Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1949-01-23
Axis Sa||yFaces
Treason Trial
Here Tomorrow
Jurors Will Hear
Records of Broudcusts
To U. S. Troops
By jones J. CoIIinone

The sultry voice of Axis Sally
cajoling American fighting mer
with Nazi propaganda and tellin,
their wives and mothers of the hor.
rors of war will be heard in Distric
Court this week as the erstwhil.
darling of Radio Berlin stands tria
for treason.
Recordings of the shortWave
broadcasts made by the American
woman-Miss Mildred Elizabeth
Gillars, 4S, a native of Portland, Me.
will be replayed over an elaborate
mechanical system as the Justice
Department presents its case.
The trial will begin tomorrow al
10 am. before Judge Edward M
Curran in District Court and is ex-
pected to continue for several weeks
The Justice Department will pre-
sent witnesses brought here from
Germany and Holland as we'll as 9
number of American war veterans
who met Axis Sally while they
were prisoners of war.
Generals May be Called.
The defense may try to call Gen
Eisenhower and Bradley and num-
Der of high-ranking Government
officials, James j. Laughlin, attor-
ney for Miss Gillars. said. Original
plans to call 500 defense witnesses
have been revised, Mr.. Laughlir
said. as result of the Boston Fed.
eral courts decision convicting Rob.
ert Chandler, another Nazi broad.
caster, of treason. That court helc
that the mere act of preparing
broadcasts for an enemy power
could constitute treason and it wa.
unnecessary to show what effect the
breakfasts had had on listeners.
Miss Gillars. whom prisoners Of
war remembered as small anc
sapely brunette. is now almost en-.
tirely gray, In photographs. hel
curly, bobbed hair looks platinum
blonde.
She went to France in 1929 tc
study music after brief career
as an actress in this country and
appeared in Germany in 1884
shortly after Hitlers rise to power
She became a broadcaster, the JUS
tice Department charges, for the
official Nazi radio in 1910.
British Adopted Tune.
Desert fighters Of the British 9Th
Army soon adopted the tune Lii
Marlene', which Miss Gillars played
frequently, as their marching song
After the United States entered
the war, Nazi propa ganda authori-
ties beamed Miss Gillars' Home
Sweet Home" broadcasts to Amer
lean troops in North Africa anc
Italy and later in France. She
sought to build an audience in the
United States by broadcasting the
names of Americans held as prison
ers OF war and listing the dead and
injured.
Her broadcasts were monitored BY
the Foreign Broadcast Intelligence
Service listening post in MARYLAND
More than a score of recordings
made by the FBIS will be introduced
in the trial
The recordings will be played into
an simplifying system and the judge
the jurors. attorneys and the press
will be provided with earphones to
listen to them Each juror will have
a volume control unit with this ear
phones so that he may make the
music and Miss Gillars' voice as
loud or as soft as he desires. A
light on the control box will flash
on when Miss Gillars' program is
piped into the earphones.
Some Reception Poor.
It was decided to use earphones
the, Justice Department explained
because of the poor quality of the
reception on some of the shortwave
recordings.
The jurors will hear the popular
dance music played on Miss Gillars
Home Sweet Home" broadcasts as
we'll as her own voice. Most of Miss
Gillars' music came from records
but occasionally she used live
dance bands from occupied coun-
tries. Some of the Dutch musicians
who were forced to play on her
programs have been brought here
to testify against Miss Gillars.
After the conquest of Berlin. Miss
Gillars disappeared and existed by
selling her personal effects on the
black market. In 1916 she was found
living in the ruined cellars of the
German capital. She
was arrested and subsequently re-
leased in the American occupation
zone on the condition that she re-
port every two weeks to Army au-
thorities. Meanwhile, the Justice
began gathering evil
dence to support the treason charge.
Flown Back to Z. S.
Last August Miss Gillars was
flown back to the United States in
an Army plane and the treason war;
rant was served on her when she
aliehted at Boiling Field
John M. Kelley. jr., special assist
ant to the Attorney General. pre-
sented the Governments case
against Miss Gillars to a Fedora
Grand Jury which indicted her OIL
10. The indictment traced
her activities from December II
1941, to May 8, 1945. The indict-
ment charges that she violated hel
duty of allegiance to the Unitej
States knowingly, Intentionally, viii.
fully and REASONABLY by adherins
to the enemies of America. A rrl-
mary objective of her broadcasts
the Grand Jury charged, was tc
weaken the fighting power and
morale of our armed forces.
Penalties for treason range from
five years imprisonment. plus SIG
900 fine, to death. Because she Is
charged with a capital offense, Miss
Gillars has been denied bail ano
held at the District Jail since he,
arrival in this country.
Two Zionist Meetings
c-L>l,,Io1 :n ArI;no%on