March 14, 2004
Lord Haw-Haw: the movie
The turbulent life of Lord Haw-Haw, the notorious Nazi propagandist of the second world war, is to be made into a feature film.We shall see how well Hollywood handles this. From the Times of London.With the working title Hitler’s English Accent, the movie is planned for release in January 2006 in time for the 60th anniversary of the death of Haw-Haw, whose real name was William Joyce.
The film has a budget of L15m and is being made by two independent British production companies. The script will be based on Mary Kenny’s recent biography, Germany Calling, which portrayed Joyce, who is buried in Galway, as a complex and often likeable character despite his abhorrent politics.
Posted by David on March 14, 2004 2:27 PM
WWII history also recalls Tokyo Rose, an American citizen:
During World War II, a young Japanese American woman gained notoriety as "Tokyo Rose" for her broadcasts of Japanese propaganda beamed over Radio Tokyo to American troops in the South Pacific.Tokyo Rose was born Ikuko Toguri in Los Angeles on July 4, 1916. Her father, Jun Toguri, had come to the United States from Japan in 1899. Her mother followed in 1913, and the family moved to Los Angeles. During her school years, Ikuko Toguri used the first name of Iva. She attended grammar schools in Calexico and San Diego, California before returning with her family to Los Angeles where she finished grammar school, and went on to high school and junior college.
Iva Toguri enrolled in the University of California at Los Angeles and graduated in January, 1940, with a degree in zoology. She did graduate work there until June of that year. During her school years, Toguri was a popular student and was considered to be a loyal American. Her favorite pastimes were sports, hiking, and swing music. From June 1940, until July 1941, Toguri assisted her father in his business. When she decided to travel to Japan, members of an honorary fraternity group to which she belonged gave her a farewell party shortly before her departure.
The movie (was it ever made?), the controversy:
One of the twentieth centuries most publicized criminal prosecutions was the 1949 trial of an innocent woman for treasonous conduct during WWII radio broadcasts from Japan. That woman was publicly described as ‘Tokyo Rose.’ By deliberately presenting tainted testimony, concealing exonerating documents and openly lying in court, her prosecutors succeeded in publicly transforming a woman who should have been hailed as a national heroine, into a convicted felon and a figure of public scorn.
and a Presidential pardon:
In November 1976 Wayne Merrill Collins, the son of Iva’s trial lawyer filed a presidential pardon petition for Iva. The public disclosures supporting her innocence were so convincing by that time, that on January 19, 1977, in one of his last acts prior to leaving office, President Ford pardoned Iva Toguri d’Aquino. She is the only person convicted of treason in this country that has been pardoned.
Posted by: Peter Shriner on March 15, 2004 2:36 AM