page_title: Sefton Delmer
section_title: Early career
hierarchical_section_title: Sefton Delmer / Early career
caption_attribution_description: Firemen work on the burning Reichstag
context_page_description: Denis Sefton Delmer was a British journalist of Australian heritage and, during World War II, a propagandist for the British government. Fluent in German, he became friendly with Ernst Röhm who arranged for him to interview Adolf Hitler in 1931. During hostilities he led a black propaganda campaign against Hitler by radio from England, so successfully that he was named in the Nazis' Black Book for immediate arrest after their planned invasion of Britain.
context_section_description: After leaving university, Delmer worked as a freelance journalist until he was recruited by the Daily Express to become head of its new Berlin Bureau. Whilst in Germany, he became friendly with Ernst Röhm, who arranged for him to become the first British journalist to interview Adolf Hitler, in April 1931.
  In the 1932 German federal election, Delmer travelled with Hitler aboard his private aircraft. He was "embedded with Nazi party activists" at this time, "taking copious notes on everything from the style of the would-be Führer's oratory to the group think that lay behind the bond he was forming with the German people."
  He was also present in 1933 when Hitler inspected the aftermath of the Reichstag fire. During this period, Delmer was criticised for being a Nazi sympathiser, and for a time, the British government thought he was in the pay of the Nazis. At the same time, the Nazi leaders were convinced Delmer was a member of MI6; his denials of any involvement only served to strengthen their belief that he was not only a member, but an important one.
  In 1933, Delmer was sent to France as head of the Daily Express Paris Bureau. In 1936, Delmer married Isabel Nichols. Delmer covered important events in Europe including the Spanish Civil War and the invasion of Poland by the Wehrmacht in 1939. He also reported on the German western offensive in 1940.
caption: The Reichstag fire in Berlin, 1933
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