Illness Saves

In 1942 the "black" propaganda section of the British Political Warfare Executive (PWE) produced the first in a range of disguised booklets designed to assist would be malingerering German soldiers and munitions workers to fake illness to avoid military service or compulsory factory work. The most famous version was called Krankheit rettet - "Illness Saves by Doctor Do Good". The booklet informed its reader how to simulate a multitude of illnesses and diseases from a simple throat infection to life-threatening tuberculosis. Now for the first time the complete malingering text including contemporary illustrations and a foreword by PsyWar historian Lee Richards is available in English. This is a fascinating part of the clandestine propaganda war between Germany and Great Britain in World War II. It has been translated and reproduced for readers and historians interested in psychological warfare but the advice contained within should not be tried out for real!