Axis Sally (1900-1988) was an American who made propaganda broadcasts for the Nazis during World War II. Her real name was Mildred Elizabeth Gillars.
Gillars was born on Nov. 29, 1900, in Conneaut, Ohio, and attended Ohio Wesleyan University. She became an English teacher in Germany and may have fallen in love with a Nazi officer.
Allied troops landed in North Africa on Nov. 8, 1942. Axis Sally soon began broadcasting Nazi propaganda from Tunis, Tunisia. She sometimes surprised the Allies by broadcasting information that was supposed to be secret. But she also entertained troops by broadcasting jazz. The Allies came to laugh at her heavy propaganda. They nicknamed her Axis Sally.
Gillars was convicted of treason in 1949, four years after the war ended. She served 12 years in prison in the United States. She later taught school in Columbus, Ohio. She graduated from Ohio Wesleyan in 1973, more than 50 years after she had first enrolled there. She died on June 25, 1988.
