Jane Anderson – The Georgia Peach
Encyclopedia
Jane Anderson was an American broadcaster of Nazi propaganda
during World War II. She was indicted on charges of treason in 1943 but after the war the charges were dropped due to lack of evidence.
. Her mother, Ellen Luckie Anderson was from a wealthy and prominent Atlanta family.
She attended Piedmont College
, Georgia, and was expelled in 1904. She then attended Kidd-Key Women’s School, a finishing school in Dallas. She moved to New York City in 1909 where she lived until 1915. There she married Deems Taylor
the composer in 1910. The marriage ended in divorce in 1918. While in New York, she became a successful writer of short stories which were published in national magazines from 1910 to 1913.
She then traveled to Europe in September 1915 where she remained until 1918, writing articles and reports for the London Daily Mail
. As a war correspondent she suffered shell-shock from a visit to the British trenches in France in 1916.
She was a lover of the novelist Joseph Conrad
who used her as the model for his heroine, Doña Rita, in The Arrow of Gold
1919.
In 1922 she returned to Europe as a correspondent for the International News Service
and Hearst Newspapers.
In October 1934 she married in Seville
a Spanish nobleman, Count Eduardo Alvarez de Cienfuegos and settled with him in Spain. The Spanish Civil War
(1936–1939) broke out on July 17, 1936 and Anderson covered the struggle for the London Daily Mail, reporting from the Falangist
side. On September 23, 1936 she was captured and imprisoned by the Republican side as a fascist spy, tortured and sentenced to death. However, in October 1936 her release was secured by U.S. Secretary Cordell Hull
and the State Department assisted her return to the U.S. Her experiences in Spain moved her political allegiance to the far right. She wrote and lectured on the Spanish Civil War to promote the cause of Francisco Franco
, who eventually won the war with German military assistance.
She returned to Spain in 1938, worked for the Falangist Spanish Ministry of Propaganda and came to the attention of the Reichs-Rundfunk-Gesellschaft
, German State Radio, who offered her a post in Berlin in 1940.
Until March 6, 1942 she broadcast Nazi propaganda via short wave radio for the German State Radio's U.S.A. Zone, the Germans giving her the name ‘The Georgia Peach’. Her radio program was broadcast two or four times weekly and each broadcast began and ended with the slogan, "Always remember progressive Americans eat Kellogg Corn Flakes
and listen to both sides of the story," while a band played "Scatterbrain". In her programs she heaped praise on Adolf Hitler
and ran ‘exposés’ of the ‘communist domination’ of the Roosevelt
and Churchill
governments. She specialized in interviews, one being with her co-worker, the British traitor William Joyce
.
She was removed from her position as a commentator when material in her March 6, 1942 broadcast was successfully used by US counter-propaganda. She then appears to have been inactive until her return to her propaganda work in 1944 when she made a few broadcasts reporting the brutality of the Red Army
on the Eastern Front
.
, Austria and placed in US military custody.
, Edward Delaney
, Constance Drexel
, Robert Henry Best, Max Otto Koischwitz
and Ezra Pound
was indicted in absentia
by a District of Columbia grand jury on charges of treason
.
However, on October 27, 1947, the United States Department of Justice
dropped all charges due to lack of evidence. From a United States Government Office memorandum dated June 14, 1946:
A further factor was that Anderson had been a Spanish citizen by marriage since 1934.
in the post-war world of Falangist Spain. There she gave private lessons in English and German. After her husband’s death she moved to Madrid where she died in 1972.
Nazi propaganda
Propaganda, the coordinated attempt to influence public opinion through the use of media, was skillfully used by the NSDAP in the years leading up to and during Adolf Hitler's leadership of Germany...
during World War II. She was indicted on charges of treason in 1943 but after the war the charges were dropped due to lack of evidence.
Biography
Born Foster Anderson, her father, Robert M. "Red" Anderson was a close friend of showman Buffalo BillBuffalo Bill
William Frederick "Buffalo Bill" Cody was a United States soldier, bison hunter and showman. He was born in the Iowa Territory , in LeClaire but lived several years in Canada before his family moved to the Kansas Territory. Buffalo Bill received the Medal of Honor in 1872 for service to the US...
. Her mother, Ellen Luckie Anderson was from a wealthy and prominent Atlanta family.
She attended Piedmont College
Piedmont College
Piedmont College is a private liberal arts institution founded in 1897 to serve residents of the Appalachian area of northeast Georgia, USA. When the college was first founded, it was established as the J.S. Green Collegiate Institute named after a local banker. In 1899, the name was shortened to...
, Georgia, and was expelled in 1904. She then attended Kidd-Key Women’s School, a finishing school in Dallas. She moved to New York City in 1909 where she lived until 1915. There she married Deems Taylor
Deems Taylor
Joseph Deems Taylor was a U.S. composer, music critic, and promoter of classical music.-Career:Taylor initially planned to become an architect; however, despite minimal musical training he soon took to music composition. The result was a series of works for orchestra and/or voices...
the composer in 1910. The marriage ended in divorce in 1918. While in New York, she became a successful writer of short stories which were published in national magazines from 1910 to 1913.
She then traveled to Europe in September 1915 where she remained until 1918, writing articles and reports for the London Daily Mail
Daily Mail
The Daily Mail is a British daily middle-market tabloid newspaper owned by the Daily Mail and General Trust. First published in 1896 by Lord Northcliffe, it is the United Kingdom's second biggest-selling daily newspaper after The Sun. Its sister paper The Mail on Sunday was launched in 1982...
. As a war correspondent she suffered shell-shock from a visit to the British trenches in France in 1916.
She was a lover of the novelist Joseph Conrad
Joseph Conrad
Joseph Conrad was a Polish-born English novelist.Conrad is regarded as one of the great novelists in English, although he did not speak the language fluently until he was in his twenties...
who used her as the model for his heroine, Doña Rita, in The Arrow of Gold
The Arrow of Gold
The Arrow of Gold is a novel by Joseph Conrad, published in 1919. It was originally titled ""The Laugh"" and published serially in ""Lloyd's Magazine"" from December 1918 to February 1920. The story is set in Marseille in the 1870s during the Third Carlist War...
1919.
In 1922 she returned to Europe as a correspondent for the International News Service
International News Service
International News Service was a U.S.-based news agency founded by newspaper publisher William Randolph Hearst in 1909.Established two years after the Scripps family founded the United Press Association, INS scrapped among the newswires...
and Hearst Newspapers.
In October 1934 she married in Seville
Seville
Seville is the artistic, historic, cultural, and financial capital of southern Spain. It is the capital of the autonomous community of Andalusia and of the province of Seville. It is situated on the plain of the River Guadalquivir, with an average elevation of above sea level...
a Spanish nobleman, Count Eduardo Alvarez de Cienfuegos and settled with him in Spain. The Spanish Civil War
Spanish Civil War
The Spanish Civil WarAlso known as The Crusade among Nationalists, the Fourth Carlist War among Carlists, and The Rebellion or Uprising among Republicans. was a major conflict fought in Spain from 17 July 1936 to 1 April 1939...
(1936–1939) broke out on July 17, 1936 and Anderson covered the struggle for the London Daily Mail, reporting from the Falangist
Falange
The Spanish Phalanx of the Assemblies of the National Syndicalist Offensive , known simply as the Falange, is the name assigned to several political movements and parties dating from the 1930s, most particularly the original fascist movement in Spain. The word means phalanx formation in Spanish....
side. On September 23, 1936 she was captured and imprisoned by the Republican side as a fascist spy, tortured and sentenced to death. However, in October 1936 her release was secured by U.S. Secretary Cordell Hull
Cordell Hull
Cordell Hull was an American politician from the U.S. state of Tennessee. He is best known as the longest-serving Secretary of State, holding the position for 11 years in the administration of President Franklin Delano Roosevelt during much of World War II...
and the State Department assisted her return to the U.S. Her experiences in Spain moved her political allegiance to the far right. She wrote and lectured on the Spanish Civil War to promote the cause of Francisco Franco
Francisco Franco
Francisco Franco y Bahamonde was a Spanish general, dictator and head of state of Spain from October 1936 , and de facto regent of the nominally restored Kingdom of Spain from 1947 until his death in November, 1975...
, who eventually won the war with German military assistance.
She returned to Spain in 1938, worked for the Falangist Spanish Ministry of Propaganda and came to the attention of the Reichs-Rundfunk-Gesellschaft
Reichs-Rundfunk-Gesellschaft
The Reichs-Rundfunk-Gesellschaft , which can be loosely translated as the State Broadcasting Company, was a national network of German regional public broadcasting companies active from 1925 until 1945...
, German State Radio, who offered her a post in Berlin in 1940.
Propaganda for Nazi Germany
Anderson began broadcasts from Berlin on April 14, 1941 and when the United States declared war on Nazi Germany on December 11, 1941 American citizens were repatriated from Germany but Anderson chose to stay.Until March 6, 1942 she broadcast Nazi propaganda via short wave radio for the German State Radio's U.S.A. Zone, the Germans giving her the name ‘The Georgia Peach’. Her radio program was broadcast two or four times weekly and each broadcast began and ended with the slogan, "Always remember progressive Americans eat Kellogg Corn Flakes
Corn flakes
Corn flakes are a popular breakfast cereal originally manufactured by Kellogg's through the treatment of maize. A patent for the product was filed on May 31, 1895, and issued on April 14, 1896.-History:...
and listen to both sides of the story," while a band played "Scatterbrain". In her programs she heaped praise on Adolf Hitler
Adolf Hitler
Adolf Hitler was an Austrian-born German politician and the leader of the National Socialist German Workers Party , commonly referred to as the Nazi Party). He was Chancellor of Germany from 1933 to 1945, and head of state from 1934 to 1945...
and ran ‘exposés’ of the ‘communist domination’ of the Roosevelt
Franklin D. Roosevelt
Franklin Delano Roosevelt , also known by his initials, FDR, was the 32nd President of the United States and a central figure in world events during the mid-20th century, leading the United States during a time of worldwide economic crisis and world war...
and Churchill
Winston Churchill
Sir Winston Leonard Spencer-Churchill, was a predominantly Conservative British politician and statesman known for his leadership of the United Kingdom during the Second World War. He is widely regarded as one of the greatest wartime leaders of the century and served as Prime Minister twice...
governments. She specialized in interviews, one being with her co-worker, the British traitor William Joyce
William Joyce
William Joyce , nicknamed Lord Haw-Haw, was an Irish-American fascist politician and Nazi propaganda broadcaster to the United Kingdom during the Second World War. He was hanged for treason by the British as a result of his wartime activities, even though he had renounced his British nationality...
.
She was removed from her position as a commentator when material in her March 6, 1942 broadcast was successfully used by US counter-propaganda. She then appears to have been inactive until her return to her propaganda work in 1944 when she made a few broadcasts reporting the brutality of the Red Army
Red Army
The Workers' and Peasants' Red Army started out as the Soviet Union's revolutionary communist combat groups during the Russian Civil War of 1918-1922. It grew into the national army of the Soviet Union. By the 1930s the Red Army was among the largest armies in history.The "Red Army" name refers to...
on the Eastern Front
Eastern Front (World War II)
The Eastern Front of World War II was a theatre of World War II between the European Axis powers and co-belligerent Finland against the Soviet Union, Poland, and some other Allies which encompassed Northern, Southern and Eastern Europe from 22 June 1941 to 9 May 1945...
.
Arrest
When Nazi Germany surrendered in May 1945 Anderson hid out in various locations in Germany and Austria. Finally on April 2, 1947 she was arrested in SalzburgSalzburg
-Population development:In 1935, the population significantly increased when Salzburg absorbed adjacent municipalities. After World War II, numerous refugees found a new home in the city. New residential space was created for American soldiers of the postwar Occupation, and could be used for...
, Austria and placed in US military custody.
Charges of treason
On July 26, 1943 Anderson along with Fred W. Kaltenbach, Douglas ChandlerDouglas Chandler
Douglas Chandler was an American broadcaster of Nazi propaganda during World War II. He was convicted of treason in 1947 and sentenced to life imprisonment.-Biography:Chandler was an officer in the U.S...
, Edward Delaney
Edward Leo Delaney
Edward Leo Delaney was an American broadcaster of Nazi propaganda during World War II...
, Constance Drexel
Constance Drexel
Constance Drexel , a naturalized United States citizen, and groundbreaking feature writer for U.S. newspapers, was indicted for treason in World War II for radio broadcasts from Berlin that extolled Nazi virtues...
, Robert Henry Best, Max Otto Koischwitz
Max Otto Koischwitz
Max Oscar Otto Koischwitz was a naturalized American of German origin who directed and broadcast Nazi propaganda during World War II.-Biography:...
and Ezra Pound
Ezra Pound
Ezra Weston Loomis Pound was an American expatriate poet and critic and a major figure in the early modernist movement in poetry...
was indicted in absentia
In absentia
In absentia is Latin for "in the absence". In legal use, it usually means a trial at which the defendant is not physically present. The phrase is not ordinarily a mere observation, but suggests recognition of violation to a defendant's right to be present in court proceedings in a criminal trial.In...
by a District of Columbia grand jury on charges of treason
Treason
In law, treason is the crime that covers some of the more extreme acts against one's sovereign or nation. Historically, treason also covered the murder of specific social superiors, such as the murder of a husband by his wife. Treason against the king was known as high treason and treason against a...
.
However, on October 27, 1947, the United States Department of Justice
United States Department of Justice
The United States Department of Justice , is the United States federal executive department responsible for the enforcement of the law and administration of justice, equivalent to the justice or interior ministries of other countries.The Department is led by the Attorney General, who is nominated...
dropped all charges due to lack of evidence. From a United States Government Office memorandum dated June 14, 1946:
“It is true that she could be classified as a political commentator, although not a very effective one, but as she apparently stopped her broadcasting activities shortly after our entry into the war it does not appear worthwhile that further efforts be made to develop our case against her, notwithstanding the fact that she was indicted for treason in 1943.”
A further factor was that Anderson had been a Spanish citizen by marriage since 1934.
Later life
Anderson was released from custody in Salzburg in early December 1947. She then went to live with her husband at AlmoharínAlmoharín
Almoharín is a municipality located in the province of Cáceres, Extremadura, Spain. According to the 2005 census , the municipality has a population of 2050 inhabitants....
in the post-war world of Falangist Spain. There she gave private lessons in English and German. After her husband’s death she moved to Madrid where she died in 1972.