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Working for the War Effort: German-Speaking Refugees in British Propaganda during the Second World War by Charmian Brinson and Richard Dove

2022; Modern Humanities Research Association; Volume: 30; Issue: 1 Linguagem: Inglês

10.1353/aus.2022.0024

2222-4262

Andrea Hammel,

Historical Geopolitical and Social Dynamics

Reviewed by: Working for the War Effort: German-Speaking Refugees in British Propaganda during the Second World War by Charmian Brinson and Richard Dove Andrea Hammel Working for the War Effort: German-Speaking Refugees in British Propaganda during the Second World War. By Charmian Brinson and Richard Dove. Elstree: Vallentine Mitchell, 2021. 216 pp. £45. ISBN 978–1912676699. In 1944 Esther Simpson of the Society for the Protection of Science and Learning wrote in a letter that she was glad that various government departments had made use of the skills and talents of refugees who had fled National Socialism and that 'perhaps some day the public will be made aware of the enormous part our refugees have played during the war and indeed before the war' (pp. 188–89). Over the last two decades a number of publications have highlighted the contribution of Central European refugees to British public, professional, economic and cultural life before, during and after the Second World War. This book by Charmian Brinson and Richard Dove is however the first to analyse in detail the refugees' contribution to the war effort and propaganda, bringing it to the attention of both academic readers and the interested general public. [End Page 212] This is an academic book: it is well-researched and meticulous. But it is also well-written and accessible and should find a readership beyond scholarly circles. Working for the War Effort outlines in twelve concise chapters how men and women who had to flee National Socialism contributed to British wartime propaganda. After a short introductory chapter giving the general historical context, five chapters focus on internal propaganda aimed at the British public: the Ministry of Information formed the centre of a number of operations, but the BBC and intelligence organizations such as Electra House, the Special Operations Executive and the Political Warfare Executive were further eager employers. The activities in which the refugees were involved were extremely varied; the book outlines, for example, the founding and financing of the German-language newspaper Die Zeitung, the work of refugee artists and film propaganda, as well as the publicizing of other literature aimed at providing information to the British public to keep them on board with the UK government's war aims. It will not surprise anyone that most of the protagonists of this social history are male, but there are some exceptions. Irmgard Litten's book A Mother Fights Hitler was translated from German to English by Bernard Miall and published in 1940. After its publication she was engaged by the Ministry of Information from 1941 to 1944 to give talks all around the UK as part of the MOI's large scale programme of anti-Nazi events. Litten was exempted from the Aliens Protected Area Regulations, which prevented many refugees from staying in certain areas that were considered sensitive to the war effort. According to Litten herself, she gave around 1,000 lectures during this period of the war. The regulation mentioned above was not the only government legislation that prevented refugees from working for the war effort as effectively as they could have done. Brinson and Dove's study shows the complex contradictions of a situation that made the refugees desirable collaborators and employees for various propaganda tasks while at the same time threatening them with internment and even deportation to overseas territories. The second part of Working for the War Effort focuses on 'Propaganda to the Enemy', which was aimed at citizens of the German Reich and included both 'white' and 'black' (that is, covert) propaganda carried out by organizations such as the Emergency Committee for German Scholars or the German Service of the BBC. All five chapters are very informative, but especially fascinating is the account of how German and especially Austrian creatives such as the actor and writer Norbert Miller were involved in radio programmes meant to be listened to secretly in the German Reich. Miller wrote and performed in the captivating satirical radio programme series Schickel und Gruber aimed at undermining the enemy's belief in Hitler's propaganda machine. The book concludes with a chapter on the refugees' contribution to re-educating prisoners of war...