Monitoring the Radio During the War Years

Throughout history, wars have always been waged through means other than military ones.

Steliu Lambru, 22.06.2026, 14:00

Throughout history, wars have always been waged through means other than military ones. Spies, acts of sabotage, agents of influence, and propaganda have all played a role in altering the course of conflicts involving armies. Radio was also a battleground for the “invisible war,” as World War II has been termed in the specialized literature. Radio propaganda was not limited to mere rhetorical exercises aimed at demoralizing the enemy. It also involved techniques for the targeted editing of news reports and commentary. Propaganda was further aided by the monitoring of radio stations.

During World War II, Romania fought alongside the Axis powers from June 22, 1941, until August 23, 1944. After August 23, 1944, it joined the United Nations camp. Radio broadcasts were closely monitored, and Marieta Albert, an ethnic German from Romania, worked on compiling news summaries, as she recounted to the Oral History Center of the Romanian Radio Broadcasting Corporation in 1998.

Marieta Albert: “The conditions for receiving radio stations are always best near a lake, near water. That’s where reception is best. And for this reason, our radio section in Berlin was located right on the shore of Lake Wannsee. There was a very large building there, which had once been a large hotel and restaurant. That’s where we listened to these stations. We mainly listened to London, Moscow, Bari, and Ljubljana. We listened to them in Romanian, but we also listened to these stations in German in parallel.”

Marieta Albert had an advantage that made her job easier: “I was lucky that I knew Romanian shorthand and I used it to transcribe the radio broadcasts. That way, I could record exactly what they were broadcasting. Not all my colleagues knew shorthand; others took notes as best they could. After having written in shorthand, I had typists available and would dictate the text to them. But I also had to translate. Here’s how I did it: I had the shorthand notes in Romanian, which I translated immediately for the typewriter. The notes I typed were sent to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, to Ribbentrop, and to the Ministry of Propaganda, to Goebbels.”

Although they were allies, Romania and Germany kept a close eye on each other. Marieta Albert is back with further details: “I often listened to Radio Bucharest, because the Germans controlled Romania, even though Romania had been occupied by the Germans, they still controlled it. I often listened to Radio Bucharest. For example, I remember when Marshal Antonescu gave a speech, and I had to follow along. I immediately transcribed it and translated it.”

Two years later, in 1941, Marieta Albert moved to Bucharest: “I had exactly the same job. I listened to radio stations, just like in Berlin. Our office was right by the water, just as I described, on the shore of Lake Snagov. It was a large, multi-story building on the shore of Lake Snagov, where there were many villas. There were very wealthy people who had built large villas on the lake’s shore, but our building wasn’t like that—it wasn’t a luxury villa. It was a tall building with at least one story. I don’t know who it belonged to because it wasn’t as luxurious as the villas to the right and left.”

The monitoring operation in Bucharest had been modeled after the one in Berlin: “In Bucharest, it was similar to what it was like in Berlin. For example, in Berlin there were many rooms and small offices, and in each room there was a large Blaupunkt radio set. All the nations were represented there, and broadcasts were listened to in all languages. I was in the room for Romanian and German stations, but there were also rooms for English, French, Russian, for all the languages of the world. That’s how it was in Berlin, and, on a slightly more modest scale, that’s how it was here in Snagov as well, where there were also many rooms.”

Radio stations, both friendly and hostile ones, were monitored, recollects Marieta Albert: “I listened to stations in German; I listened to stations in Romanian. There were also other people who listened to stations in other languages. For example, for English, there were rooms with Blaupunkt radio sets where people listened to English-language broadcasts separately. In Bucharest, we did the same thing: we took shorthand notes and then translated them, exactly as I’ve already said. The materials were sent from Snagov, where we were based and where we were processing them, to the German legation in Bucharest.”

Radio monitoring during World War II was a battle fought over the airwaves. It was a battle won by the armies, but with the help of the mass media. (LS)