Download Nazi Poster Propaganda

Lauren Miller
6/8/10
Nazi Poster Propaganda:
Its Role in Hitler’s Rise to and Consolidation of Power
The Nazi propaganda machine is famous for its complexity and effectiveness, but the
impact of posters is sometimes overlooked, especially those before World War II. The
propaganda posters were an unavoidable part of daily life for the German population during
Adolf Hitler’s rise to and consolidation of power, and they provided simple, strong messages to
the masses without the need for Hitler’s fiery oratory or the National Socialist Party (NDSAP)
and the Reich’s elaborately staged rallies and events. The overall strategy behind propaganda
was brilliantly thought out by both Hitler and Joseph Goebbels, who possessed a brilliant and
almost chilling understanding of how propaganda posters could be used to drive home simple
messages to the masses. In a 1933 speech, explained that, “The essence of propaganda is
simplicity: we must reject all forms of flourish and decoration in explaining to the people our
ideas … we must also drum these thoughts into the public mind with such force and punch that
in the final analysis even the lowliest man in the street will know what it is all about.”i This
outlook on the simplicity and forceful messaging in propaganda by Goebbels, an extension of
Hitler in the propaganda realm, shows that acclimation is very important to Hitler. By pursuing
the strategy of reaching to the lowest common denominator of the masses in order to reach them
all, the Nazis are revealing the importance they place in their acceptance by the lower class in
addition to the broad masses. Messages were broken down to black and white choices, with no
gray area to confuse the masses.
In the ascendance to power, use of intimidation is demonstrated with the NDSAP paper
run by Joseph Goebbels. As the name of the paper implies, Der Angriff (“The Attack”), directly
attacked opponents and Jews and was key in spreading the party’s messages while it was
banned by the government. By 1930, the paper was a daily and was “a relentless campaign of
personal abuse and criticism leveled by Goebbels at ‘establishment’ figures (invariably Jewish)
associated with the Weimar Republic.”ii The name of the paper clearly spells out its intentions –
to spread messages of aggression and intimidation of the opposition. As this attack on Ernst
Freidrich, a “leftist” opponent, in the Der Angriff in 1933 shows, images of the S.A. closing
down his anti-war museum intimidated those that do not follow the party ideology. Freidrich
represented the independent intellectual, who did not fall in with enlightened NDSAP views,
and therefore must be attacked. This paper was key in the growth and maintenance of the
NDSAP. It allowed the party to remain in communication and spread their ideas. Goebbels
viewed his Der Angriff as a kind of “written poster,” as he referred to its front page, which can
be seen in this image, the Der Angriff front page in 1934, and he used the paper to spread a very
black and white viewpoint on German politics.iii He targeted Jews and government members
consistently, using simple terminology and a good versus evil mentality that sent a clear
message to the masses.
A major recurring slogan in Der Angriff was “Deutschland erwache, Juda verrecke!”
(Germany awake, Judaism be damned!).iv Also included were cartoons that targeted politicians
with Jewish connections or origins, portraying them with devil horns and exaggerated Jewish
features as a constructed enemy of the people of Germany. These direct, personal attacks
appearing daily were meant to intimidate Jewish citizens and politicians, as well as stir up
similar feelings among the masses and NDSAP. It allowed the party and Hitler to stir up
underlying resentments among the German people against the Weimar Republic and their
poverty and provided them specific politicians to blame, along with Jewish people as a whole,
for their problems. It also was a daily outlet for intimidation, with the front page serving as a
type of propaganda poster on the street corners of Berlin.
A poster was created at the time of the celebration of Hitler’s 37th birthday in Munich on
April 20, 1926 that showed the power of the gift he was giving to his people. He was banned
from speaking at the time, and while he showed up at his party, he did not say a word. This
poster, enhanced by Hitler’s literal silence at his birthday, was enhancing the image of his selfsacrifice. The writing on the plaster covering his mouth translates to “Ban on Speaking,” and
the caption reads “Alone among 2,000 million people of the world he is not allowed to speak in
Germany!”v Hitler was giving up his voice for the cause; he was portraying that he cared so
deeply about it. His gift was his martyrdom for the Nazi movement, a martyrdom driven home
by the tape imagery on the poster. This image was used in several NDSAP meeting posters, but
is most prominently displayed the poster above.
In Hitler’s memoir Mein Kampf, he wrote that “the art of propaganda lies in
understanding the emotional ideas of the great masses and finding, through a psychologically
correct form, the way to the attention and thence to the heart of the broad masses.”vi He
understood the shifting needs of propaganda, and NDSAP started by meeting the psychological
needs of the working class, and later focused on the heroic and charismatic leadership of Hitler.
Initial NDSAP party poster propaganda was directed towards the average worker, with
appeals to the common German Aryan man as an ideal, and later shifted to a strategy of
elevating Hitler to an almost deific status as the savior of the German people. This 1930
election poster shows an appeal to the masses, presenting a worker rising above the corruption
of Marxism through his support of the party, bearing the standard. Similar images projecting
liberation from the corrupt government were a common theme, without Hitler as the provided
answer. This poster was spread while the Nazi party was still banned, and its imagery of the
shackled eagle, representing the shackled party, trying to fly towards the glowing Nazi swastika
symbol portrays the message that through the NDSAP, liberation of Germany will be obtained.
Ads for party meetings portrayed the ideal German man, with strong features and an intense
focus. This 1928 poster, stating that the NDSAP was the organized will of the nation, shared the
imagery of a strong German man with the message that the party was for the people of
Germany.
In a speech given in Zwickau by Goebbels in 1926 entitled Lenin or Hitler, he said,
“When I speak of Lenin or Hitler I don’t mean these two men in their purely incidental human
form or no longer incidental political form. It is a matter of more than this: we are concerned
with these two men insofar as they represent the embodiment, the personification of an idea
which, if I may say so, deeply affects us all. Let us rather consider these two men as conquerors
of an old concept of the state and pioneers of a new one.”vii Goebbels was placing Hitler above
mere humanity by saying this and describing him as the human embodiment of Nazi ideology.
Hitler as a conqueror of a corrupt system means that he was a savior, a hero. As a pioneer, he
was the leader of a new world order, at least a new German system. He was talking about
charismatic, heroic leadership in Hitler, and in doing so was saying that he was the one hero,
above a normal man or politician, that would save Germany and bring it into a new era.
As the fuel behind the NDSAP’s success was increasingly focused on Hitler, so was its
propaganda, perpetuating him as the salvation to Germany’s woes. This poster from 1932,
reading “Only Hitler,” sends the simple yet strong message that only this man can save the
nation. Another poster from the same year says “Hitler Builds,” sending the message to the
masses that this heroic figure will rebuild their fallen country. At a 1934 NSDAP rally in
Nuremberg, Goebbel’s speech highlights the importance of propaganda in winning people over
by making them feel emotionally invested in Hitler and the dream he delivers. He said, “May
the bright flame of our enthusiasm never be extinguished. It alone gives light and warmth to the
creative art of modern political propaganda. It arose from the very heart of the people in order
to derive more strength and power. It may be a good thing to possess power that rests on arms.
But it is better and more gratifying to win and hold the heart of the people.”viii From this point
forward, Hitler’s image is raised higher and higher to fit the role of the charismatic leader and
hero. This poster uses religious imagery to portray a Christ-like figure, with the German eagle
swooping down from the heavens replacing the dove that descended on Christ upon his baptism
The text reads “Long Live Germany,” and this, along with the deified Hitler imagery, further
cements the savior message and ties it to underlying religious themes that people may have
subconsciously attached to the man. This late 1930’s poster combines copy translating to “One
People, One Reich, One Fuhrer,” with a flattering portrait of Hitler to promote the that he is the
sole unifier and savior of the German people. The heroic imagery is taken to a new level with
this poster, portraying Hitler as Germany’s knight in shining armor, though its frequency is
unknown as only one copy survives. All of these posters, along with other similar ones, share
the same message – Adolf Hitler was the charismatic leader and the savior of the Germanic
people. It is this cult of personality Hitler embodied that cemented so much loyalty from the
vast masses of Germany, and the posters were a way of promoting that, simply, and in print, to
the people without the need for his forceful and impressive oratory or elaborately staged events.
Hitler also used the decline of Germany after WWI, the Treaty of Versailles, and the
failure of the Weimar Republic to further elevate himself as a savior from that system which
was ailing the government. In a speech given on July 18, 1937, after he was in full power, he
said, “In the collapse of Germany after the War the economic decline was generally felt, the
political decline was denied by many, the cultural decline was not even observed by the
majority of the people. It was an age of phrases and catchwords: in the economic sphere the
hard facts of misery and unemployment deprived these phrases of their force; in the political
sphere such phrases as ‘international solidarity’ had more success and veiled from the German
people the extent of the political collapse.”ix Hitler discredited the prior regime’s propaganda as
lies, and therefore placed himself and the Nazi propaganda as the truth and a means of saving
German people from deception and an international focus; instead bringing them a solidarity in
their German heritage. This means that he felt it was important to separate the propaganda used
by the previous government from the Third Reich, to gain further trust of the masses and
dissociation with the prior regime.
In a 1933 speech to the press, Goebbels provided a precursor to using the press as a means
of justification for the subversion of the constitution. He said, “Today no one can doubt that
through our propaganda methods we have made the policy of reparations, its causes and its
consequences, clear to the broad mass of the people. It can be the same with everything. You
could not, for instance, pass an order relating to the compulsory blending of butter without
explaining to the people why it is necessary. It would be unscrupulous for a government merely
to inform the people that margarine has become more expensive without at the same time
telling the people why it has to be more expensive.”x This statement, and the example of butter,
serves as a precursor to Nazi subversion of illegality. He claims the propaganda will honestly
explain its reasoning behind policy, therefore making it just. Because of this, it portrays
propaganda as a means of subversion of law or constitutionality simply by providing an
explanation – true or not.
When the RMVP took control of the press and journalists, they ensured the selective
narration of events in Germany. In a speech to the press given by Goebbels on March 15, 1933,
he told journalists, “The task of the press cannot be merely to inform; rather, the press has
above and beyond that the much greater task of instructing. It naturally has the task of making
clear to the people what the Government is doing, but it must also explain why the Government
is doing it, why the Government is forced to act in a certain way and no other.” xiWhat he was
saying meant that the role of the press was now to explain and justify government actions, not
report on them. In an interesting contrast, Goebbels seemed to show an almost cynical view of
this action and a respect for the profession of journalism as it was before the RMVP takeover.
He wrote that “No decent journalist with any feeling of honour in his bones can stand the way
he is handled by the press department of the Reich Government…Any man who still has a
residue of honour will be very careful not to become a journalist.”xii This contrast shows deep
insight and acknowledgment of what the new controls on the press meant, and an “ends justify
the means” attitude. This reform of the press was a transformation, legitimized by the Reich, of
the press from a free one to that of a tool for selective narration, in essence a branch of
propaganda. Hitler’s version of the truth, events, and motives become the only version the
masses read.
In the Editor’s Law, enacted on October 4, 1933, all printed matter, including posters,
was put under the authority of the Reich. The law stated that, “2.1 Newspapers and periodicals
are printed matter, appearing in regular sequence at intervals of at most three months, not
limited in circulation to a certain group of persons. 2.2 All reproductions of writings or
illustrations destined for dissemination which are produced by a means of a mass-reproduction
process, are to be considered as printed matter.”xiii Through this law, the Reich officially took
control over all poster propaganda, disallowing any mass printed matter not regulated by the
State. This shows that any opposition to their posters was illegal, and because of this they
gained control of all ideology disseminated during Hitler’s rule. Forbidding opposition posters
meant that there was a strong belief in the effectiveness of posters, and they saw any other
poster messages as a threat.
The pursuit of formal legitimacy through the election campaigns was a key point in
Hitler’s grasp of power. The shift of focus to faith in Hitler the man versus the ideology in
poster propaganda can be seen in early election posters on the 1930s. Goebbels said that “The
election campaign is ready in principle. We now only need to press the button in order to set the
machine into action,” which shows a great confidence in their strategy for the upcoming
election, as well as a recognition of its importance.xiv This is reflected in this 1932 poster, with
an image of Hitler’s head on a black background and his last name as the sole copy on the
poster, is a deviation from more colorful NDSAP posters, which often featured red prominently
because Hitler wrote in Mein Kampf that the color would make the posters stand out. In this
case, however, the simplicity and lack of color is what made the poster stand out against the
others plastered around the cities, which were complicated and colorful. This was a specific
strategy Goebbels used during a period of intense attention to detail in poster messages, as is
evidenced by a Reich Propaganda Department directive issued by Goebbels during April 1932,
for the Presidential Elections. An excerpt of this directive detailed that “The Hitler poster
depicts a fascinating Hitler head on a completely black background. Subtitle: white on black –
‘Hitler’. In accordance with the Fuhrer’s wish this poster is to be put up only during the final
days [of the campaign]. Since experience shows that during the final days there is a variety of
coloured posters, this poster with its completely black background will contrast with all the
others and will produce a tremendous effect on the masses...”.xv This shows a highly refined
strategy and acknowledgment of the competition in propaganda election posters, meaning that
they were very focused on winning the formal legitimacy an election victory would provide
them and wanted to stand out from the rest of the parties’ posters to enhance their chances.
The Ministry for Popular Enlightenment and Propaganda (RMVP) was established by
Presidential decree on March 12, 1933. This legitimizes the scope of propaganda and media
control via making it an official branch of the Reich, and it “put the seal of legitimacy on what
was soon to be the ministry’s wholesale control of the mass-media.”xvi The law setting up the
Reich Chamber of Culture on Sept. 22, 1933 gave legitimacy to cultural control of the Reich by
Goebbels. The law stated that “1. The Reich Minister for Popular Enlightenment and
Propaganda is ordered and authorized to organize the members of those branches of activity
which affect his sphere of competence into public corporations.”xvii This gave legality to
Goebbels’ control of all forms of media and culture. This shows that complete control of these
venues was important to Hitler, and that it was imperative that it be put officially into law in an
ambitious takeover of German culture.
Adolf Hitler and his propaganda expert Joseph Goebbels utilized posters to intimidate
opponents, portray Hitler’s martyrdom, and most of all lift Hitler to a near god-like status as a
heroic and charismatic leader in his ascendance to power. During his consolidation of that
power, laws manipulating the press and printed materials secured a selective narration of events
for the Reich as well as a precursor to future subversion of the constitution. The development of
the Ministry for Enlightenment and Propaganda and the Reich Chamber of Culture legitimized
the NDSAP takeover of all aspects of cultural life. Posters were key not just in motivating
troops and citizens during World War II, but assisted greatly in Adolf Hitler’s obtainment of
control of Germany.
i
Welch, David. "Selected Documents." The Third Reich: Politics and Propaganda. London: Routledge, 1993. 144145. Print.
ii
Welch, David. The Third Reich: Politics and Propaganda. London: Routledge, 1993. 12. Print.
iii
Bramsted, Ernest Kohn. Goebbels and National Socialist Propaganda: 1925-1945. [London,]: Cresset, 1965. 31.
Print.
iv
Welch, David. The Third Reich: Politics and Propaganda. London: Routledge, 1993. 12. Print.
v
Zeman, Z. A. B. Nazi Propaganda. London: Oxford UP, 1973. 6. Print.
vi
Welch, David. The Third Reich: Politics and Propaganda. London: Routledge, 1993. 8. Print.
vii
Zeman, Z. A. B. "Appendix A." Nazi Propaganda. London: Oxford UP, 1973. 183. Print.
viii
Noakes, Jeremy, and Geoffrey Pridham. "Document 20." Documents on Nazism, 1919-1945. New York: Viking,
1975. 73. Print.
ix
Welch, David. "Selected Documents." The Third Reich: Politics and Propaganda. London: Routledge, 1993. 170.
Print.
x
Welch, David. "Selected Documents." The Third Reich: Politics and Propaganda. London: Routledge, 1993. 141.
Print.
xi
Welch, David. "Selected Documents." The Third Reich: Politics and Propaganda. London: Routledge, 1993. 138.
Print.
xii
xiii
Welch, David. The Third Reich: Politics and Propaganda. London: Routledge, 1993. 39. Print.
Welch, David. "Selected Documents." The Third Reich: Politics and Propaganda. London: Routledge, 1993. 156.
Print.
xiv
Welch, David. The Third Reich: Politics and Propaganda. London: Routledge, 1993. 15. Print.
xv
Noakes, Jeremy, and Geoffrey Pridham. "Document 50." Documents on Nazism, 1919-1945. New York: Viking,
1975. 73. Print.
xvi
xvii
Welch, David. The Third Reich: Politics and Propaganda. London: Routledge, 1993. 24. Print.
Welch, David. "Selected Documents." The Third Reich: Politics and Propaganda. London: Routledge, 1993. 155.
Print.