JF Ptak Science Books (Expanding an earlier Quick Post)
In all my exposure to the history of WWII I am pretty sure that the only reference to Nazi television has been along the lines of the Berlin Olympics or Carl Sagan's Contact--that and some dim memory about Hermann Goering somehow in the great bowels of the labyrinthine Nazi bureaucracy being in control of the fledgling German television broadcasting. The International Future of Television, an address by Paul Railbourn before the American Television Society in NY in January 1944, discusses the possibility of television in the Post WWII era--and in that, stresses in no uncertain terms that the to-be-defeated Nazis should not have access to the new medium. Railbourne (who would later become a VP at Paramount Pictures) talks about how Hitler utilized and dominated the radio, and how after the war re-education of Germany was necessary along with free enterprise undertaking of newspapers, radio, television, and motion pictures. (He does make a good point, especially with the Nazi domination of radio--not only did they control development, sale, and distribution of radios but also the overwhelming majority of the content of broadcasts. The Nazi control of popular broadcast and live performance culture was virtually complete.
He notes that "The Nazis are well aware of the importance of television...destroy the Luftwaffe and the Krupps Armament works, but leave television in their hands, and we shall be leaving them with the most powerful weapon of all..."
To that end the author discusses post-war control of radio and television in German. He also talks about establishing television networks throughout the U,.S. as quickly as possibly to "capture world leadership in television programming" and "carry the gosphel of the Four Freedoms to all mankind". "...Television will play a vital role, for good or ill as it is intelligently or evilly directed, in the establishment and maintenance of an enduring peace, once the present war comes to an end."
Railbourne made good sense, and had I think a pretty good idea of the coming possible influence of the new medium.
A recent book does a fantastic job in investigating and telling the history of the Nazis and sound: Carolyn Birdsall's Nazi Soundscapes: Sound, Technology and Urban Space in Germany, 1933‑...(published in 2012)
("In Nazi Soundscapes, Carolyn Birdsall offers an in-depth analysis of the cultural significance of sound and new technologies like radio and loudspeaker systems during the rise of the National Socialist party in the 1920s to the end of World War II. Focusing specifically on the urban soundscape of Düsseldorf, this study examines both the production and reception of sound-based propaganda in the public and private spheres. Birdsall provides a vivid account of sound as a key instrument of social control, exclusion, and violence during Nazi Germany, and she makes a persuasive case for the power of sound within modern urban history."--Goodreads. I highly recommend this book. )
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