William L. Shirer

William Lawrence Shirer (February 23, 1904 ? December 28, 1993) was an American journalist and historian and was one of the most famous journalists in the world. Shirer became known for his broadcasts on CBS from the German capital of Berlin during the Third Reich through the first year of World War II.

Berlin years

As a print journalist first and later as a radio reporter for CBS, Shirer covered the strengthening of one-party rule in Nazi Germany beginning in 1934. Shirer reported on Adolf Hitler's peacetime triumphs like the return of the Saarland to German hands and the remilitarization of the Rhineland. In 1938, Shirer, along with Edward Murrow, provided first-hand accounts of the Anschluss (the German march into Austria), which included live reporting from several European capitals. This report was the first-ever news roundup and established a formula used in broadcast journalism to this date. Shirer also reported on the Munich Agreement and Hitler's march into Czechoslovakia before going on to report on the growing tensions between Germany and Poland in 1939 and the German invasion of Poland that launched World War II on September 1, 1939. During much of the pre-war period, Shirer was based in Berlin and had attended most of Hitler's major public speeches and other political or propaganda events like several of the massive Nazi party rallies (Reichsparteitage) in Nuremberg.

Related Topics:
Nazi Germany - Adolf Hitler - Saarland - Rhineland - Edward Murrow - Anschluss - Munich Agreement - Czechoslovakia - Invasion of Poland - World War II - September 1 - 1939 - ''Reichsparteitage'' - Nuremberg

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From Berlin, Shirer covered the outbreak of war in the West in spring 1940 — first the invasion of Denmark and Norway in April, and then the invasion of the Netherlands, Luxembourg, Belgium, and France in May. As German armies closed in on Paris, Shirer traveled to France with the German forces. In one of the biggest journalistic triumphs of the war, Shirer reported the signing of the German armistice with France on June 22, 1940 to the American people before the news had even been announced by the Germans.

Related Topics:
Invasion of Denmark and Norway - Invasion of the Netherlands, Luxembourg, Belgium, and France - Paris - Armistice with France - June 22 - 1940

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In peacetime, Shirer's reporting was subject only to "self-censorship"; he and other reporters in Germany knew that if Nazi officials in Joseph Goebbels' Propaganda Ministry objected to their reporting, they could withdraw the reporters' access to the state-owned broadcasting facilities or expel reporters from Germany. Still, Shirer's early reporting was permitted more freedom than were German reporters writing or broadcasting for domestic audiences. At the beginning of the war, German officials established censorship; Shirer recalled that the restrictions were similar to wartime censorship elsewhere, and were concerned primarily with restricting information that could be used to Germany's military disadvantage by its enemies.

Related Topics:
Joseph Goebbels' - Censorship

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However, as the war continued and as Britain not only rebuffed Hitler's peace overtures to end the war, but began to bomb German cities (including Berlin), the tightening Nazi censorship became more onerous to Shirer and his colleagues. In contrast to Edward Murrow's live broadcasts of German bombardment of London in the Battle of Britain, foreign correspondents in Germany were not allowed to report British air raids on German cities. Furthermore, reporters were not permitted to cast doubt upon statements made by the Propaganda Ministry and military High Command. Reporters were discouraged by the Propaganda Ministry from reporting news or from using terms like Nazi that were liable to "create an unfavorable impression." For a time, Shirer resorted to subtler ways of attempting to convey his message until the censors caught on.

Related Topics:
Edward Murrow - Battle of Britain - High Command

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As the summer of 1940 progressed, the Nazi government put increasing pressure on Shirer to broadcast the official accounts, which he knew were incomplete or false. As Shirer's frustrations grew, he wrote to his bosses in New York that the tightening censorship was precluding his ability to report objectively in Germany and mused that he had outlived his usefulness reporting from Berlin. Shirer was subsequently tipped off by an acquaintance that the Gestapo was building a case against him, and began making arrangements to leave Germany, which he did in December 1940.

Related Topics:
Gestapo - 1940

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Shirer was able to smuggle his diaries and notes out of Germany and used them as the basis for his Berlin Diary, which provides a first-hand, day-by-day account of events inside the Third Reich during five years of peacetime and one year of war.

Related Topics:
Berlin Diary - Third Reich

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