Radio Caledonia (2)
I was telling you about Donald Grant who was a Nazi broadcaster in the
Second [World] War. He belonged to Alness in Easter Ross. He left
Britain in July 1939. He went to Germany.
A week after the start of the war, the Germans put him in prison. He
wasn’t there long, however. After a few months, he started up a
propaganda broadcasting station. That was under the auspices of Joseph
Goebbels’ Propaganda Ministry. Radio Caledonia ran from June 1940 until
August 1942.
The programs were ten minutes long. The scripts were written and
delivered by Donald Grant, with assistance from others. Donald was
calling himself Donald Palmer. He was maintaining that he was
broadcasting from Scotland, rather than from Berlin.
Radio Caledonia was aiming to set the people of Scotland and the people
of England at odds with each other. Grant was saying that the English
were responsible for Scotland’s bad situation.
In 1942, Donald considered that his broadcasts were not effective. He
asked the Nazi authorities to allow him to stop his work. For the rest
of the war, he was working in an archive connected to the broadcast of
propaganda.
After the war, Donald disappeared. He was arrested in Germany in
October 1946. He got six months in prison.
As far as I know, Donald Grant returned to Alness when he got out of
prison. But he didn’t get a welcome at all, and he left for London. He went
to live in South Africa when that country was coming under apartheid. It is
thought that he returned to London and that he died there in the eighties.
Radio Caledonia (2)
Bha mi ag innse dhuibh mu Dhòmhnall Grannd a bha na chraoladair Natsach
anns an Dàrna Cogadh. Bhuineadh e do dh’Alanais air taobh sear Rois.
Dh’fhàg e Breatainn anns an Iuchar, naoi ceud deug, trithead ʼs a naoi
(1939). Chaidh e don Ghearmailt.
Seachdain an dèidh toiseach a’ chogaidh, chuir na Gearmailtich don phrìosan
e. Cha robh e ann fada, ge-tà. An dèidh beagan mhìosan, thòisich e stèisean
craolaidh phropaganda. Bha sin fo sgèith Ministreachd a’ Phropaganda aig
Joseph Goebbels. Ruith Radio Caledonia eadar an t-Ògmhios naoi ceud deug is
ceathrad (1940) agus an Lùnastal naoi ceud deug, ceathrad ʼs a dhà (1942).
Bha na prògraman deich mionaidean a dh’fhaid. Bha na sgrìobtaichean air an
sgrìobhadh ʼs air an lìbhrigeadh le Dòmhnall Grannd, le taic bho fheadhainn
eile. ʼS e Dòmhnall Palmer a bha Dòmhnall a’ gabhail air fhèin. Bha e a’
cumail a-mach gun robh e a’ craoladh às Alba, seach à Berlin.
Bha Radio Caledonia ag amas air muinntir na h-Alba agus muinntir Shasainn a
chur an ugannan a chèile. Bha an Granndach ag ràdh gur iad na Sasannaich a
bu choireach ris an droch shuidheachadh anns an robh Alba.
Ann an naoi ceud deug, ceathrad ʼs a dhà (1942) bha Dòmhnall dhen bheachd
nach robh na craolaidhean aige gu feum. Dh’iarr e air na h-ùghdarrasan
Natsach leigeil leis sguir dhen obair aige. Airson a’ chòrr dhen chogadh,
bha e ag obair ann an tasglann co-cheangailte ri craoladh phropaganda.
An dèidh a’ chogaidh, dh’fhalbh Dòmhnall à fianais. Bha e air a chur an
grèim anns a’ Ghearmailt anns an Dàmhair naoi ceud deug, ceathrad ʼs a sia
(1946). Fhuair e sia mìosan sa phrìosan.
Fhad ʼs as aithne dhomh, chaidh Dòmhnall Grannd air ais a dh’Alanais nuair
a fhuair e a-mach às a’ phrìosan. Ach cha d’ fhuair e fàilte idir, agus
dh’fhalbh e a Lunnainn. Chaidh e a dh’fhuireach ann an Afraga a Deas nuair
a bha an dùthaich sin a’ tighinn fo apartheid. Thathar a’ smaoineachadh gun
do thill e a Lunnainn agus gun do chaochail e an sin anns na h-ochdadan.
