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Propaganda
Deconstructing Nazi propaganda Images
What is Propaganda?
Biased information
Simplifies complex
issues or ideas
Created to shape
public opinion and
behavior
True, partially true, or
blatantly false information
Plays on emotions
Symbols, images,
words, or music
Directs human
action toward a
given goal
Advertises a cause,
organization, or
movement and its
opponents
Common Propaganda Techniques
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
Bandwagon
Testimonial
Plain Folks
Transfer
Fear/Card Stacking
Logical Fallacies
Glittering Generalities
• Name-calling
Bandwagon
• An appeal to the subject to follow the crowd
• Tries to convince the subject that one side is
the winning side and that winning is inevitable
• Appeals to a person’s desire to be on the
winning side
Testimonial
• Quotations or endorsements which attempt to
connect a well-known or respectable person
with a product or ideal with the intent to better
“sell” the product or ideal
Plain Folks
• An attempt to convince the public that his or
her views reflect those of the “common
person”
• The candidate tries to appear to be working
for the benefit of the “common person”
Transfer
• An attempt to make the subject view a certain
item in the same way as they view another item
• Used to transfer negative feelings for one object
to another
• In politics, this technique is often used to transfer
blame or bad feelings from one politician to
another or from one group of people to another
Fear/Card Stacking
• Only presents information that is positive to an
idea or proposal and omits information
contrary to it
• While the information presented is true, other
important information is purposely omitted
Logical Fallacies
• An argument that sounds as if it makes sense
but the premises given for the conclusion do
not provide proper support for the argument
Glittering
Generalities
• Uses words that have different positive
meaning for individual subjects, but are linked
to highly valued concepts
• Words often used as glittering generalities are
honor, glory, love of country, and freedom
Name-calling
• Uses derogatory language or words that carry a
negative connotation when describing an
enemy
• Attempts to arouse prejudice among the public
by labeling the target something that the public
dislikes
Common Propaganda Traits
• Uses truths, half-truths, or lies
• Omits information selectively
• Simplifies complex issues or ideas
• Plays on emotions
• Advertises a cause
• Attacks opponents
• Targets desired audiences
Nazi Propaganda Practices
Volksgemeinschaft:
“National Community”
•
A cornerstone of Nazi ideology and
propaganda
•
An organic, racial union
of all “Aryan” Germans
•
Political strife and dissension have
no place in National Socialist society
•
Contributing to the general welfare of the
nation, not individualism
•
Nazi propaganda played a crucial role in
selling the myth to Germans who longed for
unity, national pride and greatness
Making a
leader
Modern techniques of propaganda -- including strong
images and simple messages -- helped propel Austrianborn Adolf Hitler from being a little known extremist
to a leading candidate in the 1932 German presidential
elections. The style of this poster is similar to some of
film stars of the era. Election poster, 1932; photo by
Heinrich Hoffmann
•
Nazi propaganda idolized Hitler as a gifted
statesman who brought stability, created jobs, and
restored German greatness
•
Under the Nazi regime, Germans were expected to
pay public allegiance to the “Führer” in quasireligious forms, such as giving the Nazi salute and
greeting others on the street with “Heil Hitler!,” the
so-called “German Greeting”
•
Faith in Hitler strengthened the bonds of national
unity, while non-compliance signaled dissension in a
society where open criticism of the regime, and its
leaders, were grounds for imprisonment
Defining the
Enemy
Nazi propaganda often portrayed Jews as engaged in
a conspiracy to provoke war. Here, a stereotyped
Jew conspires behind the scenes to control the
Allied powers, represented by the British,
American, and Soviet flags. The caption reads,
"Behind the enemy powers: the Jew." Circa 1942.
•
One crucial factor in creating a cohesive group is to
define who is excluded from membership
•
Nazi propagandists contributed to the regime's policies
by publicly identifying groups for exclusion, inciting
hatred or cultivating indifference, and justifying their
pariah status to the populace
•
Propaganda helped to define who would be excluded
from the new society and justified measures against the
“outsiders”:
– Jews
– Sinti and Roma (Gypsies)
– homosexuals
– political dissidents
– Germans viewed as genetically inferior and
harmful to “national health”
Deceiving the
Public
•
Propaganda served as an important tool to win
over the majority of the German public who had
not supported Adolf Hitler and to push forward
the Nazis' radical program
•
A new state propaganda apparatus, headed by
Joseph Goebbels, sought to manipulate and
deceive the German population and the outside
world
•
Propagandists preached an appealing message of
national unity and a utopian future
An antisemitic poster published in Poland in March
1941. The caption reads, "Jews are lice; They cause
typhus." This German-published poster was intended to
instill fear of Jews among Christian Poles.
Rallying the
Nation
"Greater Germany: Yes on 10 April" (1938). This
election poster emphasizes the message of
jumping on the Nazi political bandwagon, as
represented by the hands raised in a unified Nazi
salute.
•
The Nazi Party dramatically increased its public
support by advertising itself as a protest
movement against the corruption and
ineffectiveness of the Weimar “system”
•
Throughout World War II, Nazi propagandists
disguised military aggression aimed at territorial
conquest as acts of ethnic self-defense necessary
for the survival of “Aryan civilization”
•
Nazi propaganda frequently stressed the power of
a mass movement to propel the country forward,
subtly underscored by the upward angle of the
hands
•
This poster typifies the propaganda strategy of
using simple confident slogans, with bold
graphics often using the characteristic Nazi colors
of red, black, and white.
Indoctrinating
Youth
• From the 1920s onwards, the Nazi Party
targeted German youth as a special audience
for its propaganda messages
• These messages emphasized that the Party
was a movement of youth:
– dynamic
– resilient
– forward-looking
– hopeful
"Students/Be the Führer's propagandists."
With militant appeals to nationalism,
freedom, and self-sacrifice, the Nazi Party
successfully recruited students disenchanted
with German democracy and their current
student organizations.
• Millions of German young people were won
over to Nazism in the classroom and through
extracurricular activities
Writing the
News
"All of Germany Listens to the Führer with the
People's Radio." The poster depicts a crowd
surrounding a radio. The radio looms large,
symbolizing the mass appeal and broad audience
for Nazi broadcasts.
•
Der Stürmer was the most notorious, antisemitic
newspaper in Germany
•
The newspaper, headed by Julius Streicher, published
lurid tales of Jewish “ritual murder,” sex crimes, and
financial malfeasance
•
The Nazis understood the power and attraction of
emerging technologies, such as film, loudspeakers,
radio, and television, in the service of propaganda
•
These technologies offered the Nazi leadership a means
for mass dissemination of their ideological messages
and a vehicle for reinforcing the myth of the National
Community through communal listening and viewing
experiences
Film from the Steven Spielberg Film Archive showing the Opening of the Official
Anti-Semitic Campaign, 1 April 1933. Also in this clip is Minister for Popular
Enlightenment and Propaganda, Joseph Goebbels addressing a cheering crowd in
Berlin Lustgarten, the boycott of Jewish shops, a truck filled with Nazis moving
through streets, chanting: "Germans, protect yourselves. Don't buy from the
Jews,“ book burning and more. [00:05:48]
SLIDE #2
'Your Own KdF-Car'
YOUR OWN CAR
The woman is blond
haired and dressed
conservatively. This
is a typical Nazi
view of women (no
make up/natural
look – white teeth)
The VW beetle was
designed by Otto
Porsche & Hitler
The mountains
suggest a link
between Germans
and the rural ideal
(also symbolize
the pure Nordic
roots of Nazism)
Nazi policies are
associated with
wealth and a
good lifestyle
'Your Own KdF-Car' poster, 1939 ©
They are
obviously
happy with
this lifestyle
SLIDE #3
“The seed of peace, not dragon's teeth”
The seed of peace not dragon’s
teeth
There is an
angel. This
suggests that
German
greatness is a
positive thing
and not a
threat
Hitler is walking on
a map of Europe,
eastward
The imagery is
quite deliberate. It
is based on a
parable in the Bible
in which a man
sows seeds.
Suggests a link
between Hitler and
God
Hitler = Jesus
“The seed of peace, not dragon's teeth” cartoon of Hitler, from the magazine Kladderadatsch, 22 March 1936 ©
The archangel Gabriel – announcing a new order?
SLIDE #4
German Students Fight for
Hitler and Nation
The Nazi flag
is prominently
displayed.
Blonde hair,
athletic, fit,
strong, good
looking
This young man
is blonde haired
and welldressed.
This is a typical
Nazi view of
young men
A sense of
power is
conveyed.
The word,
“Kampft”struggle or fight.
The word
“VOLK” (folk)
(people) is
used.
All students were forced
to join the Hitler Youth –
Boy Scouts declared a
Jewish plot.
German Students Fight for Hitler and Nation
SLIDE #5
[Support relief for mother and child]
Nazi party
Symbol (NJ =
National Socialist
Jugend – youth
movement)
Role of the woman
is to be a mother
(blonde, strong,
bear children)
Farming in
background –
church in
background
Hitler pointed out
that
unemployment in
1933 was
equivalent to the
number of women
who came into the
workforce since
1914. Average
family size was
supposed to have
4 children.
Peasants were the
backbone of
Sun = halo
society.
It promotes the Nazi charitable
organization (the NSV). The text:
"Support the assistance program for
mothers and children."
SLIDE #6
"[If] You need advice
or help, turn to your
'local group.”
The caption loosely translates as, "The National
Socialist Party will save the people's
community. The people's community will then
turn to you and the party." Posters of this type
illustrate the disconnect between the party
rhetoric and the reality of party policy.
The “strong” eagle (power) –
almost a “wing of an angel”
(protecting this family)
The Aryan Family (white, blonde,
blue-eyed, happy) (farm family)
The idea of a "Volksgemeinschaft," a community of the
people, had a very powerful, very idealistic appeal,
comparable to the idealistic appeal that some
communist groups were attempting to make at the
same time.
The analogy is suggested by the use of the word
"Volksgenossen," literally "comrades," a term widely
used by the Soviet Communist Party at the time.
The slogan on the poster reads "[If] You need advice or help, turn to your 'local group.” In other
words, the suggestion is "We are here to help."
SLIDE #7
"We build body and soul"
Strong/fit youth
(blonde, blue-eyed)
– the future of
Germany
Conveys the message of
Germany being united
The goal of the Reich Labor
Force was to train and teach
through regimented exercise,
work and sports (train young
men for the military).
It promotes the Nazi labor
service, for which men were
expected to volunteer. The
caption: "We build body and
soul."
SLIDE #8
"Long live Germany!"
after 1936
This poster makes a
direct Christological
comparison. Just as a
dove descended on
Christ when he was
baptized by John the
Baptist, so what looks to
be an eagle hovers
against the light of
heaven over an idealized
Hitler. The text: "Long
live Germany!."
A strong, numerous,
and united Germany –
power granted from
God.
Oak leaf border = symbol of strength
and longevity in Nazi iconography
Sun = halo
The Crusader w/ cross –
based in the belief that Christ
would return to earth for a
1000 year period. (the white
saint?)
The connection of
the Nazi soldier
and the Crusader
Multi-headed red snakes – stars of
David, Protocols of Zion,
KDP=Christian Democratic Party,
SDP=Social Democratic Party,
RF=Republican Front?
Nazi propaganda often portrayed
WWII as a war for Christianity.
Arm around
Nazi soldier
The Multi-headed dragon is
a well-known image from
Christianity – St. George
and the Dragon (good v.
evil/Satanic forces).
The white countryside with a
cross on its side – Nazism
found its roots in the
peasantry/agriculture
Crusader = St. Michael slaying the 3-headed
dragon (direct/saintly connection to God ???)
The soldier (uniform - authority,
Swastika on belt) “draped” in the robe
w/ the Swastika (powerful symbol)
Please use your corresponding worksheets
with the next set of slides
Now you try it! Take your worksheet and divide into 3 groups,
one for each of the following posters. Complete the front of
the worksheet and finish the back for homework.