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

cajoling American fighting men
with Nazi propaganda and telling
their wives and mothers of the hor-
rors of war will be heard in District
Court this week as the erstwhile
darling of Radio Berlin stands trial
for treason.
Recordings of the shortwave
broadcasts made by the American
woman-Miss Mildred Elizabeth
Gillars. as, 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 at
10 am. before Judge Edward M.
CurraR 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 a
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- j
ney for Miss Gillars, said. Original
plans to call 500 defense witnesses
have been revised. Mr.. Laughlin
said, as result of the Boston Fed
eral courts decision convicting Rob-
ert Chandler, another Nazi broad
caster, of treason. That court held
that the mere act of preparing
broadcasts for an enemy power
could constitute treason and it was
unnecessary to show what effect the
broadcasts had had on listeners.
Miss Gillars, wh6m prisoners of
war remembered as a small and
sapely brunette, is now almost en-
tirely gray. In photographs, her
curly, bobbed hair looks platinum
blonde.
She went to France in 1929 to
study music after a brief career
as an actress in this country. and
appeared in Germany in 1884,
shortly after Hitler's rise to power.
She became broadcaster, the JUS
tice Department charges, for the
of1cial Nazi radio in 1910.
British Adopted Tune.
Desert fighters of the British 9Th
Army soon adopted the tune "Lili
Marlene', which Miss Gillars played
frequently, as their marching song.
After the United States entered
the war, Nazi propaganda authori-
ties beamed Miss Gillars' Home
Sweet Home" broadcasts to Amer
lean troops in North Africa and
Italy and later in France. She
sought to build an audience Ia the
United States by broadcastine 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
q 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 fash
on when Miss Gillars' program is
piped into the earphones.
Some Reception Poor.
1t 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
well 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
bombed-out 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
Department began gathering EVIL
dence to support the treason charge.
Flown Back to U. 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
alighted at Boiling Field.
John M. Kelley, jr., special assist
ant to the Attorney General, pre-
sented the Governments case
against Miss Gillars to Federal
Grand Jury which indicted her OIL
September TO- The indictment traced
her activities from December H.,
1941, to May 8, 1945. The indict-
ment charges that she violated her
duty of allegiance to the United
States knowingly, Intentionally, will
fully and REASONABLY "by adhering
to the enemies of America A prl-
mary objective of her broadcasts,
the Grand Jury charged, was to
weaken the fighting power and
morale Of our armed forces.
Penalties for treason range from
five years Imprisonment, plus a s1U-
900 fine, to death. Because she is
charged with a capital offense. Miss
Gillars has been denied bail and
held at the District Jail since her
arrival in this country.
Two Zionist Meetings