Ordinance on extraordinary broadcasting measures

Ordinance on Extraordinary Broadcasting Measures, September 1, 1939

With an ordinance on extraordinary radio measures of September 1, 1939 , the day the attack on Poland began , the distribution of news from non-German broadcasters that had been intercepted was made a punishable offense in the German Reich . Listening to radio stations from neutral countries allied with Germany was also prohibited. In National Socialist Germany, both were also referred to as broadcasting crime.

As early as 1933, the Gestapo deported radio participants who were assigned to the Communists and who had jointly received “ Radio Moscow ” to concentration camps. Higher regional courts, special courts and from 1934 the People's Court had already passed judgments without this legal basis for “preparation for high treason ” because the accused had listened to this station.

prehistory

Since 29 October 1929, a strong radiated longwave - stations of the Central Council of the Russian union of German-language broadcasts that the KPD propaganda supported in Germany. From 1931 onwards, the Reich Government tried to use jammers .

In September 1933, the Gestapo issued a decree that all persons found during the collective reception of "Radio Moscow" were to be sent to a concentration camp immediately . Technical changes to radio receivers were considered to prevent reception. Numerous jammers were installed; However, this led to unpleasant noises from the German transmitter during operation .

In 1936 the Reich Ministry of Justice issued a guideline according to which “treasonable word of mouth” could also exist if an enemy broadcaster was only listened to in the immediate family circle; if Radio Moscow was received jointly, preparation for high treason was to be assumed. Although wiretapping was not yet legally prohibited, the Hanseatic Higher Regional Court imposed prison sentences in such a case in 1937 .

A bill submitted by Joseph Goebbels for a law on listening to communist broadcasters, which provided for “fines and prison sentences not under two years”, was not adopted in 1937 at the behest of Adolf Hitler .

In a monthly report from Bavaria, which was prepared for the information of the Gestapo, it is reported in April 1939:

“The growing addiction to eavesdropping on outgoing messages from foreign radio stations in German is worrying. This means that even in the country less well-off people's comrades prefer expensive and high-performance radios instead of the simple, cheap people's receivers , with which broadcasts from abroad can also be easily listened to. "

Hitler later approved a bill that had been changed several times, in which Goebbels had covered up the negative vote of the Council of Ministers by publishing it ahead of time, and the ordinance was promulgated in the Reichsgesetzblatt on September 7, 1939 .

Content of the regulation

In § 1, "the deliberate listening to foreign broadcasters" was forbidden and, in the event of violation, threatened with imprisonment, the duration of which was not limited. Lighter cases were punishable by imprisonment; the radio was to be retracted.

In § 2, the dissemination of intercepted messages that endangered “the resilience of the German people” was threatened with imprisonment and, in particularly serious cases, with the death penalty .

Further paragraphs made official wiretapping exempt from punishment and stipulated that criminal prosecution should only take place at the request of the state police and that the special courts should be responsible for negotiations .

Goebbels later considerably restricted the group of those who were authorized to do official wiretapping. His ministry even refused permission to some ministers.

Notice of the regulation

The interception ban was made public through press releases and announcements in light films. Newspapers reported chilling convictions. In mid-1941, the block control room received the order to go to all apartments and to attach a card to the radio or to the control buttons containing the following warning:

“Listening to foreign broadcasters is a crime against the national security of our people. It is punished with heavy penal sentences on the orders of the Führer. Remember! "

In the secret situation reports of the security service it is said that this action “found a very negative reception in all circles of the population. The affixing of these notes is felt to be an insult and an insult [...] "and particularly reject the fact that" the terms leader and threat of prison sentence are placed directly next to one another. " 

Receipt (1944) for payment of radio license fees in the post office

That was on the back

Extent of persecution

By eliminating the prosecutor's office which received law enforcement duty . Denunciations were filtered and only led to criminal sentences if the Gestapo processed and forwarded the complaint accordingly. According to an internal guideline, simply listening to music broadcasts on enemy broadcasters should lead to a warning, but the retransmission of news should in any case lead to a criminal complaint.

The sources do not allow any precise statements about the intensity of the persecution. According to a situation report from 1941, between 200 and 440 people were arrested every month for eavesdropping on hostile radio propaganda. In some of the more closely examined Gestapo areas, violations were reported to the courts in only 23% to 47% of cases. In about 10% of the cases, those denounced were released after several days in Gestapo detention; many of those reported got away with a warning.

The Reich Crime Statistics lists 2,704 convictions according to the Broadcasting Ordinance for the German Reich (excluding Austria) for the years 1939 to 1942. There are no total figures for the following years, but figures from individual cities reveal a clear trend: in Hamburg, for example, the number of cases tripled from 1943 onwards. The secret situation reports of the security service reported on July 8, 1943, of "signs of loosening in the attitude of the population", which show understanding for "broadcast criminals":

“… Also point to the fact that listening to foreign stations has obviously increased significantly for months. [...] Nobody admitted that he was listening to foreign broadcasters, but political discussions were often held about the fact that listening to German broadcasters was not forbidden in England and that the inadequate information of the German people through the press and radio was actually part of enemy propaganda drive your arms. "

Comparative studies of the judgments imposed by the special courts in Berlin and Freiburg show average prison sentences of 11 and 9 months and penal sentences of 25 and 21 months.

Death sentences

Section 2 provided for the death penalty under certain circumstances. In fact, judges justified death sentences with this provision in only a few exceptional cases, even in times of war. Death sentences were often pronounced for “high treason” or “preparation for high treason” or “ decomposition of military strength ”. It was sufficient to assess the effect of the “ defeatist ” and anti-regime statements without having to investigate whether the accused had listened to this message himself, had only passed it on or had drawn from his own knowledge and judgment.

Similar regulations in other countries

Italy

• Art. 8 R. decreto 16 giugno 1940, n.765 Norme sulla disciplina dei servizi telegrafici e telefonici e sull'uso degli apparecchi radioriceventi e radiotrasmittenti ( GU n.1 160 )
  • Authorization and sanction: Art. 20 , 340 R. decreto 8 luglio 1938, n.1415 Approvazione dei testi della legge di guerra e della legge di neutralità (GU n.211 SO)
  • Repealed by: Decreto legislativo luogotenenziale 3 marzo 1945, n. 152 Abrogazione di norme concernenti limitazioni nell'ascolto delle radiodiffusioni ( GU n. 52 )
  • Goebbels apparently only became aware of the listening ban in Italy in 1942.

Japan

• From 1936 onwards Japan endeavored to prevent the use of shortwave receivers in its own country; in the occupied territories of Southeast Asia , their possession was made a criminal offense, for example in the late summer of 1942 in Malaya and Singapore .

Web links

Wikisource: Extraordinary Broadcasting Regulations  - Sources and Full Texts

• Regulation in the Reichsgesetzblatt
  • 1. Implementation ordinance of September 11, 1939 (concerns the procedure for members of the Wehrmacht)
    → HVBl 1942 Part В No. 963 (list of radio stations that may be monitored by the troops)
  • 2nd implementing ordinance of July 2, 1940 (concerns confiscation )
  • 3rd implementing regulation of September 20, 1940 (concerns Italian nationals)
• Rundfunkarchiv vol. 14, no.10, October 1941, p. 433 (death sentence from 1941)
• Judgments: RGSt 74, 271 (1940; music broadcasts); 75, 197 (1941; suitability for endangerment)
• [1] Texts about "broadcast crimes" in Mecklenburg and Western Pomerania

literature

• Michael Hensle: "Broadcasting crimes " before National Socialist special courts. A comparative study of judgment practice in the Reich capital Berlin and the southern Baden province. Dissertation. Berlin 2001 ( tu-berlin.de [PDF; 2.4 MB ; accessed on March 2, 2019]).
• Michael P. Hensle: Broadcasting Crimes . Listening to "enemy broadcasts" during National Socialism. Berlin 2003, ISBN 3-936411-05-0 .
• Christian Müllner: Black listeners and informers. Offenses according to Sections 1 and 2 of the Ordinance on Extraordinary Broadcasting Measures before the Vienna Special Court . Dissertation, University of Vienna 2011, on the Internet

Individual evidence

1. ^ Carola Tischler: Funk in Fesseln - The German-language radio from Moscow between revolutionary claims and state regulation (1929 to 1941) . In: Karl Eimermacher, Astrid Volpert (Hrsg.): Stormy departures and disappointed hopes (=  West-Eastern reflections, new series . Volume 2 ). Wilhelm Fink Verlag, 2006, ISBN 3-7705-4091-3 , p. 1021-1067 ( digital-sammlungen.de ).
2. ↑ Michael Hensle: Broadcasting crime . Listening to "enemy broadcasts" during National Socialism. Berlin 2003, ISBN 3-936411-05-0 , p. 18.
3. ↑ Michael Hensle: Rundfunkverbrechen, p. 22.
4. ↑ Michael Hensle: Rundfunkverbrechen, pp. 25/28.
5. ↑ Cornelia Schmitz-Berning: Vocabulary of National Socialism. Berlin 1998, ISBN 3-11-013379-2 , p. 653.
6. ↑ RGBl. 1939 I, page 1683 / Michael Hensle: Rundfunkverbrechen, p. 36 f.
7. ^ CF Latour: Goebbels' "Extraordinary Broadcasting Measures" 1939–1942. Documentation. In: VfZ 11 (1963), H. 4, pp. 418-435.
8. ↑ Example: Film episode with Tran and Helle
9. ↑ Michael Hensle: Rundfunkverbrechen, p. 141.
10. ↑ Heinz Boberach (Ed.): Messages from the Reich. Herrsching 1984, ISBN 3-88199-158-1 , Vol. 8, p. 3020.
11. ↑ Michael Hensle: Rundfunkverbrechen, p. 72.
12. ↑ Michael Hensle: Rundfunkverbrechen, p. 89.
13. ↑ Hamburg Justice Authority (ed.): "Of habitual criminals, pests and anti-socials ...". Hamburg judicial judgments under National Socialism. Hamburg 1995, ISBN 3-87916-023-6 , p. 195.
14. ↑ Heinz Boberach (Ed.): Messages ... , Vol. 14, p. 5447.
15. ↑ Michael Hensle: Rundfunkverbrechen , p. 86, fn. 138.
16. ↑ History of Citizens Band Radio: 短波 受 信 の 禁止
17. ↑ Takuma Melber: Between Collaboration and Resistance: The Japanese Occupation in Malaya and Singapore (1942–1945) . Campus Verlag, 2016, ISBN 978-3-593-50817-7 , pp. 208 ( full text in Google Book Search).