Born in New York in 1906 of an Irish father and English mother, William Joyce was taken to Ireland by his parents when he was still a child. The family later moved to England.
Joyce Attracted to Fascism as a Student
While studying at the University of London, England, Joyce became interested in the political philosophy of fascism that was growing in popularity. In 1924, he was acting as a steward at a Conservative political rally in London. Some left-wing opponents of the Conservative Party showed up and Joyce, who seems to have enjoyed a good brawl, got into a fight.
A razor appeared and, according to heretical.com, “Joyce received the famous scar that ran down the right side of his face from the lobe of his ear to the corner of his mouth…Joyce had no doubt that the perpetrators were ‘Jewish Communists.’ ”
Oswald Mosley and the British Union of Fascists
A bit of a political gadfly, Sir Oswald Mosley had been a minister in the socialist government of Ramsay MacDonald in the 1920s. As the Great Depression tightened its grip, Mosley formed the New Party and started to flirt with fascism. He became more and more attracted to the ideas of Benito Mussolini and began to model himself after the Italian fascist dictator.
In October 1932 he formed the British Union of Fascists (BUF) and William Joyce was an early recruit and, within two years he was the party’s director of propaganda. He has been described as a powerful public speaker; his oratory thickly infused with anti-Semitism. He could rouse a rabble with the best of them, and, rabbles got roused quite frequently at BUF rallies with Joyce in the midst of any fracas that was going.
William Joyce Flees to Germany
With the drums of war beating louder, Joyce left with his family for Germany knowing that if he stayed in Britain he would certainly be interned. Through connections he got a job with Germany’s English radio service as a script writer and announcer.
The Mail on Sunday (August 26, 2009) reported that, “With detailed knowledge of Britain and current events, he whipped up anger and loathing in Brits and delivered his broadcasts with his distinctive nasal drawl.”
He started each broadcast with “the words ‘Germany calling,’ but with his strange voice it sounded like ‘Jairmany calling.’ ”
German Propaganda Backfired
Early on The Daily Express newspaper gave Joyce the unflattering title “Lord Haw Haw.”
Joyce exhorted the English to surrender but he soon became a figure of ridicule. “Joyce’s broadcasts were anti-Semitic and poked fun at the British war leader Winston Churchill,” writes historylearningsite.co. “It is thought that on average six million people listened to Joyce each broadcast. Many found the broadcasts so absurd that they were seen as a way of relieving the tedium of life in Britain during the war.”
A lot of what Joyce broadcast was rubbish and known to be so and probably lifted the spirits of the British and their will to resist rather than demoralizing them.
William Joyce’s Last Broadcast
As Berlin was being reduced to rubble by the combined onslaught of the Soviet Union and British and American forces, Joyce gave his last radio talk on April 30, 1945. Sounding drunk and tired, he criticized Britain for its role in the destruction of Germany and signed off with a defiant “Heil Hitler.”
Trying to pass himself off as a German civilian, he was captured by British soldiers who, according to The Mail on Sunday “recognized his voice and shot him four times in the buttocks.”
Joyce was taken to England, tried for treason, and sentenced to death. He was hanged in Wandsworth Prison, London on January 3, 1946 at the age of 39.
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