HC Deb 08 January 1942 vol 377 cc52-3W
Major Lloyd

asked the Minister of Information whether he is aware that a German, Professor Mittwoch, working in the British Broadcasting Corporation since July, was at one time chief adviser to the German Foreign Office on anti-British propaganda in the Middle East; that for a long time this German was present and took part in meetings of our Middle Eastern propaganda committee at which most confidential matters of policy were discussed; and with whose approval was such action taken?

Mr. Thurtle

Professor Mittwoch is not employed by the British Broadcasting Corporation. I am aware that this well-known orientalist served in the German Foreign Office during the last war. He left Germany in 1935 after expulsion from his academic chair and placed at the disposal of His Majesty's Government his knowledge of the methods which Germany employed in her propaganda to Eastern peoples. In his capacity as adviser to the Middle East section of the Ministry of Information he has attended meetings of a Ministry Committee which discusses the presentation and content of pamphlets in the Arabic, Persian and Amharic languages. At none of these meetings were confidential matters of policy discussed.

Major Lloyd

asked the Minister of Information who is responsible for supplying two Germans, Mittwoch and Schact, working at the British Broadcasting Corporation, with Government passes enabling them to enter any Government office in London?

Mr. Thurtle

Neither of these two gentlemen is employed by the British Broadcasting Corporation, and neither the British Broadcasting Corporation nor the Ministry of Information have issued them with passes to enable them to enter a Government office.