[Milsurplus] FOLLOW-UP to Robert Watson-Watt post

[Hubert Miller]

Following some links from the same site, on the topic of ham radio in the Reich, I saw this, which I quote here:


" The German ham radio organization, the DASD, provided other technical expertise too, such as identifying frequencies that might be useful for military communications. The SS Security Service even commissioned the DASD’s main laboratory to design and build miniature radio transceivers spies could use to receive orders and report their findings.
The price of survival
To keep transmitting under the Third Reich, German ham operators faced a terrible moral quandary. Like all members of German society, they had to accept close scrutiny from security forces. But to keep operating their radios, German hams had to participate actively in the Nazi regime, driving Jews and anti-Nazis from their hobbyist ranks and collaborating closely with authorities, including the SS and intelligence services. "
end quote.
My comment: What is the source for the claim that DASD's lab designed and built spy – type radios ? Which German hams "faced a terrible moral quandary" ? I think rather a lot did NOT. The party did mean persecution for some, but for many others, it meant employment and a stable currency. Strict controls were the price you paid after the chaos of the 1920s. For those who cared to take a perspective of morality, yes, it was terrible, but I think for most, it was go along, get along. QSLs from German hams in the 1930s did often bear the Swastika, but I don't think it's supportable to read too much into that, such as 'party membership'.
-Hue

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