Psychological Warfare: Campaigns and operations during World War II.
Latest hand-picked WWII news.
OSS female operative Barbara Podoski set up one of the most successful psychological campaigns of WWII
Czechoslovakian-born Barbara Lauwers Podoski, who set up one of the most successful psychological operations of World War II, which caused the surrender of over 600 Czechoslovakians fighting for the Germans, has passed away at 95. One of the few female operatives in the Office of Strategic Services (forerunner of CIA) she found creative ways to sabotage German morale. Much of her work remained secret until 2008, when her OSS records were declassified. In 1944 a Nazi sergeant she interrogated mentioned that Czechs and Slovaks were used to do the Germans' "dirty work." Lauwers realized there was a chance to flip the loyalties of her former countrymen.
(washingtonpost.com)
Strange Adolf Hitler stamp used for psychological warfare campaign for sale
A bizarre stamp featuring a grim skull-like portrait of Adolph Hitler is for sale in Loughborough. Stamp collector Colin Hind told: "I've had it since the 1970s... but now it's time to sell it on." Colin thinks it could be a copy of a forgery from World War II when a psychological warfare campaign (like Operation Sauerkraut and Operation Cornflakes) was waged by the Office of Strategic Services (OSS). Items like stamps were forged, then sent to Nazi Germany to make a mockery of nazi leaders. The words on the bottom of the stamp were changed from 'Deutches Reich' to 'Futsches Reich'.
(loughboroughecho)
Special Operations Executive used astrologer Louis de Wohl to beat Hitler
German astrologer Louis de Wohl claimed he could foretell the Fuhrer's war plans. Secret documents show that de Wohl was hired by the SOE so he could tell them what German astronomers would be telling the tyrant. After the start of war he was made a captain in the British Army and put in charge of the Psychological Research Bureau. De Wohl claimed that Hitler had been counseled by astrologers since 1923, but later Hitler's secretary confirmed that Hitler had no interest in horoscopes. The papers reveal that de Wohl had also began to write horoscopes for "high-placed British intelligence officers".
(dailymail)
Ritchie Boys - Espionage and psychological warfare in WWII
In 1943, US military officials classified Werner Gans as an enemy alien. Within 18 months they changed their mind and trained the German Jew to be a spy. Gans learned the espionage and psychological warfare at the elite Camp Ritchie. He became one of the Ritchie Boys, refugees from the Nazis offered a chance to turn the tables on their persecutors. "We had Army officer uniforms and medallions, so the prisoners thought we had real authority." The prisoners ranged from ordinary soldiers forced to don the swastika to die hard Nazis who felt honor bound not to talk.
(boston)
A 1943 psychiatric dossier aimed to humiliate the German dictator
Snatch the dictator and hold him prisoner to deny him the chance of becoming a martyr. Keep him in isolation, take humiliating photographs and film of him and release them to the public to discredit him. Portray him as a madman, label him the No. 1 world criminal. The recommendations were made in a 230-page dossier that provided a psychoanalysis of Hitler by psychologist Dr Henry Murray for the Office of Strategic Services. The dossier portrays Hitler as a cowardly, deeply disturbed personality racked by paranoia, schizophrenia, homophobia, impotence, masochism, hysteria and an Oedipus complex.
(The Age)