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Lord Haw Haw Hung for hig treason

Discussion in 'Post War 1945-1955' started by Skipper, Jan 3, 2013.

  1. Skipper

    Skipper Kommodore

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    This day January 3rd is the 67th anniversary of Lord Haw Haw's execution.


    Re: WWII--Lord Haw Haw broadcast - YouTube

    1946 UK Lord Haw Haw Hung For High Treason 3rd January, 1946 : William Joyce, (Lord Haw Haw), was hanged in Britain for high treason. He had broadcast Nazi propaganda telling the British and American soldiers to surrender with the first words of every broadcast beginning with the words "Germany calling, Germany calling, Germany calling".

    What Happened on January 3rd This Day in History

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    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lord_Haw-Haw
     
  2. urqh

    urqh Tea drinking surrender monkey

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    I'm always at a loss how to classify him...Brits hung him...but the Irish and American connections to his statehood is equally as pressing as his British.
     
  3. brndirt1

    brndirt1 Saddle Tramp

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    Remember, pictures are "hung", people are "hanged". Except of course in the more vulgar sense of reference to a male's genitalia.
     
  4. Carronade

    Carronade Ace

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    I'm also at a bit of a loss to understand what harm he inflicted on the British or Allied cause. No one took him seriously, most people who heard his broadcasts just laughed, his overall impact on British morale was probably positive just for the entertainment he provided. Apparentlly treason doesn't have to be effective to count ;)
     
  5. Skipper

    Skipper Kommodore

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    Maybe they (see my sources) used the term "hung" to humiliate him and dehumanise him .
     
  6. LRusso216

    LRusso216 Graybeard Staff Member

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    I'll be honest and say up front that I don't know much about him. That said, I don't see him as much different than Axis Sally. Neither was paid much attention to, other than what their programs delivered. I can't understand why the British hanged him. Maybe someone with more knowledge can enlighten me.
     
  7. Skipper

    Skipper Kommodore

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    Well , I suppose the psychological aspect was essential. Killing the morale of soldiers could reveal devastating and probably caused the death of soldiers. I suppose he was considered the indirect trigger of this. "Intelligence with the enemy" they called it.
     
  8. LRusso216

    LRusso216 Graybeard Staff Member

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    Was that any different than Axis Sally?
     
  9. urqh

    urqh Tea drinking surrender monkey

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    The Brits caught him not Sally....that should...errrr...answer your question Lou...Perfidious Albion has its rules and ways...
     
  10. KodiakBeer

    KodiakBeer Member

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    All such traitors should have been executed, just as American Jihadis today should be executed. However, I'd suggest they be shot so we don't have any grammar issues with the great hung/hanged question.
     
  11. urqh

    urqh Tea drinking surrender monkey

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    Could we not just hang a bit of them first...like we used to...hang draw and quarter...then shoot em? I'm as liberal as the next guy but I think shooting them first would leave them thinking they have got off easy....Or is it just me.
     
  12. brndirt1

    brndirt1 Saddle Tramp

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    To myself, Axis Sally (Gillards) was much more of a treasonable offender than Lord Haw-Haw, he was at least of questionable citizenship. She impersonated Red Cross nurses to pry information out of GIs, she broadcast names of units and captured and wounded Americans, and just generally broke as many international laws as you can shake a stick at as obvious treason against your home nation to aid the enemy.

    I suspect the reason she escaped the "noose" was American distaste for hanging females by that time, it just "wasn't done". Wasn't the last female hanged by the federal government Mary Surratt? And her execution didn't go by without an outcry even at the time. I cannot think of another female hanged by the federal government, for any reason between the two.
     
  13. Coder

    Coder Member

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    First, as has been pointed out, William Joyce was hanged in Britain. His sentence, as in the case of every British capital sentence, was to "be hanged".

    As to his "offence", the shortest and and simplest way of describing it is that he made a false declaration on an application for a British passport. Although he was born in Ireland as then part of the UK, his family emigrated to the US whilst he was a child, and were naturalised as US citizens. In adulthood He returned to Ireland but never sought UK citizenship. In 1933 he applied for a UK passport, improperly declaring himself as British. The 5-year passport was issued, and he renewed it 1938 for a year, and again in 1939. Sonn after the latter renewal, he travelled to Germany. He was naturalised as a German citizen, and began broadcasting on behalf of Germany.

    After arrest by the British Army in 1945 he was brought back to the UK, and investigated with a view to prosecution for for High Treason. Eventually it was decided that he could be prosecuted only for broadcasts up to the expiry of his passport in 1940, the basis of the alleged treason being that having illegally claimed a British passport he owed allegiance to the Crown, despite his being in fact a US citizen, and the US, incidentally, not at that time being at war with Germany. His conviction at the Old Bailey was upheld by the Court of Appeal and the House of Lords, but in the latter case only by a majority decision of 4 to 1.
     
  14. Skipper

    Skipper Kommodore

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    Most interesting coder. Thanks for this input.
     
  15. TD-Tommy776

    TD-Tommy776 Man of Constant Sorrow

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    If it's done right, they won't be thinking about much of anything. ;)
     
  16. A-58

    A-58 Cool Dude

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    I imagine that it hurt him a lot too. Especially right at first.
     
  17. Poppy

    Poppy grasshopper

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