Mildred Gillars
| Mildred Gillars | |
|---|---|
Mildred Gillars (Bureau of Prisons ID photo)
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| Born |
Mildred Elizabeth Sisk November 29, 1900 Portland, Maine |
| Died | June 25, 1988 (aged 87) Columbus, Ohio |
| Resting place | Saint Joseph Cemetery, Columbus, Ohio |
| Nationality | American/German |
| Other names | Midge at the Mike Axis Sally |
| Education |
Ohio Wesleyan University Hunter College |
| Occupation | Radio announcer and actress |
| Employer | Reichs-Rundfunk-Gesellschaft, German State Radio |
| Known for | Presenting Nazi propaganda on German State Radio during World War II |
| Parent(s) | Vincent Michael Sisk and Mary J. Hewitson |
Mildred Elizabeth Gillars (November 29, 1900 – June 25, 1988), nicknamed "Axis Sally" along with Rita Zucca, was an American broadcaster employed by the Third Reich in Nazi Germany to proliferate propaganda during World War II. She was convicted of treason by the United States in 1949 following her capture in post-war Berlin.
Born Mildred Elizabeth Sisk in Portland, Maine, she took the surname Gillars in 1911 after her mother remarried. At 16, she moved to Conneaut, Ohio, with her family. In 1918, she enrolled at Ohio Wesleyan University to study dramatic arts, but left without graduating.
She then moved to Greenwich Village, New York City, where she worked in various low-skilled jobs to finance drama lessons. She toured with stock companies and appeared in vaudeville but she was unable to establish a theatrical career.
In 1929, Gillars left the US for France, where she worked as an artist's model in Paris. In 1933, she left the US again, residing first in Algiers, where she found work as a dressmaker's assistant. In 1934, she moved to Dresden, Germany, to study music, and was later employed as a teacher of English at the Berlitz School of Languages in Berlin.
In 1940 she obtained work as an announcer with the Reichs-Rundfunk-Gesellschaft (RRG), German State Radio.
By 1941, the US State Department was advising American nationals to return home. However, Gillars chose to remain because her fiancé, Paul Karlson, a naturalized German citizen, said he would never marry her if she returned to the United States. Shortly afterwards, Karlson was sent to the Eastern Front, where he was killed in action.
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