World War, PROPAGANDA: Goebbels Hits Der Snag

Little Paul Joseph Goebbels, the lying official mouthpiece of the world’s No. 1 liar, had some interesting remarks to make on lies by radio last week:

“Some Germans say they are strong-minded enough to listen to British lies and not be harmed by them. I reply this is not true. British lies get into the blood, making listeners weak and tired of carrying on, thus showing that the poisons transmitted by the British Broadcasting Corp. are beginning to work.”

This little difficulty was nothing to the trouble experienced by the German longwave station Deutschlandsender, which suddenly found its official news broadcasts interrupted by a voice from Russia that laughed, sang and injected in German such cracks as “Lies!” “A fairy tale!” “Hitler guilty!” This improvement of the jamming technique was quickly traced to the powerful transmitter RWL at Noginsk, 30 miles from Moscow, but the Nazis could do little about it. Sample broadcast, with interruptions by the voice, which Britons promptly christened Der Snag:

Announcer: New German victories have been won. . . .

Der Snag: In the grave.

Announcer: Fifteen Soviet planes were destroyed. . . .

Der Snag: And what about German losses?

Announcer: The Luftwaffe again attacked British airfields. . . .

Der Snag: Says you!

Announcer: German bombers went into action last night. . . .

Der Snag: Have you got any left?

Announcer: British bombers attempted to raid. . . .

Der Snag: You bet!

Announcer: Italian planes scored hits on British ships. . . .

Der Snag: Don’t make me laugh.

Announcer: Der Führer’s headquarters announces. . . .

Der Snag: What else but lies?

Announcer: This is the end of the news. . . .

Der Snag: Lies will be on the air again tomorrow.

Best guess as to the identity of Der Snag was that he was a onetime Viennese journalist named Ernst Fischer. Russian circles in London also guessed that Foreign Vice Commissar Soloman Abramovich Lozovsky, who speaks perfect German and likes a little joke, slipped a word in now and then. The Nazis tried to jam out the voice, but succeeded only in jamming out their own broadcast. One night they put three news broadcasters on the air, one following another without pause so as to thwart the Red radio. They talked so fast that nobody understood a word they said.

While Dr. Goebbels was trying to get over Der Snag, more trouble popped up at home. A clandestine short-wave station calling itself Gustav Siegfried Eins began sending out anti-Nazi propaganda from inside Germany. Its voice identified itself as “The Chief.” The Chief’s policy was anti-Semitic and anti-Communistic, as well as anti-Nazi, leading listeners to suspect a group of old-school monarchist Army officers. Chief gripe: the awarding of the Iron Cross to SA and SS men for killing Jews and Communists. Sample:

“Our comrades in the Air Force must make 16 flights against the enemy before being recommended for the Iron Cross, first class. . . . Do any of these filthy pups of the SS know at all what that means?

“Sixteen times against the enemy! Sixteen times expose your backside as you smack into the hell and never mind what may become of you, watching the bullets of the enemy machine guns whip between your legs. . . .

“But when such a louse as [SS Assault Leader] Funk shoots 7,532 Jews and Bolsheviks without even taking his other hand out of his pants pocket—that pig—well, then he gets the Iron Cross, first class. . . .

“This gang of drunken, filthy swine besmirches the honor of every honest German soldier who lies buried with an Iron Cross on his chest.