Broadcast Nazi Propaganda in World War II : ‘Axis Sally,’ American Turncoat, Dies

COLUMBUS, Ohio — Mildred Gillars, the aspiring actress from Ohio who became the Nazi propaganda broadcaster known as “Axis Sally” during World War II, has died at the age of 87, it was disclosed today.

“Hello, gang,” her infamous broadcasts to the Allied forces began. “Throw down those little old guns and toddle off home. There’s no getting the Germans down.”

Gillars died Saturday at a hospital in Columbus, where she lived in an apartment on the city’s north side. There was no announcement or obituary notice and her attorney said he knew of no surviving relatives.

Neighbors said she had lived a quiet, private life teaching music to kindergartners following her release from a West Virginia federal prison in 1961.

Convicted in 1949

Gillars was convicted in 1949 of treason for making Nazi radio broadcasts and served 12 years of a 10-to-30-year prison sentence.

During the war, her broadcasts were beamed at American forces in North Africa and Italy.

After the war, America military officers found her living in the cellars of bombed buildings in Berlin and she was sent to the United States to stand trial.

During her trial, Gillars testified she had fallen in love with an officer in the German Foreign Service and he persuaded her to make the broadcasts. In tears, she swore she loved her country and would never intentionally betray it.

But the jury convicted her and she served her sentence at the federal facility in Alderson, W.Va.

When she was released in 1961, she moved to Columbus and taught music at a kindergarten run by the Sisters of the Poor Child Jesus.

Gillars was born in Portland, Me., and moved to Ohio where she attended Ohio Wesleyan University.