'Axis Sally' Spewed Nazi Propaganda To American Citizens And Was Convicted For Treason

Mildred Elizabeth Sisk was born in Portland, Maine, on November 29, 1900. She was seven years old when her mother divorced her father and married Dr. Robert Gillars. Mildred changed her last name to Gillars.

After moving around, Gillars and her family settled in Ohio. After high school, she went to Ohio Wesleyan University, but she didn't graduate.Seeking fame, Gillars took various day jobs. She moved to New York City to perform vaudeville, but she never achieved commercial success.

Gillars wanted to be a stage actress since high school. Her acting career did not gain much traction.Gillars failed to make a name for herself in New York City.

She took waitressing and cashier jobs to support her dream. After many failed attempts to become a star, she enrolled in Hunter College.She wanted to become an actress to support her dream. After many failed tries at stardom, she enrolled at Hunter College.

Gillars was a student of Professor Max Otto Koischwitz.She was a student at Hunter College.She fell in love with the German national, who greatly influenced her. In 1933, Koischwitz returned to Germany and gave up his US citizenship.

According to Gillars,Gillars moved to Berlin in 1934 to marry Koischwitz, and the two had an affair since Koischwitz already had a wife. Koischwitz later became the program director for Radio Berlin.They had an affair since Koischwitz already had a wife.Koischwitz later became the program director for Radio Berlin. Seeing a chance to gain exposure and act, Gillars quit her job as an English instructor and started working as a radio actress and broadcaster for the German Radio Corporation in 1940.

The German Radio Corporation recruited Gillars because of her American accent. They wanted her to appeal to American soldiers over the radio by pretending she was a compatriot. The Third Reich used her broadcasts to spread hatred against marginalized groups.

Gillars called herself "Midge at the Mike." She hosted a daily radio program called "Home Sweet Home."She started a daily radio show called 'Home Sweet Home'.The show was 'Home Sweet Home'., which began airing on December 11, 1941. From her Berlin broadcast booth, Gillars's show reached shortwave radios across European battlefields and parts of North America. December 11, 1941. From her broadcast booth in Berlin, Gillars's show reached shortwave radios across European battlefields and parts of North America.The show covered European battlefields.It also covered some parts of North America.

During a typical broadcast, Gillars shared propaganda to listeners among big band music.

Gillars told American people the truth, hoping they would wake up to the fact that men they loved were being sacrificed for Jewish and British interests.

Gillars did not believe the United States would join WWII. When Japan attacked on December 7, 1941, the tragedy shocked the world and caused the US to enter WWII. Off the air, Gillars criticized Japan's attack, which allegedly angered the Germans and put her job at risk.

Since the US Embassy seized Gillars's passport in 1941, she could not leave Germany.Gillars's passport was used.She could not leave Germany until after 1941. This is when Gillars's "Home Sweet Home" became an open channel for Third Reich propaganda aimed at American listeners.The show was 'Home Sweet Home'.The show became an open channel for Third Reich propaganda aimed at American listeners.

Later, Gillars said she never wanted the United States to lose the war. She claimed she was a patriotic American fighting England and the Jewish people, whom she believed caused the conflict.She opposed the United States becoming involved in the conflict.She opposed the United States becoming involved in the conflict.

On December 9, 1941, two days before Germany declared war on the US, this happened.Various sources say Gillars swore an oath.Sources say Gillars swore an oath.The prosecutor at her trial alleged she promised allegiance to Adolf Hitler.She allegedly promised allegiance to Adolf Hitler. When the US entered WWII on December 11, 1941, Gillars started broadcasting her show.The show was called Home Sweet Home.Gillars broadcasted to American soldiers until her last show on May 6, 1945, two days before Germany surrendered.The broadcast ended two days before Germany's official surrender.This marked the end.

Home Sweet Home filled battlefields with popular American music of the time, with Gillars's voice between songs.Gillars's soothing voice filled battlefields with popular American music of the time, with her voice between songs.One American soldier recalled fighting in the Battle of the Bulge and hearing Axis Sally over a German loudspeaker hidden in the woods.Dent Wheeler, one American soldier, recalled fighting in the Battle of the Bulge and hearing Axis Sally over a German loudspeaker hidden in the woods.

Axis Sally taunted soldiers: "Your wives and girlfriends are probably home in a nice, warm building, dancing with some other men. You're over here in the cold..."

She taunted soldiers: "There was a big push on up north; you might as well give up. The war's over, the German army captured 50,000 Americans. They are going all the way to Paris."

Gillars' radio program featured taunts meant to demoralize soldiers. She played propaganda clips mixed with American GIs supposedly telling their countrymen to leave WWII. Gillars obtained these recordings by visiting a hospital in Germany, claiming Red Cross membership. She allegedly told wounded US soldiers she needed audio clips as proof of their health.

American soldiers reportedly mocked Axis Sally's broadcasts in a 1944 column in The Saturday Evening Post.A 1944 column in The Saturday Evening Post reported American soldiers derided Axis Sally's broadcasts.Corporal Edward Van Dyne wrote:Corporal Edward Van Dyne wrote::

Van Dyne wrote: "Sally is a dandy — the sweetheart of the AEF. She plays nothing but swing, and good swing!... She has a voice that oozes like honey out of a big wooden spoon. She dwells on the home, sweetheart, and mother themes: "Homesick soldier? Throw down your gun and go back to the good, old USA," she says by implication..."

Doctor Goebbels likely thinks Sally undermines American morale. Gillars thought the effect was the opposite; they got a big reaction and loved her.

Still, those reports did not stop Gillars; she kept broadcasting every day.

Home Sweet Home included radio plays meant to support German ideals.Gillars sometimes played radio plays to support German ideas. Gillars often played a character from a script written by her partner, Max Otto Koischwitz. Her most infamous radio play was "Vision of Invasion."that play aired on May 11, 1944, just weeks before D-Day.The play aired on May 11, 1944, only weeks before D-Day.

Gillars played Evelyn, a mother from Ohio in the play. The setting took place after D-Day, an event the Germans expected. Evelyn told the story of her late son who appeared in a dream and explained his death during an invasion of France. Her son supposedly died on an Allied ship crossing the English Channel, because the play claimed the invasion of France would fail against the German army.

The broadcast included.An announcer remarked,"The 'D' of D-Day stands for doom... disaster... defeat... Dunkirk or Dieppe."

After the Allied victory on June 6, 1944, Gillars stayed in Berlin. From that time until May 6, 1945, days before WWII ended,Home Sweet HomeGillars kept broadcasting.

On her last broadcast day, Gillars escaped through the back door of the radio station as the Soviets stormed the front.

After escaping the Soviets, Gillars hid. She lived in the French Quarter of Berlinuntil 1946, when American GIs found herhungry and homeless, and wandering near Frankfurt am Main.

From 1946 to 1948, law enforcement detained Gillarsin internment campsuntil she returned to the United States for trial.

Gillars never formally renounced her US citizenship, even though she declared allegiance to Germany. Gillars was a special case: an American member of the Third Reich. She had hoped Max Otto Koischwitz would leave his wife and marry her. But when Koischwitz died in 1944, Gillars could not become a German citizen.a German citizen.

In 1949, Gillars faced multiple treason charges against the United States. Her trialgained major public attention.

Gillarsstood trialyears after committing crimes in Germany. The trial was a media event; Gillars even fainted in court.

On the stand, Gillars claimed she was not a traitor but merely acting a part. Her lawyer blamed Max Otto Koischwitz, but the prosecutor pointed to Gillars'salleged oath to Hitler, her acting as a Red Cross worker, and her hundreds of propaganda radio broadcasts, which several American GI witnesses confirmed.

The court convicted Gillars for one treason count, based on her radio play "Vision of Invasion." The court fined her $10,000 and sentenced her to 10 to 30 years in prison. She served 12 years before parole in 1961.