Berlin and was executed for treason after the war. Charles Cousens, a popular radio personality at home in Australia, was a soldier in Japanese captivity who was put to work on Radio Tokyo and later tried as a traitor. Iva Toguri, better known as “Tokyo Rose,” was an American student visiting relatives in Japan when war broke out. She broadcast her English-language show on Radio Tokyo out of necessity rather than conviction. The United States jailed Toguri for treason.

These three powerful stories provide an overview of the way in which the three nations dealt with suspected collaborators after the war. Judidth Keene also examines the significance of radio propaganda during World War II and the techniques the Germans and the Japanese used to engage listeners. All three accounts provoke questions about the nature of justice—and the justice of retribution.

Judith Keene, an associate professor of history and the associate dean of postgraduate research in the faculty of arts at the University of Sydney, is the author of Fighting for Franco: International Volunteers in Nationalist Spain during the Spanish Civil War, 1936–39. István Deák, Seth Low Professor Emeritus at Columbia University, is the author of numerous books, including Essays on Hitler’s Europe (Nebraska 2001).

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780803232921
Publisher:	UNP - Bison Books
Publication date:	09/01/2010
Pages:	256
Product dimensions:	5.90(w) x 8.90(h) x 0.60(d)

About the Author

Judith Keene, an associate professor of history and the associate dean of postgraduate research in the faculty of arts at the University of Sydney, is the author of Fighting for Franco: International Volunteers in Nationalist Spain during the Spanish Civil War, 1936–39.

István Deák, Seth Low Professor Emeritus at Columbia University, is the author of numerous books, including Essays on Hitler’s Europe (Nebraska 2001).

Table of Contents

Foreword István Deák vii

Preface ix

Acknowledgments xi

Abbreviations xiii

Introduction 1

Part I Broadcasting to Britain from Wartime Berlin

Chapter 1 Execution of the British Traitor: John Amery 11

Chapter 2 Life in the Amery Family 29

Chapter 3 John Amery between the Wars 42

Chapter 4 German Wartime Broadcasting 53

Chapter 5 Amery's Reception in Britain 68

Part II Broadcasting to Australia and the United States from Wartime Tokyo

Chapter 6 Japanese Wartime Broadcasting 81

Chapter 7 Tokyo's Australian Broadcaster Charles Cousens 91

Chapter 8 Allied POWs Broadcaster from Japan 103

Chapter 9 POW Families Listen to Radio Tokyo 115

Chapter 10 Iva Toguri in Wartime Japan 126

Chapter 11 Listening to Radio Tokyo at the Pacific Front 141

Chapter 12 Trying an Australian Traitor: Charles Cousens 155

Chapter 13 Iva Toguri and the Trial of Tokyo Rose 168

Epilogue 183

Notes 187

Bibliography 217

Index 225

Editorial Reviews

"Exceptionally interesting."—Martin Rubin, Washington Post

Washington Post - Martin Rubin

"Exceptionally interesting."—Martin Rubin, Washington Post

— Martin Rubin

Washington Post