How to Win an Information War: Sefton Delmer, the Genius Propagandist Who Outwitted Hitler

In this evocative if less-than-persuasive study, journalist Pomerantsev (Nothing Is True and Everything Is Possible) mines the history of WWII-era British propagandist Sefton Delmer for methods to counter recent Russian misinformation campaigns. A Brit born and raised in Germany, Delmer emigrated in his youth but later returned in the 1930s as a reporter given exclusive access to Hitler. Eventually joining British intelligence with a mandate to create radio programming that would make Germans question Nazi propaganda, he invented the persona of Der Chef, a foul-mouthed German soldier who railed against Nazi excesses while sharing their vile prejudices. The goal, as described by Delmer, was to propagate “subversive rumour... under a cover of national patriotic cliches.” Der Chef’s rants were sprinkled with apparently leaked details about Nazi higher-ups, making him seem like a genuine mouthpiece of dissent and hinting at potential rebellion. Pomerantsev concludes by advocating for modern anti-Russia propagandists (including civilians posting online) to follow in Der Chef’s footsteps (“sometimes people just need a way to discover the best of their inner pigdog”), a clearly dicey proposition. Still, his prose sparkles and his delineation of Delmer’s theories of propaganda fascinates (“We’re always somehow parroting it [but] we’re rarely completely hypnotized... People are slightly faking their fanaticism”). It’s a fleet-footed history of propaganda with an unconvincing takeaway. (Mar.)