Black propaganda
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.
World War II black propaganda
British
In
Britain, the
Political Warfare Executive operated a number of black propaganda radio stations.
Gustav Siegfried Eins (GS1) was one of the first such stations - 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 the British black propaganda efforts in World War II.
German
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
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 DiseasesLately 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 were 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 ArmyOther examples
* The 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.
*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.
*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.
* 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, 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.
*Many
conspiracy theorists who question the fact of the official account of the 9/11 attacks (notably
Mark Robinowitz) have accused other 9/11 conspiracy websites of fostering more outlandish conspiracy theories as government
disinformation to discredit and distract the
9/11 truth sceptics.[
1]
The Protocols of the Elders of Zion is a discredited work which claims to be the secret protocols of a vast Zionist conspiracy. It is often used as "evidence" by
conspiracy theorists and
Anti-Semitic groups.
The Secret Circular of the Brahmin Samaj of Balaghat is claimed to be a secret document produced by the
Brahmin elders of Balaghat,
India. It has been produced as evidence by Christian
missionaries in India that Brahmins are conspiring against
Dalit (outcaste) and
Adivasi (tribal) communities.
*
False flag*
Sefton Delmer -Black Boomerang: Sefton Delmer was head of British Black Propaganda during WWII. His book Black Boomerang tells the story of his work.
*
PsyWar.Org - Black Propaganda and propaganda leaflets database: A website with various articles on black propaganda and psychological warfare. The site has an extensive library of propaganda leaflets from WWI to the present day.
*
WW2 propaganda leaflets: A website about airdropped, shelled or rocket fired propaganda leaflets. Has slideshow with many black propaganda leaflets of WW2.
*
Gray and Black Radio Propaganda against Nazi Germany Extensively illustrated paper describing the Allied effort in WW II to undermine Germany through unidentified or misidentified radio broadcasts.
