Germany Calling

Germany Calling was a propaganda radio programme, broadcast by Nazi German radio to audiences in the United Kingdom and the United States during World War II. Every broadcast began with the station announcement: "Germany calling! Here are the Reichssender Hamburg, station Bremen". Today, it is best known for its employment of several radio presenters jointly known as Lord Haw-Haw — most notably, William Joyce, who was German radio's most prominent English-language speaker and to whom the name gradually came to be exclusively applied.

The regular content included news and jazz music (which was banned on German domestic stations). The announcers were an integral part of the programme, making various announcements and enabling prisoners of war to personally send regards to relatives in their native countries, which made the programme quite popular with listeners of war participating states, especially the United Kingdom and the United States.

Germany Calling was founded on behalf of Reich Minister of Propaganda Joseph Goebbels as a propaganda radio programme aimed mainly at audiences in the United Kingdom and the United States, as well as other parts of the world. Broadcasts were sent via shortwave in approximately 30 languages.

Germany Calling ceased broadcasting 30 April 1945, when Hamburg was overrun by the British Army.

Studio

In contrast to the station announcement, Germany Calling was not stationed in Bremen, but in Osterloog, Hamburg, although at different stages during the war the broadcasts originated variously from Berlin, Luxembourg, and Apen.

See also

• Charlie and His Orchestra
• Reichs-Rundfunk-Gesellschaft