Denis Sefton Delmer (May 24, 1904-September 4, 1979) was a British journalist and propagandist for the British government. Events 1218 - The Fifth Crusade leaves Acre for Egypt. 1276 - Magnus Ladulås is crowned Year 1904 ( MCMIV) was a Leap year starting on Friday (link will display calendar of the Gregorian calendar (or a Leap year starting on Events 476 - Romulus Augustus, last emperor of the Western Roman Empire, is deposed when Odoacer proclaims himself Year 1979 ( MCMLXXIX) was a Common year starting on Monday (link displays the 1979 Gregorian calendar) The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom, the UK or Britain,is a Sovereign state located A journalist (also called a newspaperman) is a person who practices Journalism, the gathering and dissemination of information about current events trends Propaganda is a concerted set of messages aimed at influencing the opinions or behaviors of large numbers of people For the government of parliamentary systems see Executive (government.
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Early life
Denis Sefton Delmer better known to his friends and colleagues as Tom was born in Berlin, Germany, and registered with the British Consul General as a British Citizen. Berlin is the capital city and one of sixteen states of Germany. Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany ( ˈbʊndəsʁepuˌbliːk ˈdɔʏtʃlant is a Country in Central Europe. Tom Delmer‘s father, Frederick Sefton Delmer, born in Hobart, Tasmania, was Professor of English Literature at Berlin University. Hobart is the state capital and most populous city of the Australian island state of Tasmania. Tasmania is an Australian island and state of the same name It is located south of the eastern side of the Continent, being separated from it by Bass For other universities in Berlin see List of Universities in Berlin. On the outbreak of the First World War he was interned in Rueblen concentration camp as an enemy alien. In 1917 in a prisoner exchange between the British and German Governments Frederick Sefton Delmer and his family were repatriated to England. England is a Country which is part of the United Kingdom. Its inhabitants account for more than 83% of the total UK population whilst its mainland
‘Tom’ Sefton Delmer was educated at Friedrichs Werdersche Gymnasium, St Pauls School London, and Lincoln College, Oxford, where he obtained a second class degree in Modern languages. Lincoln College (in full The College of the Blessed Mary and All Saints Lincoln) is one of the constituent colleges of the University of Oxford
Early career and work during wartime
After leaving university he worked as a freelance journalist until he was recruited by the Daily Express to become head of its new Berlin Bureau. The Daily Express is a conservative Middle-market British Tabloid Newspaper. While in Germany he became friendly with Ernst Röhm who arranged for him to become the first British journalist to interview Adolf Hitler. Ernst Julius Röhm, (Munich November 28, 1887 – July 2, 1934) was a German military officer and later the commander and co-founder Hi and welcome to Wikipedia! Please understand that this article is frequently vandalized and vandalism is reverted immediately
In the 1932 general election Delmer travelled with Hitler on his private aircraft. A general election is an Election in which all or most members of a given political body are up for election He was also with Hitler when he inspected the Reichstag Fire. On 27 February 1933, the Reichstag building was subject to an arson attack and as a result seen as the pivotal event in the establishment of Nazi Germany During this period Delmer was criticized for being a Nazi sympathizer and for a time the British government thought he was in the pay of the Nazi regime. Nazism, which was a short name for National Socialism (Nationalsozialismus refers primarily to the Ideology and practices of the National Socialist German Ironically the Nazi leaders were convinced that Delmer was a member of the British secret service - his denials of any involvement only served to strengthen their belief that, not only was he a member, but an important one. The Secret Intelligence Service ( SIS) colloquially known as MI6 is the United Kingdom 's external Intelligence agency.
In 1933 Delmer was sent to France as head of the Daily Express Paris Bureau. This article is about the country For a topic outline on this subject see List of basic France topics. In 1935 Delmer married Isabel Nichols (she later married composer Constant Lambert and after his death married again in 1955 to composer Alan Rawsthorne). Isabel Rawsthorne (1912 &ndash 1992 was a British artists' model and painter. Leonard Constant Lambert ( August 23, 1905 &ndash August 21, 1951) was a British composer and conductor. Alan Rawsthorne (2 May 1905 &ndash 24 July 1971 was a British Composer. Delmer covered important stories in Europe including the Spanish Civil War and the invasion of Poland by the German Army in 1939. The Spanish Civil War was a major conflict in Spain that started after an attempted Coup d'état committed by parts of the army against the government of Poland (Polska officially the Republic of Poland He also reported on the German western offensive in 1940.
Delmer returned to England and worked, for a time, as an announcer for the German service of the BBC. After Adolf Hitler broadcast a speech from the Reichstag offering peace terms, Delmer responded immediately, stating the British cast the terms in "your lying, stinking teeth. "[1]
In September 1940 he was recruited by the Political Warfare Executive (PWE) to organize black propaganda broadcasts to Nazi Germany. During World War II, the Political Warfare Executive (PWE was a British clandestine body created to produce and disseminate both white and Black propaganda Black propaganda is false material where the source is disguised The operation was based at Wavendon Tower in what is now Milton Keynes new city. Wavendon is a Village and Civil parish in the south east of the Borough of Milton Keynes and ceremonial Buckinghamshire, England. Milton Keynes ( ˌmɪltənˈkiːnz often abbreviated to MK, is a large town His first, most notable success, was a shortwave station, Gustav Siegfried Eins, which came on the air shortly after the flight of Rudolf Hess to England in 1940. Gustav Siegfried Eins (G3 was a British Black propaganda Radio station during World War II operated by the Political Warfare Executive Rudolf Walter Richard Hess ( Heß in German) (26 April 1894 &ndash 17 August 1987 was a prominent figure in Nazi Germany, acting as Adolf Hitler Gustav Sigfried Eins featured "Der Chef," an unrepentant Nazi, who disparaged both Churchill ("that flatfooted son of a drunken Jew") and the "Parteikommune", the "Party Communists" who betrayed the Nazi revolution. When Stafford Cripps discovered what Delmer was up to he wrote to Anthony Eden, the Foreign Secretary: "If this is the sort of thing that is needed to win the war, why, I'd rather lose it. Sir Richard Stafford Cripps ( 24 April 1889 &ndash 21 April 1952) was a British Labour politician and Chancellor Robert Anthony Eden 1st Earl of Avon, KG, MC, PC (12 June 1897 &ndash 14 January 1977 was a British Conservative Politician The Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, commonly referred to as the Foreign Secretary, is a member of the United Kingdom Government heading the "[2]
Soldatensender Calais was another clandestine radio station directed by Delmer for the German armed forces. Soldatensender Calais (G9 was a British Black propaganda broadcaster during the Second World War operated by the Political Warfare Executive Transmitting from Crowborough, Soldatensender Calais broadcast a combination of good music, "cover" support of the war, and "dirt," - items inserted to demoralize German forces. Crowborough is a town in the Wealden district of East Sussex, England. Delmer's propaganda stories included spreading rumours that foreign workers were sleeping with the wives of German soldiers serving overseas. Delmer also oversaw the production of a daily 'grey' German-language newspaper titled "Nachrichten für die Truppe" with much of its text being based on the Soldatensender broadcasts. Nachrichten was disseminated over the German frontlines each morning by the Special Leaflet Squadron of the US 8th Air Force.
Later career and retirement
After the Second World War Delmer became chief foreign affairs reporter for the Daily Express. Over the next fifteen years Delmer covered nearly every major foreign news story for the newspaper. Lord Beaverbrook sacked Delmer in 1959[3] and he retired to Lamarsh in Essex, near to Little Sampford where his ex-wife Isabel lived with her third husband. William Maxwell "Max" Aitken 1st Baron Beaverbrook Bt The year 1959 ( MCMLIX) was a Common year starting on Thursday (link will display full calendar of the Gregorian calendar. He wrote two volumes of autobiography, Trail Sinister (1961), Black Boomerang (1962) and several other books including Weimar Germany (1972) and The Counterfeit Spy (1971).
Sefton Delmer died at Lamarsh, Essex, in 1979.
Notes
- ^ This incident was described in both Black Boomerang and in William Shirer's book, Berlin Diary. William Lawrence Shirer ( February 23, 1904 – December 28, 1993) was an American journalist and historian
- ^ See article Sir Stafford Cripps and the German Admiral's Orgy by Lee Richards, PsyWar. Org, 2007.
- ^ See Chapter Two of Tail of a Tale by Sefton DelmerThe hiring and firing by Beaverbrook.
External links
- Sefton Delmer -Black Boomerang: Sefton Delmer was head of British Black Propaganda during WWII. His book Black Boomerang tells the story of his work.
- PsyWar.Org - Black Propaganda and propaganda leaflets database: A website with various articles on black propaganda and psychological warfare. The site has an extensive library of propaganda leaflets from WWI to the present day.
- Gray and Black Radio Propaganda against Nazi Germany Extensively illustrated paper describing the Allied effort in WW II to undermine Germany through unidentified or misidentified radio broadcasts.
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