BROADCASTING IN GERMANY
By FRANCIS GOWER
IT is extremely important to study the broadcasting system of a country which is today one of the most powerful in the world. Germany has a population of 8o,000,000 people; 50.5 per cent. of the households have wireless receiving-sets (1937) ; the percentage of listeners in the total population is the fourth largest in Europe (13.8 per cent.); in 1938 it had 38 medium and long-wave broadcast- ing stations. The aims of this immense network are frankly propagandist. The control of the wireless system is so much in the hands of one man that one cannot study its objectives and principles without studying the character of this man. An American author (Leland Stowe) says about him: " From obscurity, he has risen to be the chief gargoyle on the strange Nordic façade. Obscure in the days when all men of talent in Germany had freedom to rise, Dr. Goebbels rose when freedom vanished, and the great Germans of his day were sent into exile. He became cultural dictator after the culture had departed."
It is German short-wave broadcasting which has come mainly into the picture during the last five years. Whereas in 1933 Germany only possessed three relatively small short- wave stations, she now has fifteen very powerful ones and the number of hours per day for broadcasting has increased from 2 in 1933 to 109 in the current year. These trans- mitters broadcast to six different zones (Africa, East Asia, South America, South Asia, Canada and North America). Although Germany has no oversea possessions, there are 15,000,000 Germans, or descendants of Germans, living abroad. German officials in an interview with World Radio declared that this service was intended as a link between these people and the mother country. They pointed out that in many countries and places overseas short-wave news-bulletins may sometimes be the only means of outside information when newspapers arrive weeks late. The short- wave stations make up for this deficiency by supplying the news-bulletin twenty-two times ,a day. One of the facts which makes the information the German officials gave to the British enquirers appear a little doubtful is that the short-wave stations broadcast in five languages ; German, English, Spanish, Portuguese and Dutch.
One method which Germany has encouraged far more than any other country is communal listening. Every time the Fiihrer, or one of the leading men of the regime, makes a speech, loudspeakers are erected in public places, squares, theatres, cafés, even in factories, so that the whole people shall hear the speaker's voice. One very sinister develop- ment is the system of having loudspeakers in flats. These loudspeakers are centrally controlled. If this development were extended, as it might well be in wartime, news from foreign sources would be completely suppressed. Certain Party members, known as Funkwart, are responsible for seeing that each person living in a particular block of houses shall have an opportunity of listening in. In recent years the Nazis discovered they were not reaching the public they were most anxious to reach—in spite of all their efforts—the poorer sections of the population. So the wire- less industry was prevailed upon to produce a cheap set, the so-called People's Receiving Set—which incidentally only picks up German stations. It was produced under German pressure and costs Reichsmarks 76.0o ; it was pro- duced only when the Government threatened to withdraw support from the wireless exhibitions, &c. Three million of these sets have been sold since they were first introduced. Statistics show that 68.77 per cent. of these sets have been bought by workers.
National Socialism has always realised the importance of impressing its doctrines on the younger generation. The broadcasts of the Deutsche Welle, the broadcasts for schools, are listened to in 35,00o schools every day. These broad' casts deserve far more attention than they have received. It may well be asked what effect the conversion of German wireless into a part of the huge State propaganda-machine has had on the ordinary German listener. Do more Germans listen in to broadcasts from foreign stations, and are they able to do so? The number of Germans who speak foreign languages well enough to be able to follow broadcasts in foreign languages is relatively small and there are only very few stations abroad broadcasting in German, at times when the ordinary citizen is able to listen in. Heavy penalties are imposed for listening to Russian stations, the names of which no longer appear in German programmes or on sets. No evidence on these questions is available, as people who have listened in to Russia, France, or Spain will not want it to be known that they have committed such a crime. However, when it became known that a short-wave transmitter gave broadcasts against the Nazi regime the sale of suitable receiving-sets went up enormously. And the popularity of the B.B.C.'s news bulletins in Germany is already fully established.
Lastly, it remains for us to say a word about the personnel. Their selection is bound to have an effect on the working of the whole machine. Who are the 3,395 people who are employed on this service? Here, as everywhere else in Germany, obtain the Fiihrerprinzip. Dr. Goebbels' Bureau is the cultural inquisition. Its word is final, its force un- challenged. Its competency is established by decrees—xxx- xxxiii. The vast powers assigned to Dr. Goebbels cover the whole field of the spoken and written word, as well as pictorial, theatrical and musical creators and presentation ; i.e., his functions are not merely executive, but also legis- lative and judicial. Under the Minister is the Chamber of " Kultur." This again has subsidiary chambers for radio, Press, writers, theatre, music, painting, sculpture and films. All cultural activity in Germany is made the monopoly of members of these bodies. Each body is called a Guild, and includes every person in any way contributing to the par- ticular medium of expression. The Guild admits only German citizens of " Aryan " descent, who are over twenty- one years old, are competent, have had professional training and (so the decree says) " have the qualifications for influencing public opinion intellectually." Admission to this Guild is by petition, but registration may be denied if the Minister of Propaganda objects. The men who pass through this filter are next compelled to withhold from publication everything which " confuses selfish with common interest, is able to weaken the strength of the German nation, the will towards national unity, national defence, culture or business, is offensive to the honour or dignity of a German, illegally injures another's reputation or is indecent." The variety of possible interpretations allows this law to cover anything the dictator wishes. Dues to the Guild are collected as part of public taxes.
No means of expression is open to anyone not approved by the Propaganda ministry. No one may present a play, perform on a piano, speak to the public unless he is a member of the established " Chamber." The leading men in broad- casting appear to be new men, that is old fighters of the Party, but as for the artists these seem to be in the main the same as before March, 1933 ; and this explains the vast insincerity which lies over the whole of German culture, with the exception of the very small amount which the Nazi Party itself has produced.
Perhaps it is too early yet to form any opinion on the German broadcasting system ; but it seems evident from the changes and experiments that are being made that the lack of criticism and free expression is detrimental to the system itself. To collect reliable statistics under such conditions is, of course, utterly impossible.
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