Sefton Delmer

Denis Sefton Delmer (24 May 1904 – 4 September 1979) was a British journalist of Australian heritage and propagandist for the British government. Fluent in German, he became friendly with Ernst Röhm who arranged for him to interview Adolf Hitler in the 1930s. During WWII he led a black propaganda campaign against Hitler by radio from England, sufficiently successful he was named in the Nazis' Black Book for immediate arrest after their invasion of England.

Denis Sefton Delmer, known familiarly as "Tom", was born in Berlin, Germany, but was registered as a British citizen with the British Consulate. His parents were from Australia. His father, Frederick Sefton Delmer, born in Hobart, Tasmania, was Professor of English Literature at Berlin University and author of a standard textbook for German schools. On the outbreak of the First World War his father was interned in Ruhleben internment camp as an enemy alien. In 1917, in a prisoner exchange between the British and German governments, the Delmer family was repatriated to England.

Delmer was educated at Friedrichwerdersches Gymnasium, Berlin, St Paul's School, London and Lincoln College, Oxford, where he obtained a second class degree in modern languages. He was brought up to speak only German until the age of five and as late as 1939 spoke English with a slight accent.

After leaving university, Delmer worked as a freelance journalist until he was recruited by the Daily Express to become head of its new Berlin Bureau. Whilst in Germany, he became friendly with Ernst Röhm, who arranged for him to become the first British journalist to interview Adolf Hitler.

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