Axis Sally
Finally, a book about this notorious woman........Charles Champlin, Critic Emeritus, Los Angeles Times.An innovative portrayal of one of history's most controversial women. ........Frances Halpern, host of National Public Radio's Beyond WordsI was there. M. Williams Fuller brought it all back ...the people...the propaganda broadcasts... the danger ........Barnaby Conrad, Founder and Director of the Santa Barbara Writer's Conference, author of Matador, Hemingway's Spain and Last Boat to Cadiz.A superbly documented study of flawed characters thrown together in the crucible of war.......Cork Milner, author of Hollywood Be Thy Name (Scribners)This infamous woman beckoned to me from the pages of this spellbinding book. .......Charles Kent, President, Santa Barbara Screenwriters Association.--Charles Champlin, Critic Emeritus, Los Angeles Times.New York City, 1929 The blistering reviews of Mildred Gillars movie combined with her batched publicity stunts were launching a death knell to her acting career. The untimely disclosure her fiancé, the debonair German Professor Max Koischwitz, already had a wife, closed the scene on New York. Mildred Gillars boarded a ship bound for Europe and a new life. After several unsuccessful engagements in Europe and North Africa, Mildred landed a master-of-ceremonies contract with a German radio station in Berlin. Enjoying her new celebrity life, at a Berlin party, Mildred was casually introduced to the newly appointed Director of Radio Political, Professor Max Koischwitz. She was speechless. He smiled, bowed and kissed her hand, then gently putting his arm around her waist, led her off to the dance floor a right back into his life.   While her show grew in popularity, Germany became on the verge war with England and Russia, but as an American, Mildred considered herself only an observer to Europe's problems.  Max's job as Director of Radio Political was to develop a worldwide network broadcasting Nazi propaganda. As the net work developed, Max saw the need to use an American personality. Mildred was convinced to join Radio Political with the promise her involvement would be politically neutral. The promise was short lived and Mildred found herself reading scripts ridiculing the American President and his administration. The United States Consulate in Berlin retaliated by confiscating Mildred's passport. Mildred appealed for the return of her passport, but during the long drawn out appeal period; the United States declared war on Germany. Mildred, was suddenly trapped without a passport, she could not leave Germany, nor could she work. She was a wartime enemy alien. Mildred Gillars only means of survival was under the protection of Max and Radio Political. During the next seven years, Mildred Gillars, the girl from Conneaut, Ohio would become the most notorious propaganda voice of the era. Tuning in to her short-wave propaganda broadcasts, the English-speaking world came to know her as Hitler's Mouthpiece. Playing popular American music interspersed with demoralizing rhetoric, the GIs on the battlefields dubbed her Axis Sally. She taunted the airman as they flew in their bomb loads to drop on the German cities and they named Mildred, the Bitch of Berlin. However, of the many labels given to Mildred Gillars, the label that rang the loudest was traitor! As the war continued on, Germany was pounded to the ground. Berlin, once a proud magnificent city, had hardly a brick upon a brick remaining; hundreds of thousands of people were killed and maimed, however, Mildred was not destined to be one of them.  In May 1945, Germany surrendered. Mildred became a fugitive, hunted by the US Dept of Justice. She eluded the authorities by joining the throngs of homeless and starving refugees roaming the countryside. Finally, after more than two years of hiding, she was captured and taken back to the United States. The trial holding the nation's attention for many months, concluded with a guilty verdict and a sentence of 30 years. However, that was not the end of the Mildred Gillars story. Released from prison in 1962, and completely reinventing herself, she went on again to make newspaper headlines. --Publishers Review"I could'n’t put Axis Sally down. M. Williams Fuller brought it all back, …the people,… the propaganda broadcasts,… the danger. --Barnaby Conrad, Founder and Director of the<BR> Santa Barbara Writer’s Conference, author of Matador, Hemingway's Spain and Last Boat to Cadiz.