Who was Axis Sally?

How did an American woman ever end up becoming Hitler's propaganda broadcaster?

In 1925, on her first day at New York's Hunter College, Mildred met and fell in love with the visiting Professor of German Literature, Max Koischwitz. That tumultuous and clandestine affair set her on a path of doom. With the United States suffering from economic decline, the 1930's found Mildred in prosperous Berlin. Hitler was on the rise, his Nazi party had come to power and his propaganda impassioned Germans to a renewed spirit. Professor Koishwitz was back in Berlin to help Josef Goebbles run Hitler's Ministry of Information and Enlightment, the agency charged with broadcasting Nazi propaganda throughout the world. Through Koishwitz’ influence, Mildred took a great paying job with the Rundfunk, broadcasting, in English, the latest news and events from the US to the multitude of American expatriates then living in Europe. As the station's sexy-voiced Mistress of Ceremonies, she became an overnight success. Her popularity soared, her audience doubled, then tripled. Koishwitz then recruited her to broadcast for Goebbles' effort, the Ministry of Education and Enlightenment. She was promised a huge increase in salary and, because she did not share their political ideology, she was assured a non-political status that would never require her to participate in propaganda.

I would say she was pretty naive to believe that line.

Naive, in a bad spot… and in love. Her success may have clouded her vision. Her first broadcasts were as Max promised. Then came the day when he handed her the script that denounced President Roosevelt and his "Kike boyfriends.” Horrified, Mildred flatly refused to broadcast it. "You must!" Max insisted, "Or they'll kill me!" Her hands shaking, she turned on her microphone and read the script. This one act sealed her fate. Mildred, thinking as an American, was used to the freedom of speech. A few days later, however, the American Vice-Conciliate ordered her to his office and illegally confiscated her passport. She appealed to a higher authority, but before an answer came, the United States declared war on Germany. Mildred became a citizen without a country.

And so it went for the rest of the war?

In Hitler’s Germany, one either cooperated or was eliminated. Mildred became an official “Ministry of Education and Enlightenment” broadcaster and the most listened-to woman of World War II. Her broadcasts were heard throughout Europe, the Mediterranean, North Africa and the United States from 1941 to 1945. However, Hitler's plan that her sexy-voiced propaganda broadcasts would demoralize American GIs, cause them to question America's motives for sending them to war, and render them ineffective combatants, BACKFIRED. America's fighting men actually went to great lengths to tune her in. They simply couldn’t get enough of her. Even US Airmen en route to bomb Berlin listened to her until, reluctantly, they had to turn her off in order to maintain radio silence. American soldiers laughed at her corny jokes, were soothed by the sound of the American woman's sexy innuendos and were made to feel less homesick by listening to the great American Hit Parade tunes she played.

Where did the name "Axis Sally" originate?

Actually, that was the name the GIs dubbed her with. The name of her broadcast was, “Midge at the Mike.”

How did people back home feel about an American woman broadcasting for Hitler?

Americans thought it impossible that one of their own had become "Hitler's Mouthpiece." Eighteen months after WWII ended, every radio in America crackled with the news that Axis Sally had been found hiding in a bombed out cellar in Berlin. Three years later an Army transport plane flew her home as US headlines screamed: TRAITOR TO FACE MUSIC! She was everywhere -- the subject of prime broadcasts, the face on magazine covers and the fuel of intense arguments. The country buzzed with the latest on her trial.

And what became of her? I suppose a lot of WWII vets ask you that?

They sure do. The life of Mildred "Axis Sally" Gillars took many turns - many of the most surprising lie in the answer to your

question, "What became of her?"

Is the publisher, Paradise West, satisfied with the book's reception?

This is the first and only book about this notorious woman. The publisher is thrilled, amazed and very pleased with the book's great reception. Axis Sally has certainly stimulated a lot of interest and discussion.