Black propaganda
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Black propaganda is propaganda that purports to be from a source on one side of a conflict, but is actually from the opposing side. It is typically used to vilify, embarrass or misrepresent the enemy. It contrasts with grey propaganda, the source of which is not identified, and white propaganda, in which the real source is declared. The term is also sometimes used as a synonym for particularly malicious wartime propaganda or falsification of information that is captured by an enemy.
Black propaganda may be generated by altering genuine enemy propaganda in such a way as to distort its message. This is a particularly powerful tool if the target audience has a poor understanding of the language of the enemy.
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Anti-Semitic black propaganda
A classic example of black propaganda is the Protocols of the Elders of Zion, which poses as a document written by Jewish elders, but is actually a forgery written by an opponent of the Jews. A lesser-known but equally pernicious example is the invented book A Racial Program for the Twentieth Century, which was purported to be proof of a Jewish/Communist plot against white Americans, but was actually an invention of Eustace Mullins.
World War II black propaganda
British black propaganda
In Britain, the Political Warfare Executive operated a number of black propaganda radio stations. Gustav Siegfried Eins was the first such station - purporting to be a clandestine German station. The speaker, 'Der Chef' purported to be a Nazi extremist, accusing Hitler and his henchmen of going soft. The station focused on alleged corruption and sexual improprieties of Nazi Party members.
Another example was the British radio station Soldatensender Calais, which purported to be a radio station for the German military. Under the direction of Sefton Delmer, a British journalist who spoke perfect Berliner German, Soldatensender Calais and its associated shortwave station, Kurzwellesender Atlantik, broadcast music, up-to-date sports scores, speeches of Adolf Hitler for "cover", and subtle propaganda.
David Hare's play Licking Hitler provides a fictionalised account based on the British black propaganda efforts in World War II.
German black propaganda
German black propaganda usually took advantage of European racism and anti-Communism. For example, on the night of April 27, 1944 German aircraft under cover of darkness (and possibly carrying fake Royal Air Force markings) dropped propaganda leaflets on occupied Denmark. These leaflets used the title of Frihedsposten, a genuine Danish underground newspaper, and claimed that the "hour of liberation" was approaching. They instructed Danes to accept "occupation by Russian or specially trained American Negro soldiers" until the first disorders resulting from military operations is over.
Japanese black propaganda
The following message was distributed in black propaganda leaflets dropped by the Japanese over the Philippines in World War II. It was designed to turn Filipinos against the United States:
- Guard Against Venereal Diseases
- Lately there has been a great increase in the number of venereal diseases among our officers and men owing to prolific contacts with Filipino women of dubious character.
- Due to hard times and stricken conditions brought about by the Japanese occupation of the islands, Filipino women are willing to offer themselves for a small amount of foodstuffs. It is advisable in such cases to take full protective measures by use of condoms, protective medicines, etc.; better still to hold intercourse only with wives, virgins, or women of respective character.
- Furthermore, in view of the increase in pro-American leanings, many Filipino women are more than willing to offer themselves to American soldiers, and due to the fact that Filipinos have no knowledge of hygiene, disease carriers are rampant and due care must be taken.
- US Army
The Zinoviev letter
The Zinoviev letter was a fake letter published in the right-wing British newspaper The Daily Mail. It claimed to be a letter from the Comintern president Grigori Zinoviev to the British Communist party. It called on Communists to mobilise "sympathetic forces" in the Labour Party and talked of creating dissent in the armed forces. The Zinoviev letter was instrumental in the Conservative victory in the 1924 UK general election.
The "Mon Cher Mustapha" letter
In Dreux in 1982 the National Front distributed anonymous fake letters, supposedly from an Algerian living in France to a brother living in Algeria. These fake letters were instrumental in the National Front victory in the 1983 local council elections in Dreux. See Mon cher Mustapha letter.
The "Muskie" letter
During the 1972 U.S. presidential election, Donald H. Segretti, a political operative for President Nixon's reelection campaign, released a faked letter, on Senator Edmund Muskie's letterhead, falsely alleging that Senator Henry "Scoop" Jackson, against whom Muskie was running for the Democratic Party's nomination, had had an illegitimate child with a 17-year-old. Muskie's, who had been considered the frontrunner, lost the nomination to George McGovern, and Nixon was reelected. The letter was part of a campaign of so-called "dirty tricks", directed by Segretti, and uncovered as part of the Watergate Scandal. Segretti, went to prison in 1974, after pleading guilty to three misdemeanor counts of distributing illegal campaign literature.
External links
- WW2 propaganda leaflets (http://members.home.nl/ww2propaganda/slid31a.htm): A website about airdropped, shelled or rocket fired propaganda leaflets. Has slideshow with many black propaganda leaflets of WW2.