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How the Nazi propaganda machine tried 鈥� and failed 鈥� to stir up rebellion in World War Two Scotland

12 December 2017

In the early 1940s Radio Caledonia broadcast the following message to Scotland:

“War is being fought for Churchill, the Jew and the capitalist. Scotland has got to get out of this war of capitalism now. We must get a separate peace.”

It was a typical broadcast from the station, blending themes of anti-Semitism, economic discontent and class tension.

But Radio Caledonia wasn’t based in Scotland or concerned about making life better for Scots. It was broadcast from Germany, where it was an arm of Joseph Goebbels’ .

, the station was targeted at Scottish patriots.

Talk, write and think of Caledonia anywhere and everywhere
Radio Caledonia broadcast

Its aim was to turn Scots against the British government, to sow the seeds of discontent and undermine the notion of the ‘people’s war’ that united people across the UK.

Wartime tensions may have prompted some listeners in Scotland to pay attention to the broadcasts, perhaps without realising they were Nazi propaganda.

Professor Murray Pittock of Glasgow University said, “I think it would have appealed to some Scottish nationalists because they didn’t feel that they were being properly accommodated. There were a whole range of issues which led to strikes in the mines and also in the shipyards in the early 1940s.

“There were lots of leaflets and pamphlets throughout the war which the SNP were engaged with and published, but those fell a long way short of saying there should be a separate peace.”

Viewed with suspicion

Radio Caledonia’s broadcasts were viewed with suspicion, according to Professor Pittock.

“The Scots Independent, which at that stage was a mouthpiece for the SNP, ran an editorial in early 1940 supporting the war on the basis that it was a war for the defence of small nations. [It] actually warned people in its columns about Radio Caledonia.

“It regarded it as a risk. It was not helpful to the cause of Scottish nationalism”, said Professor Pittock.

Having failed in its objectives, Radio Caledonia fell silent in 1942, three years before the Allied victory.

The programme in full

  • Professor Jo Fox discovers the lost transcripts of Radio Caledonia and discovers the story of its Scottish presenter, Donald Grant.

Nazi propaganda

  • Archive recordings of William Joyce, nicknamed 鈥楲ord Haw Haw鈥�, who broadcast Nazi propaganda to the UK.

Wartime Britain

  • Why WW2 proved to be a tough test of the 成人快手鈥檚 independence.

  • How the government tried to persuade people to think in a certain way.

  • How life was heavily regulated for the civilian population during WW2.

  • Actor Brian Cox thinks many don鈥檛 realise Churchill tried to stop the invasion.

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