William Joyce
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William Joyce, AKA Lord Haw Haw, was a British-American traitor and member of the British Union of Fascists who, from 1940 - 1945, broadcast propaganda for the Nazi Party during World War II.
Early Life edit
William Joyce was born in New York of an Irish father and English mother on April 1906 , but when he was only three family moved to Ireland, settling in County Mayo. Joyce was educated at a Covent school in Galway - the college of St. Ignatius Layola. It was there that during the a fist fight another boy that had Joyce's nose broken. He had keep quite about injury and his was never properly set giving him the nasal broken drawl so familiar in his later broadcasts from Germany. The Joyce family were in Ireland at the time of Sinn Fein insurrections and because they were Conservative and pro-Union they were very unpopular with rebels. Joyce's early life was marked with violence, including attack on his father's business and attacks on the family home by Sinn Feiners. When the British Prime Minister Lloyd George announced the Anglo-Irish Treaty of 1921 and the creation of Irish State the Joyce family left for England. Joyce was then 15 years old. Far from being the puny figure described by the press during World War II, William Joyce was of average height and strongly built. During his youth he excelled at boxing, swimming and fencing. This was to hold him in good stead later when he was involved in many street fights.
British Union of Fascists edit
In 1923 at the age of 17, the same year as Adolf Hitler's attempted Beer Hall Putsch in Munich and 9 years before Mosley formed BUF, Joyce joined the British Fascists Ltd'- a movement based on its Italian big brother. Joyce was prominent member of th British Union of Fascists, led by Oswald Mosley. He moved to Germany in 1939 and broadcast propaganda against the Allies for Goebbels' Nazi Propaganda Ministry until April of 1945. He was nicknamed, "Lord Haw Haw" because of his pretentious accent.
Capture and trial edit
The British Army captured Joyce in May 1945 as he tried to escape through Denmark.
Execution edit
He was tried for treason at the Old Bailey, found guilty, and after an unsuccessful appeal, was hanged in January 31st, 1946.