Life was tough for civilians on the home front during World War II. Many lived in fear of air raids and had to cope with shortages of food and other essentials. Children were often evacuated to places in the countryside, far from their parents. People also had to live in a world of secrets.
Unlike today, the news media gave very few details of important events. It was considered safer and better for everyone if no one knew exactly what was going on.
Civilians were told to be careful about passing on information to anyone. Posters warned people not to gossip since “careless talk costs lives.” Servicemen and -women were forbidden to tell their families what they were doing and where, just in case the enemy found out. Letters to and from loved ones serving on the front were censored, and any sensitive information was removed. The motto was “secrets save lives.”
Posters warning of the danger of “saying too much” were probably exaggerated, but they helped to make the public aware of security matters and feel they were part of the war effort.
During World War II, governments wanted to keep bad news hidden because they feared its effects on national morale. Censorship was used to hide the truth from citizens as much as to hide it from the enemy.
This posed photo from 1943 aimed to show the British public how to spot a Nazi spy in a pub. Conditions in Germany were apparently so bad by this time that the coat of the “spy” (on the left) would be worn and thin, the buttons broken and the shoulders