Quisling: a term originating in Norway, which is used in Scandinavian languages and in English for a person who collaborates with an enemy occupying force – or more generally as a synonym for traitor. The word originates from the surname of the Norwegian war-time leader Vidkun Quisling, who headed a domestic Nazi collaborationist regime during World War II. – Wikipedia
Below we will look at how Radio Free Europe in one way identified Communist “Quislings” and informers behind the Iron Curtain.
In May 1951 the Advertising Council (Ad Council) sent out this press announcement, which read in part:
News Feature FOR HOUSE MAGAZINE EDITORS
NEW YORK - HOLLYWOOD - CHICAGO - WASHINGTON
Voice of Freedom…Day in and day out, Radio Free Europe carries on a slugging, no-holds-barred war of Truth against the propaganda lies of the Kremlin. It undermines the morale of the Red puppet regimes; exposes quislings and informers by name, sends messages from escapees; and keeps alive the hope of freedom…
Note: This editorial may be reprinted in your House Magazine in full or in part.
Through information, exposure, and ridicule, RFE sows disintegration and confusion among the
enemy. It identifies quislings and informers for its listeners. It reports on disappeared persons. It sends
messages from escapees. It spikes Red propaganda and spreads news the Soviets would rather not have
known. The men in the Kremlin have reacted to these broadcasts with angry attempts at refutation.
revealing their fear, their vulnerability to the truth. They can be hit still harder and still oftener as this
voice of freedom increases in strength.
Syndicated newspaper columnist Bob Considine used this announcement in his column “On the Line” in May 1951, when he wrote:
These are heavy guns in the greatest war of words in history… They will expose Communist Quislings behind the iron curtain, undermine the authority of Moscow's puppet government, and, insofar as is possible, help the prisoner peoples prepare for their day of liberation.
in A stream of doughty letters smuggled out at risk of life or limb has moved steadily into Radio Free Europe offices in Western Germany. There is no question about the stations getting under the skin of the Communists. The Communist radio in East Germany announced not long ago, in violent terms, that all German employees of Radio Free Europe would be executed as war criminals when the Communist “liberate” Western Germany
Hollywood actor and future U.S. President Ronald Reagan in the 1951 movie “The Great Truth” and later television spot announcement is seen telling the audience: “Grateful letters from listeners smuggled past the secret police express thanks to Radio Free Europe for identifying Communist Quislings and informers by name.“
The American entertainment trade magazine Variety, August 15, 1961, Vo. 183, No. 10, contained an article by David Sureck starting on page 2, with the headline: “Radio Free Europe’s Crack Job of Bolstering Red-Trapped Citizenry”.
That something new which has been added to American propaganda abroad is showmanship. Stuff beamed from Radio Free Europe in Munich and Frankfurt hyped with realism and U.S. know-how, hued with localized satire and humor, is scoring repeatedly behind the Iron Curtain and starting red ears to burn.
Object of all broadcasts is to undermine the authority of the Red puppet rulers, expose Communist quislings, spike the Communist lies with the truth, and encourage hope behind the Iron Curtain…
[O]ne of the popular performers, for example, is Jan Snizek, Czech refugee. Before fleeing the Commies in 1948 he operated his own Rozmarne (comedy) Theatre. He staged so many plays needling the Kremlin stooges that they jotted him down on their purge list.
Heat was too much for him after he refused to remove a satirical notice from his show windows and he fled to the free world. Now he continues to needle Reds with skits and dramatic bits over Munich’s RFE. He’s assisted by Josef Stelibsky, a well-known Czech composer of light music. Best known of his 14 operettas is “Osterov Milovani” (The Island of Love). Stelibsky also has written music for 58 films abroad.
Who were Jan Snizek and Josef Stelibisky?
Jan Snizek was the subject of many public service advertisements 1951 – 53 in support of the Crusade for Freedom and Radio Free Europe. Here is one example from a 1951 Ad Council newspaper advertisement, which compared him to one of America's greatest stars of radio, television, and Hollywood, Bob Hope:
Czechoslovakia’s “Bob Hope” tells how You can help Truth fight Communism
PAPA SNIZEK, famous Czech comedian, broadcasts the truth about Communism to his captive countrymen over Radio Free Europe’s Holtzkirchen Station, near Munich...built and supported by the contributions of free American citizens. Says Papa Snizek: ‘Contribute your dollars to the Crusade for Freedom...help us stop world Communism. Today, I am an exile from my own country… fighting for its freedom. And it is you who make this possible. You, the free American people who have contributed your dollars to the Crusade for Freedom…the money that built the free world’s most powerful radio station—Radio Free Europe’s Holtzkirchen station near Munich.’
My broadcasts today are not comedy. Rather, they are the deadly serious business of identifying Communist informers and quislings by name, sowing fear and confusion among the Red overlords, sending the truth about the Communists to my countrymen. With your help, we’re doing a good job. But we need more stations of the Munich type to give the facts about Communism to the truth-starved people in other Iron Curtain countries. Please help continue this marvelous work. Give to the Crusade for Freedom…help win the cold war and prevent a global hot war that would destroy the world. Give to the CRUSADE FOR FREEDOM.
Jan Snizek
Jan Snizek was born December 28, 1904 in Prague. His very first play was "Pro Kazdeho Neco", (Something For Everyone), written in 1921. between 1922 and 1925 he had written seven plays and revues. In 1933, he co-authored a script for the movie "Reka", (The River). His first success was the play "Priklady Tahnou", (Examples Are Catching), in 1939. The play was produced in the National Theater, and also made into a movie and became very popular among amateur and professional groups. He opened his own theater on Prague's Vaclavske Namesti, (Wenceslaus Square), where he produced and directed his satires, "Rozmarne Zrcadlo", (Capricious Mirror), and "Nekonecny Trojuhelnik", (Eternal triangle), both very successful. In 1948 he left Czechoslovakia, worked at Radio Free Europe in Munich for approximately three years and then settled in Paris as a political refugee. There he wrote "Certovo Kolo", (Devil's Wheel), his first book. In 1955 he emigrated to the United States, where he established a theater group, called "Krajanske Divadlo", (Patriot's theater).
His wife Bozena Helclova-Snizkova, a former member of the national Theater in Prague, a screen actress (Mikolas Ales), and a member of Jan Snizek's cast in his Prague theater, was active in this effort as well. The group performed not only in New York City, but toured North America with performances in Washington, D.C., Boston, Toronto, and Montreal. She worked for Radio Free Europe in the New York office until 1970. Jan Snizek died following a lengthy illness on October 26, 1971.
Josef Stelibsky
Josef Stelibsky was born 5 December 1909 and died 28 April 1962 in Hollywood. Stelibský was acknowledged as the master of romantic tangos. A tango from Stelibský’s first operetta, "Stretch Out Your Hand to Happiness," from 1936 is a celebration of the beauty of Prague and can be heard here:
