The Words at War graphic for their WWII radio episodes
Jan Karski’s wartime memoir Story of a Secret State was published in the U.S. in 1944 and became an instant bestseller. It was dramatized for the radio and broadcast on January 23, 1945, as part of the “Words at War” series, which presented WWII stories by contemporary writers.
This episode was created by the NBC network as part of a 90 episode series. The Old Time Radio Researchers Group found these story recordings and put them on an Internet Archive website.
Background from the “Words at War” Archives page:
“Words at War" was a 30-minute dramatic anthology series dealing with stories condensed from books written about World War II. The series started in the middle of the war and at the most crucial time of the war for the allies, somewhat heightening its debut…The music for the series was done by NBC’s own Frank Black, a master at orchestration, and the shows were often directed by Anton M. Leder of Suspense fame…Most—if not all—of the series is available today for our listening pleasure, and the sound is above average.
Done in a docu-drama style with Black’s music as the background gave often stark, sobering
realism to these stories penned by different authors…Most of these stories pack a powerful,
thought-provoking wallop, especially when dealing with subjects that are hard to comprehend,
like the taking of innocent civilian lives.”
Listen to this 29-minute radio drama, a synopsis of Story of A Secret State (which is #73). It is available at this Internet Archive link. Click on the Play triangle (as seen below) to start listening to the recording.
