Biography

Born in the United States, to Irish parents who both supported the UK. His father was a naturalized American citizen. Joyce became a German citizen in 1940, and broadcast propaganda for the Axis during World War II. After the war he was tried by the British government for treason, found guilty, and hanged in 1946.

Inquiries in the United States found he had never been a British subject, and for a while during his trial for treason it appeared he would have to be acquitted. A sizable minority of the UK population were uncomfortable with the death sentence, mainly because of the nationality issue but also because throughout World War II he had always been viewed as a joke figure.

At the age of 14 he was a spy for the British during the Anglo-Irish War, and was almost assassinated by the IRA.

His biographer Nigel Farndale suggested on the basis of documents made public for the first time between 2000 and 2005 that Joyce made a deal with his prosecutors not to reveal links he had had to MI5. In return, his wife Margaret, known to radio listeners as "Lady Haw-Haw", was spared prosecution for high treason. Of the 32 British renegades and broadcasters caught in Germany at the end of the war, only Margaret Joyce, who died in London in 1972, was not charged with treason.

The Trevor Howard character in Run for the Sun (1956), an English Nazi who has broadcast propaganda for the Axis powers, is apparently inspired by Joyce. His broadcasts also inspired Sherlock Holmes and the Voice of Terror (1942), one of the Basil Rathbone features transplanting Holmes to wartime England.

[his alleged last words, although this is disputed] In death as in life, I defy the Jews who caused this last war, and I defy the power of darkness which they represent. I warn the British people against the crushing imperialism of the Soviet Union. May Britain be great once again and in the hour of the greatest danger in the West may the standard be raised from the dust, crowned with the words - 'You have conquered nevertheless'. I am proud to die for my ideals and I am sorry for the sons of Britain who have died without knowing why.

Has it all been worthwhile? I think not. National Socialism is a fine cause, but most of the Germans, not all, are bloody fools. (22 April 1945)

If only I had been near the old man [Hitler], Germany's defeat would not have happened.

My sacrifice will not be in vain. One day, out of the ruins of Europe, there will emerge in full triumph the idea for which I have fought - National Socialism as the saviour of the West.

I left England because I would not fight for Jewry against the Führer and National Socialism.