As evidence of Russian interference in the 2016 U.S. presidential elections continues to mount, it has become axiomatic that a foreign power attempted to influence domestic politics through various media outlets. Of course, political meddling and disinformation campaigns are nothing new; Cold War rivals employed radio and other methods to shape public opinion in divided Europe from the late 1940s until the peaceful revolutions of 1989-90—sometimes with explosive results.
This was certainly the case in divided Germany. As this paper will show, while both East and West German governments intervened in each other’s politics in the early 1950s, the West German station Radio in the American Sector (RIAS) had immense success in cultivating an extensive and loyal listenership in East Germany. After RIAS became aware of its power to influence East German political events through its broadcasts, the station helped ignite a massive, nationwide uprising in June of 1953.
Historians have hesitated to place much blame for the event with RIAS and its staff. Based on archival research in Germany and the United States, this paper will reassess the station’s responsibility in inciting a mass rebellion that ended with violent suppression, prison sentences, and a wave of emigration. At the same time, this episode raises other relevant questions: when is it acceptable to interfere in another nation’s politics? What were the limits of political meddling in 1953? What are they in 2017?
Michael Pulido
