Features of propaganda in London-based Czechoslovak Exile Government during the Second World War

Abstract

The London-based Czechoslovak exile government’s radio broadcast was during the Second World War a very important source of information about the real situation in the Protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia. Concerning it to be a part of the resistance, the Protectorate government banned listening to foreign radio stations and clearly claimed that those who would listen to foreign radio stations would be sentenced to jail or to death. The aim of this paper is to provide characteristic features of the propaganda of the BBC radio station and to provide reflections on the theory of seven secrets of propaganda success by A. J. Mackenzie which were presented in his publication Propaganda Boom. Reports which informed about five specific events that occurred during the Second World War were analysed - The arrival of Reinhard Heydrich in Prague, the Assassination of Reinhard Heydrich, the Battle of Sokolovo, Moravian-Ostrava Offensive and the Prague Uprising. The aim of this analytical research was to find out whether the BBC broadcasters observed or did not observe all the maxims the maxims. If all the maxims are observed, it can be claimed that the propaganda was successful.