WWII, the Wireless War

[pasithea]

So, in looking for old sci-fi programs, I came across this channel: World War II: The Wireless war.

It's a stream of newscasts from WWII. Mostly NBC and BBS but there's some other stuff too. Chilling. Currently playing newscasts from 1938-09-27. I missed Hitler's speech on claims to the Sudetenlan. Now it's on the allies dealing with the situation. Fascinating listening to the news from the day without revisionism. What people knew, what the mainstream was told. This station even throws in stuff from Tokyo Rose and Lord Hawhaw. I'm not much of a history buff. I'm sorta using this as a way to get background about the culture of the day because I find it adds interest to my reading of old books and watching old cartoons. I admit it also fascinates me to hear the voices of people long dead. Although, some of the descriptions of events are pretty horrific. :/ A couple days ago, I was in May of 1945 and they were interviewing soldiers who were entering the concentration camps and describing the things they saw there. People so utterly and heartwrenchingly broken. One soldier spoke of being assigned to give milk to the infants in a prison camp. A woman brought her baby, dead and black and demanded milk for it. She was so badly broken, he finally gave milk to the dead baby, pouring some into it's mouth. After that the woman lay down, hugged her child, and died. Haunting. Horrifying... And that was just one moment, one day there for the solider. Imagine how much worse it must have been for the people who suffered through that place.

So, tonight I'm going to go watch 'The Wall' but I think I might understand the headspace a bit better.

*shudder* Now starting: 1939-02-20 German-American Bund Rally Madison Square... If I listen close, I'll probably hear George Bush's grandfather cheering wildly. they're going on about how god-fearing and patriotic they are. I'd better go before I start ranting.

Comments

[paka.livejournal.com]

You keep hearing stories like this... I remember this one story really vividly, this nisei who joined up because it got his family back in Manzanar some perks, and there was this sergeant bellowing at this group of freshly-uniformed and equipped nisei recruits that if the officers did their jobs properly none of them would come back alive. And of course this guy and his unit were in the nastiest parts of the war, including the liberation of the camps.

None of my relatives who were in the war talked about it, really; neither of my grandfathers were in it (one had been a policeman since 1936 and I'm not entirely sure if the other was a full time or just a volunteer fireman, but both were deemed vital here). As far as I know my relatives in France either sat the war out in Spain or just didn't survive at all. Back in Atlanta, I had a buddy whose grandfather was a policeman, too, just in Munich's police force - and apparently late in the war the way the people in charge um, boosted morale, was that they gave a batch of policeman a trip around Auschwitz and said something along the lines of this could be you, so don't make trouble for us.

I've often wished that I could have been alive in WWII, so that I could have fought in that one - and of course I read and see period photos and I've met a pretty good share of survivors. And of course I envy you having the radio programs as a window - that sounds amazing! But I can't imagine what it must have been like.

And yeah, Dubya's grandpappy is a major personal point with me. Anyway thanks for listening to the rant eh?

[zrath.livejournal.com]

Got a link?

[furrysaint.livejournal.com]

I think this is it.

http://www.live365.com/stations/dr_willie_feelgood

[dv-girl.livejournal.com]

Eep! Yeah, sorry about not responding Zrath. That is indeed the right link.

Although, depending on how good your german/italian/japanese is, there' s also Axis Forces Radio: http://www.live365.com/stations/kkilt