THE PROPAGNADA

MACHINE: The Rise of Propaganda in World War II Germany

and England

ABSTRACT A look into the mechanics of the propaganda machine during World War II. Along with how it was created and used in both England and Germany. Maggie Cooper Senior Inquiry Art History 2015

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Propaganda, as a form of art, underwent a radical development with the

advent of World War II. Propaganda encompasses a multitude of configurations, but

most importantly, with World War II, propaganda became an essential weapon to be

used as an enforcement technique to promulgate political doctrine on the citizens of

a country. This advancing art form, with the assistance of many new media, was

employed to brainwash the citizens in order to make them believe what the posters,

radio, and murals displayed. Propaganda in all its forms changed warfare forever

while emerging into a new art form. Artists from around the world used this

increasingly popular and effective medium to demonstrate their respective

country’s needs, opinions and general awareness of the war. Among the leaders to

employ a warfare of effective propaganda were Adolf Hitler and his chief

propagandist Joseph Goebbels, as well as British leaders for the Allied opposition

including previously German, now anti-Nazi propagandist, John Heartfield. No

matter where it was produced, this use of propaganda was revolutionary and aimed

to make a difference on the national and international political culture.

Before World War II, conventional wisdom defined the terms propaganda

and art as adversative yet the words became gradually intertwined between the end

of the Great War and that of World War II.1 At the dawn of World War II, art was

defined as the, “highest expressions of the human spirit, free, and uncompromised

expressions opposed to the cult of immediate use-value.”2 Art is molded by the

culture that surrounds it through media, opinions and influence from the preceding

1 Gabriella Belli, Carlo Bertelli, and Germano Celant, 1920-1945: The Artistic Culture Between the Wars, (Skira,Milan, 2006), 171. 2 Belli, Bertelli, and Celant, 171.

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years. Propaganda, however, refers to the most influential communication—that is,

forms that are related to commercial advertising, whose drive is not art, but rather,

shaping the public’s opinion.3 Until the political revolutions during the eighteenth

century, most famously the American and French Revolutions, shaping public

opinion was rarely a primary concern for rulers. From 1622 when Pope Gregory XV

founded the Congregation de Propaganda Fide (Congregation for the Propagation of

Faith) to today, the relationship between art and propaganda has been a synthetic

one because art has always served political causes and economic interests, while

artistic expression has always been vital to so-called propaganda—literally things

that must be spread to the public.4 What was new, however, in the nineteenth and

twentieth centuries was not so much the pressure between instrumental and non-

instrumental conceptions of art’s purpose, as a foundational uncertainty regarding

the natural purpose and the practice within a democratized setting in which

communications media, from pamphlets, posters, broadsheets and magazines to

photography, film, radio and television had vastly expanded and diversified its

potential audiences.5 World War II was a time when it all converged.

The war marked a key threshold in respect to the intermingling of political

advertising and art.6 It soon became a war of information where the weapons

included visual and auditory messages. One of the strongest media used to

disseminate the messages during this era was the chromolithographic poster.7 This

3 Belli, Bertelli, and Celant, 171. 4 Belli, Bertelli, and Celant, 171. 5 Belli, Bertelli, and Celant, 171. 6 Belli, Bertelli, and Celant, 171. 7 Belli, Bertelli, and Celant, 172.

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was not a new technique but its mass industrialization during the second half of the

nineteenth century so reduced production costs that color posters, whether

designed for display on walls or public transit, soon became the standard for the

masses.8 The citizens could not always be relied upon to read the daily newspapers

or magazines yet their support was vital in order to promote war. These posters

demanded the collaboration of its citizens on the home front; they sought recruits

for the armies being decimated in the trenches and solicited the public’s investment

in national defense in the form of war bonds.9 The illustrators and commercial

artists whose job was to design these bonds had the task of “melding communicative

strategies and visual imagination in the form of a painting or illustration to a

conventionally hortatory verbal typographical message”.10 This medium would be

transformed later in the 1920s and 1930s into the photomontage through

typographical experimentation in posters and illustrated magazines based on

photography.11

Artists during this period became engulfed in the war and were assigned

tasks of formulating new national cultures. Many countries that developed these

national culture renewal programs, such as Great Britain, used these artists’ work as

crucial instruments for the creation of symbols used to mobilize the people and

foster patriotic loyalty.12 During World War II, artists who participated in these

8 Belli, Bertelli, and Celant, 172. 9 Belli, Bertelli, and Celant, 172. 10 Belli, Bertelli, and Celant, 173. 11 Belli, Bertelli, and Celant, 173. 12 Barbard McClosky, Artists of an Era: Artists of World War II, (Greenwood Press, Westport, CT, 2005), 17.

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programs found their artwork spread widely through public distribution in the form

of postcards, films, and photographic reproductions.13 Thus, art became harnessed

to the obligations of war and nationalist eagerness and the distinctions between art

and propaganda thus became harder and harder to differentiate.14

While England had its own Ministry of Propaganda, on the other front,

Germany created the Party Propaganda Department (The PPD). The PPD was

created in 1932 and remained only a simple unit within the larger

organization of the National Socialist movement.15 It is clear that the

membership in this organization was seen as more of a privileged

appointment for the German members than for the parallel members of the

Ministry of Propaganda in England.16 Members regarded it as an honor to be

among this select few and the ambition was to foster the idea of the Party as

a political directive.17 It is uncertain what proportion of the massive National

Socialist Movement party belonged just to the Party Propaganda. However, in

February 1934, out of 1,017,000 Party members who met in Munich, 14,000

were identified as propaganda officials and it is believed that the number of

personnel multiplied many times in the following years. 18

As tension rose before the Second World War, artists in numerous

countries prepared for the storm. After the devastation of World War I, many

13McClosky, 17. 14 McClosky, 17. 15 Derrick Sington and Arthur Weidenfeld, The Goebbels Experiment: A Study of the Nazi Propaganda Machine, (Yale University Press, New Haven, CT., 1943), 30. 16 Sington and Weidenfeld, 30. 17 Sington and Weidenfeld, 30. 18 Sington and Weinfeld, 30.

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Germans seemed to search for a reason and meaning for the destruction they

had encountered.19 Many, like Adolf Hitler, wanted someone or something on

which to place the blame. 20 This obsession would soon facilitate his rise to

power. 21 German, citizens were hurt deeply following the first war and thus

a sense of revolution was vibrating throughout Berlin and other German

cities. Citizens believed that a new beginning was needed and the Kaiser

therefore had to be disempowered.22 On October 22nd, 1918, three hundred

employees went on strike at the Maybach Motor Works in Friedrichshafen

Wuttemberg chanting, “The Kaiser is a scoundrel!” and “Up with the German

Republic!”23 In Berlin, tens of thousands of red-waving Berliners marched

down the Under den Linden displaying their frustration.24 It was clear that

change was needed as citizens erupted with rage throughout Germany.

In England, there was a sense of exhaustion as well. After all, World

War I was the “war to end all wars.”25 Before this, England had been the

imperial global powerhouse and although it had grown bigger than ever

territorially, Britain now was in debt to the United States for war loans,

19 Elaine S. Hochman, Bauhaus: Crucible of Modernism. (Fromm International, New York, 1997), 24. 20 Hochman, 24. 21 Hochman, 24. 22 Hochman, 25. 23 Hochman, 25. 24 Hohcman, 25. 25 Rebecca Fraiser, Overview: Britain, 1918-1945, http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/british/britain_wwtwo/overview_britain_1918_1945_01.shtml (February 17, 2011)

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essentially wiping out any investments and thereby collapsing trade.26

Additionally, by 1927, the British Empire had widespread suffrage for the

first period in history.27 During a time of distress throughout the world,

peace was an idea everyone hoped for. In 1919, a peace conference was held

at Versailles.28 Many countries were enthusiastic to represent themselves, as

U.S. President Woodrow Wilson promised to protect the right of small

nations intending for imperialism to disintegrate and tension to release.29

Worldwide, nations agreed to reduce arms to the lowest point in order to

promise the world to be safer and to forget the troubled past.30 The

Versailles Treaty had a large influence on Germany’s role in instigating World

War I. Many countries, such as France, were concerned about Germany’s

supremacy and pushed to disempower Germany against future attacks, and

were insistent that extra measures be taken.31 To do so, the treaty displaced

four million German citizens in territorial transfers as well as a large amount

of their industrial wealth.32 Before this, Germany had become the

26http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/british/britain_wwtwo/overview_britain_1918_1945_01.shtml 27http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/british/britain_wwtwo/overview_britain_1918_1945_01.shtml 28http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/british/britain_wwtwo/overview_britain_1918_1945_01.shtml 29http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/british/britain_wwtwo/overview_britain_1918_1945_01.shtml 30http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/british/britain_wwtwo/overview_britain_1918_1945_01.shtml 31http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/british/britain_wwtwo/overview_britain_1918_1945_01.shtml 32http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/british/britain_wwtwo/overview_britain_1918_1945_01.shtml

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powerhouse of the European economy.33 By removing much of their

industrial wealth, Germany suffered economic misery and was in search for

any form of a solution. 34 Soon, Hitler would rise to power and withdraw

from the League of Nations as well as instill a program to reverse the

Versailles Treaty.35 As Germany began to withdraw its position, countries

around the world would begin to find their own perceived errors within the

treaty and hysteria would ensue.36 The idea of universal peace and joint

security that was implemented by the treaty and League of Nations would

soon be dead.

Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party’s rise to power was rapid. When Hitler

entered the German Worker’s Party in 1921 he took over the Department of

Propaganda.37 By doing so, he was able to gain power through this political

medium.38 Over time, the Party was renamed to National-sozialistische Deutsche

Arbeiterpartei (National Socialist German Workers’ Party) and the Party grew

quickly in size making them the largest party in parliament.39 Ultimately, it was

33http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/british/britain_wwtwo/overview_britain_1918_1945_01.shtml 34http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/british/britain_wwtwo/overview_britain_1918_1945_01.shtml 35http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/british/britain_wwtwo/overview_britain_1918_1945_01.shtml 36http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/british/britain_wwtwo/overview_britain_1918_1945_01.shtml 37 Adolf Hitler, Mein Kampf. Translated by Ralph Manheim, Introduction by Abraham Foxman (Houghton Mifflin Company, New York, 1999), 579. 38 Hitler, 579. 39 Alan Bullock and Baron Bullock, “Adolf Hitler: Dictator of Germany, Rise to Power,” Britannica Encyclopedia , November 9, 2014, http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/267992/Adolf-Hitler/10115/Rise-to-power

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Hitler’s initial membership in the German Worker’s Party that enabled him to

swiftly rise to the helm of the Party.40 Many members were hesitant and voiced their

concern over his power and aims for the Party, however, he threatened to resign if

opposed, which would ultimately lead to no financial support or publicity.41 The

members quieted their concerns, which, allowed him to step up as the head of the

party.42 The height of the growth of the Party was during the Munich Beer Hall

Putsch of November 1923.43 Hitler and General Erich Lundendorff, with the help of

the marchers, attempted to force the leaders of the Bavarian government and local

army commander to proclaim a national revolution.44 During the disruption, the

police and army fired at the marchers, injuring Hitler, killing a few of the marchers

and four policeman. 45 Hitler would be sentenced to five years in jail for treason, but

would only serve nine months through taking advantage of his publicity.46 This

event would teach him to achieve power through legal means.47 During his jail time,

40 http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/267992/Adolf-Hitler/10115/Rise-to-power 41 http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/267992/Adolf-Hitler/10115/Rise-to-power 42 http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/267992/Adolf-Hitler/10115/Rise-to-power 43 http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/267992/Adolf-Hitler/10115/Rise-to-power 44 http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/267992/Adolf-Hitler/10115/Rise-to-power 45 http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/267992/Adolf-Hitler/10115/Rise-to-power 46 http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/267992/Adolf-Hitler/10115/Rise-to-power 47 http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/267992/Adolf-Hitler/10115/Rise-to-power

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Hitler wrote Mein Kampf which detailed inequality among races, propaganda, and

his vision of the removal of the Jews.48

Upon his release Hitler was confronted with many difficulties, which he had

never dealt with before. Now, he was banned from making speeches across many

German states.49 Despite this shortcoming, the party continued to grow and he was

able to reestablish his position within the group.50 Economic distress allowed the

Nazi Party to gain power with their promise to renegotiate Germany’s payment of

war funds and rehabilitation. 51 As a result, the Party won the majority of votes in

the election of 1932. At this time, they were now the largest party in the German

parliament.52 Soon after, Hitler would gain ultimate power in Germany.

When Hitler was appointed as German Chancellor in 1933, the status of art in

Europe would soon be forever changed.53 Beginning in France, Hitler decided which

art was deemed worthy, throwing aside any avant-garde art that he labeled

“degenerate.”54 On June 23, 1940 one day after the armistice was signed, Hitler

visited Paris and the Nazis moved immediately to control the French artistic

patrimony and their art world.55 All public and private art collections in France

48 Hitler, 178. 49 http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/267992/Adolf-Hitler/10115/Rise-to-power 50 http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/267992/Adolf-Hitler/10115/Rise-to-power 51 http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/267992/Adolf-Hitler/10115/Rise-to-power 52 United States Holocaust Memorial Museum. “Hitler Comes to Power,” Holocaust Encyclopedia. http://www.ushmm.org/outreach/en/article.php?ModuleId=10007671 53 McClosky, 18. 54 McClosky, 17. 55 McClosky, 18.

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were placed under the control of Germany.56 The following month, Nazis would

confiscate galleries of leading Jewish art dealers and forbid any of their work to be

shown in public exhibitions.57 France was the first to lose artwork to the Nazi Party

who would soon oversee any cultural activity in the occupied zone as well as art

exhibitions.58 Troops stripped museums, public and private collections of tens of

thousands of artworks.59 Many of the artworks were packed onto trains and were to

be delivered to the homes of German leadership.60 Hitler would later elect Hermann

Goring to inspect for any redeemable art that was looted from various countries to

build a private collection for his museum.61 This museum was located in Hitler’s

childhood hometown of Linz, Austria, which would showcase the cultural spoils of

the Nazi party’s successful conquests.62

With Hitler in power, his attention to propaganda and art became the key to

his rule. On March 13, 1933 a week after the Reichstag elections that left Hitler

triumphant, Joseph Goebbels was appointed to the German government allowing

him to be a member of the Ministry of Public Enlightenment and Propaganda.63

Goebbels was now in control of all written or spoken word throughout Germany.64

He was able to direct each and every medium of expression, allowing him to

56 McClosky, 18. 57 McClosky, 18. 58 McClosky, 18. 59 McClosky, 17. 60 McClosky, 17. 61 McClosky, 18. 62 McClosky, 17. 63 Anthony Rhodes, Propaganda: The Art of Persuasion, WWII (The Wellfleet Press, Secaucus, NJ 1987), 11. 64 Rhodes, 11.

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advertise German economic and political activities at home and around the world.65

Goebbels would become one of history’s greatest political propagandists. Hitler’s

use of propaganda was, without a doubt, his most efficient defense.66 This is due to

Goebbels’ masterly direction that succeeded in persuading the citizens of Germany

that the Nazi Party would restore their country to greatness.67

Goebbels and Hitler met in 1926 where Hitler quickly was impressed by

Goebbels.68 He understood the great power Goebbels had with persuasion through

his artwork and speeches.69 Goebbels had studied the methods that various Fascists

in Italy had used to construct such courageous images of Mussolini, which he would

later apply to Hitler’s image.70 He obtained numerous scholarships to universities

where he received his doctorate in philosophy.71 The modern dictator had to not

only be a superman but a man of the people, wise yet simple, aware of his height and

power yet ready to mix with the crowd. 72 Because of his vast knowledge, Goebbels

was able to manipulate the public’s mind through various propaganda forms. 73

Goebbels understood that in order for Hitler to achieve immense success, he had to

impress the masses.

65 Rhodes, 11. 66 Rhodes, 11. 67 Rhodes, 11. 68 Rhodes, 13. 69 Rhodes, 13. 70 Rhodes, 13. 71 Andrés Mario Zervigón, John Heartfield and the Agitated Image (University of Chicago Press, 2012), 7. 72 Rhodes, 13. 73 Rhodes, 13.

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The Nazi Party soon began to display the propaganda in various ways. Not

only through designs, but also through censorship. Their first act was when Joseph

Goebbels and Storm Troops (SA) disrupted the premiere of “All Quiet on the

Western Front,” a film based on the novel by Erich Maria Remarque.74 This novel

struck a nerve with the Nazi Party, who believed that this novel was “un-German”

due to its depiction of cruelty of the war.75 To show their dissatisfaction with the

film, Nazi protestors threw smoke bombs as well as sneezing powder into the

audience.76 The SA beat any members who attempted to protest, later banning the

film and revoking the author’s citizenship.77 Three years later, once again, they

would display their anger through censorship.78

On May 10, 1933 Goebbels used his power to

speak at a book burning in Berlin.79 Forty thousand

people gathered to hear the propaganda minister

speak and condemn books written by Jews.80 This

was still before the war had begun as the Nazi Party

was rapidly gaining power. Any books written by

Jews, liberals, leftists, pacifists, foreigners and others

74 “Nazi Propaganda and Censorship,” The Holocaust : A Learning Site for Students, US Holocaust Museum, http://www.ushmm.org/outreach/en/article.php?ModuleId=10007677. 75 http://www.ushmm.org/outreach/en/article.php?ModuleId=10007677 76 http://www.ushmm.org/outreach/en/article.php?ModuleId=10007677 77 http://www.ushmm.org/outreach/en/article.php?ModuleId=10007677 78 http://www.ushmm.org/outreach/en/article.php?ModuleId=10007677 79 http://www.ushmm.org/outreach/en/article.php?ModuleId=10007677 80 http://www.ushmm.org/outreach/en/article.php?ModuleId=10007677

Figure 1: Opernplatz, Berlin, Germany, May 1933. “Book Burning”, Holocaust Encyclopedia, United States Holocaust Museum, http://www.ushmm.org/wlc/en/article.php?ModuleId=10005852

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were condemned.81 Nazi students began to burn books as he spoke and soon after,

libraries across Germany were rid of these censored books. Goebbels, during his

speech, described the act as a, “cleansing of the German spirit.82 By effectively

censoring the masses, the Nazi Party was able to gain control rather quickly. With

Goebbels in charge as the perfect propagandist, the group worked to brainwash

their followers.

Perhaps the first time that Nazi propaganda was displayed to foreign

countries was the Olympic Games of 1936 in Berlin.83 Never before had

broadcasting to such an extent taken place during previous games.84 The German

anti-Semitics were changing the use of broadcasting as it was known throughout the

world. Goebbels personally managed the propaganda arrangements and produced

an image of cheerful people filled with vigor.85 At this point, anti-Semitic regulations

such as “Jews not admitted” were being posted at hotels and restaurants, but in

order to convince other countries across the world, all such displays were

removed.86 By removing various propaganda images during the games, countries

across the world were convinced that Germany was a strong and happy country.87

More importantly, Goebbels was able to convince the world that Hitler was a

graceful and powerful dictator. Two years prior, after the president Paul von

Hindenburg had died, Hitler gained power and merged chancellor and presidential

81 http://www.ushmm.org/outreach/en/article.php?ModuleId=10007677 82 http://www.ushmm.org/outreach/en/article.php?ModuleId=10007677 83 Rhodes, 20. 84 Rhodes, 20. 85 Rhodes, 20. 86 Rhodes, 20. 87 Rhodes, 20.

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roles shown all displayed through the radio broadcasts.88 The two positions were

separate before as the president could veto, sign laws and appoint a chancellor to

the lower house of parliament, the Bundestag (Lower House of German

Parliament).89 The chancellor, however, holds power of the federal government and

ultimately lays down the guidelines of government policy.90 This authority allows

the Federal Chancellor a wide array of tools of leadership.91 By merging the two

positions, Hitler was given ultimate power.

The years 1940 to 1942 were Goebbels’ and Hitler’s golden years of

propaganda.92 Murals were revived and soon became one of the most important

features of Nazi art.93 The Nazis coordinated all the arts in their public buildings,

particularly advancing propaganda even through architecture and mural

decoration.94 These mural and fresco paintings provided work for thousands of

artists on various surfaces.95 The propaganda value of these huge paintings, which

forced visitors to look when entering buildings, public halls and schools, which

housed them, was considerable.96 They were reproduced in newspapers and

88 Rhodes, 20. 89 “Political System,” Facts about Germany: The Federal Chancellor and the Government, http://www.tatsachen-ueber-deutschland.de/en/political-system/main-content-04/the-federal-chancellor-and-the-government.html 90 http://www.tatsachen-ueber-deutschland.de/en/political-system/main-content-04/the-federal-chancellor-and-the-government.html 91 http://www.tatsachen-ueber-deutschland.de/en/political-system/main-content-04/the-federal-chancellor-and-the-government.html 92 S.L. Mayer, Introduction to Signal Years of Triumph (1940-42); Hitler’s Wartime Picture Magazine , (Prentice Hall Inc., Eaglewood, NJ, 1978). 93 Rhodes, 25. 94 Rhodes, 25. 95 Rhodes, 25. 96 Rhodes, 25.

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magazines all over the country.97 These murals had little artistic influence, which

didn’t matter because it was moreso about the content.98 The streets of cities across

Germany were being transformed into propaganda.99 The same subjects that were

being taught in schools were being presented in these murals.100 Injustice to which

the Nazis believe that the Germans had been subjected since 1919, the romance of

war, the superiority of the physical of the intellectual was being reinforced through

the propaganda pictures and being pressed into the minds of the impressionable

youth of Germany.101 Propaganda had become a mind game, brainwashing citizens

across Germany to believe what those in power wanted.

As Hitler’s forces spread in the spring of 1940 and overran most of Western

Europe, the first issues of the Nazi Party’s magazine Signal appeared.102 Signal

recorded only Germany’s greatest triumphs captured by the photographers who

were sent with the troops.103 The German Propaganda Kompanie Einheitein

(Propaganda Company Units/PK Units) initials were on all of the war reports,

articles and pictures as they were published.104 The PK were treated equally to

soldiers and were allowed on the front lines receiving the same rate of pay as

97 Rhodes, 25. 98 Rhodes, 25. 99 Rhodes, 26. 100 Rhodes, 25. 101 Rhodes, 25. 102 S.L. Mayer, Introduction. 103 S.L. Mayer, Blitzkreig-North. 104 S.L. Mayer, Blitzkreig-North.

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well.105 Clearly, Hitler and Goebbels understood the importance of the PK units as

they were given almost an equal responsibility as a soldier.106

The units were a living and vivid part of the war from day to day as they

captured the triumphs of their country.107 After the Germans finished their

campaign in the west from May 10 to June 1940, Signal turned its attention to

political indoctrination and cultural news.108 One of the first principal purposes of

Signal was to convince their audience that the war was not only won but over.109

Their aim was to show the good that their nation was doing while other countries

such as England and the United States were the enemy that could only bring harm.

All of the European populations that were now under the control of the swastika or

at least its influence as in Spain, Switzerland and Sweden, had to be convinced that

the victorious Reich was the legitimate center of culture and the recipient of the

center of European civilization.110

Hitler as well as Goebbels, recognized not only the necessity of winning the

war but publicizing Germany’s victories to the full.111 Although, as time progressed

the magazine became the least effective instrument of Goebbel’s propaganda, it still

portrayed many important images.112 The magazine exhibited many propaganda

images from maps of warfare movement to typical propaganda images which where

105 S.L. Mayer, Blitzkreig-North. 106 S.L. Mayer, Blitzkreig-North. 107 S.L. Mayer, The New Order. 108 S.L. Mayer, Introduction. 109 S.L. Mayer, Introduction. 110 S.L. Mayer, The New Order. 111 S.L. Mayer, Blitzkreig-North. 112 S.L. Mayer, Introduction.

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all overseen by Goebbels, Hitler and Wehrmacht (German Army).113 Many images of

the Wehrmacht’s progress were included in Signal, which included spreads of

soldiers pushing the front and securing land.114 However, it seemed to only display

and discussed the positives, stating that these areas, such as Britain, were under

better control than before. One spread presented the Battle of Britain showing the

German army hard at work protecting their country. The pilots were captured in

photographs with captions that read, “All machines on their way back from London

undamaged, boys.”115

Only positive words were used to show the prosperity

that the army was going to restore. The magazine also

included layouts with images of the art museum that Hitler

had created envisioned. It showed Goebbels hard at work

giving a speech at the opening of the “House of German

Art.”116 The captions detail his speech and the works that dealt

with creative art during the war.117 These were works that the

Nazis truly believed represented Germany during this era

filled with power, strength and a determination to fight for a

better future.118 The magazine instilled in the minds of Germany that their troops

113 S.L. Mayer, Blitzkreig-North. 114 S.L. Mayer, Blitzkreig-North. 115 S.L Mayer, The War with Britain. 116 S.L. Mayer, In the “House of German Art” in Munich. 117 S.L. Mayer, In the “House of German Art” in Munich. 118 S.L. Mayer, In the “House of German Art” in Munich.

Figure 2: “In the House of German Art In Munich”, S.L. Mayer, Signal Magazine, 1940-42; Hitler’s Wartime Picture Magazine , (Prentice Hall Inc., Eaglewood, NJ, 1978)

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would banish war from the continent.119 This idea brought hope to citizens during a

short age of prosperity. This time was filled with happiness but would be short-lived

as the mood and health of the country declined as war progressed.

Film and posters were the most common propaganda tool of the Nazi Party.

Posters were typically represented in the Word of the Week.120 This series of posters

were placed on walls throughout the streets of Germany.121 Nazi propagandists

drew on mass reproduction of photos in the press to add face to the names and

arrows of influence that had adorned the popular wall newspapers first created

during the second week of December 1941.122 These posters began to show the

international Jewish conspiracy more as a group of actual people than an abstract

thought.123 The posters pointed an accusing finger at the Jews as the party guilty for

every German death and injury.124 Image and text paired in these posters offered a

compelling explanation of how the Jews, so few in number, could have been so

successful in plotting against Germany.125 These posters impressed passersby with

specific names and graphic illustrations done with expertise.126

For those who were immersed in the Nazi context, it also was convincing

with the impression of a complex, well-researched and compelling casual

119 S.L. Mayer, 1940 European Decision: Germany banished the war from the Continent. 120 Jeffrey Herf, The Jewish Enemy: Nazi Propaganda During World War II and the Holocaust, (The Belknap Press of Harvard University Press, Cambridge, Massachusetts), 274. 121 Herf, 130. 122 Herf, 130. 123 Herf, 131. 124 Herf, 133. 125 Herf, 130. 126 Herf, 130.

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explanation of why three of the most powerful countries in the world were

declaring war with Germany.127 The more the allies joined together against the

German armed forces, the more Goebbels and his propagandists asserted that the

Jews were guilty and would soon pay for their crimes. 128 Posters were becoming

more popular during these years and as the Wannsee Conference approached, a

plan was set129. On January 20, 1942, Reinhard Heydrich, a high-ranking official,

presented the Nazi Party’s plans for murdering eleven million European Jews to

officials representing government ministries whose cooperation would be

required.130 None of this information was leaked to

the press—or if it was, nothing appeared in

print.131Following this some months later, the

Propaganda Ministry would create a Word of the

Week on July 1, 2942.132 In bold type alongside a

yellow Star of David with Jew printed in the poster,

“Everyone knows that whoever wears this is an

enemy of our people.”133 The ruthless slogans began

filling the posters to alert the masses.

127 Herf, 130. 128 Herf, 133. 129 Herf, 139. 130 Herf, 139. 131 Herf, 139. 132 Herf, 151. 133 Herf, 151.

Figure 3: Everyone knows that whoever wears this is an enemy of our people, “Photo Archives,” United States Holocaust Museum, http://digitalassets.ushmm.org/photoarchives/detail.aspx?id=1155552&search=star&index=72

20

Many of the posters manipulated the enemy, twisting their words to show

what a catastrophe it would be if the Germans

lost the war.134 For example, during the

summer of 1941, after the British-Soviet

alliance, the Propaganda Ministry published

“Juden Kemplo gegen Europa” (Jewish

Conspiracy against Europe).135 This poster

depicted the stereotypical image of a Soviet

commissar shaking hands with an overweight

British bourgeois in a striking

multicolored poster.136 The two are

standing on a map that places their

handshake directly over Germany as they look down from high above the earth.137

Above them, safely away from the action on the ground, is a caricature of a Jewish

head shown with an approving smile as the two finalize the scheme.138 The male

figure looking down has a beard, nose and lips that was intended to suggest a

stereotypical disembodied Jew.139 This imagery of the Jew would soon be depicted

everywhere on propaganda. It showed the hatred behind every Jew and their plot

with all enemy’s to destroy Germany.140 No enemy of Germany was safe from the

134 Herf, 146. 135 Herf, 143. 136 Herf, 143. 137 Herf, 143. 138 Herf, 143. 139 Herf, 143. 140 Herf, 143.

Figure 4: Jewish Conspiracy Against Europe, “Juden Komplott Gegen Europa! [Jewish Plot Against Europe”], Imperial War Museums, http://www.iwm.org.uk/collections/item/object/37

21

Propaganda Ministry’s propaganda. Many wall newspaper’s attacked the British as

an agent to the Jewish.141 The wall newspaper, as a Word of the Week, manipulated

a quotation describing Nazi propaganda about British war aims into one where

Roosevelt himself supposedly advocated those aims.142 These manipulations

visualized what would happen if Germany lost.

Film was the strongest medium of propaganda

after the poster. The most famous of the Propaganda

Ministry’s films was Jew Suss (Suss the Jew).143 This

was a different form of propaganda than ever

before.144 Released in 1936, the film was a disgusting

anti-Semitic film set in the Middle Ages.145 It depicted

a repulsive, crook-nosed Jew who threatens a German

woman that if she does not let him rape her, he will

have her fiancé broken on the wheel.146 After the

rape, the heroine, like a good German commits suicide.147 The hanging of the Jew at

the end was described by a German critic, “a joyous crescendo.”148 This imagery was

typical in these repulsive films created by Goebbels and his team. Another important

film to this division of the Propaganda Ministry was Der ewige Jude (The Eternal or

141 Herf, 146. 142 Herf, 146. 143 Rhodes, 20. 144 Rhodes, 20. 145 Rhodes, 20. 146 Rhodes, 20. 147 Rhodes, 20. 148 Rhodes, 20.

Figure 5: Suss the Jew, “The Second World War: Art and Culture, The film ‘Jud Suess’”, Lebendiges Museum Online, https://www.dhm.de/lemo/kapitel/der-zweite-weltkrieg/kunst-und-kultur/film-jud-suess.html

22

Wandering Jew). Although it was heavily and properly promoted by Goebbels, the

film was a failure in the box office.149

Regardless, the Nazi Party believed it delivered an important message as the,

“first film that not only gives a full picture of Jewry, but provides a broad treatment

of the life and effects of this parasitic race using genuine material taken from real

life. It also shows why healthy peoples in every age

have responded to the Jews with disgust and

loathing, often enough expressing their feelings

though deeds.”150 Along with the film, the poster

advertised with it, portrayed the stereotypical Jew

looking hauntingly out at the viewer instilling fear.151

The film compares the Jewish race to rats explaining

how they have infected the lives of many.152 Films

and posters worked together to bring, what the

149 “Der ewige Jude (The Eternal or Wandering Jew)The Holocaust : A Learning Site for Students, US Holocaust Museum, http://www.ushmm.org/information/press/press-kits/traveling-exhibitions/state-of-deception/der-ewige-jude-the-eternal-or-wandering-jew 150 “The Eternal Jew: The Film of a 2000-Year Rat Migration”, Calvin College: German Propaganda Archive, http://research.calvin.edu/german-propaganda-archive/ewig.htm 151 http://www.ushmm.org/information/press/press-kits/traveling-exhibitions/state-of-deception/der-ewige-jude-the-eternal-or-wandering-jew 152 http://www.ushmm.org/information/press/press-kits/traveling-exhibitions/state-of-deception/der-ewige-jude-the-eternal-or-wandering-jew

Figure 6: Der Jude: The Eternal or Wandering Jew film poster, “State of Deception: The Power of Nazi Propaganda: Der Ewige Jude (The Eternal or Wandering Jew), United States Holocaust Museum, http://www.ushmm.org/information/press/press-kits/traveling-exhibitions/state-of-deception/der-ewige-jude-the-eternal-or-wandering-jew

23

Nazi Party believed, important messages to the citizens of Germany and the rest of

the world.153

There were also propagandists working against Germany while inside the

powerhouse. One of the most iconic of the group was John Heartfield (formerly

Helmut Herzfeld). He changed his name to John Heartfield in protest of the German

military slogan, “May God punish England”.154 By changing his name to a

quintessentially English-sounding name in 1916 he showed his alliance with

Germany’s enemy. 155 A Dada artist before the war, he was a pioneer in the use of

the poster and art as a political weapon.156 Not only that, but he was the so-called

father of photomontage.157 Working in Germany, unlike the Games and the German

Ministry, he did not work for the state. Instead, he was a member of many artists’

groups that protested the Nazis being in power. The most significant groups that

Heartfield joined were the Workers Illustrated Newspaper (Arbeiter-Illustierte-

Zeitung/AIZ) as well as the Communist Party of Germany.158 He made some of his

most daring photomontages after his initial membership to the AIZ.159

Heartfield, along with the group, sought to discredit the idea of Nazis as

representative of everyday working people.160 His photomontages were composed

153 http://www.ushmm.org/information/press/press-kits/traveling-exhibitions/state-of-deception/der-ewige-jude-the-eternal-or-wandering-jew 154 Stephen J. Eskilson, Graphic Design: A New History, Second Edition, (Yale University Press, New Haven, CT, 2012), 136. 155 Eskilson, 136. 156 Belli, Bertelli, and Celant, 132. 157 Belli, Bertelli, and Celant 132. 158 Zervigón, 275. 159 Zervigón, 275. 160 Zervigón, 275.

24

of gruesome photo-fragments with slogans slapped across

in protest of anything Nazi related, especially Hitler.161

Typically the text remained simplistic through the use of

elementary typographic bands in black and white against a

red or white backdrop.162 The photo-fragments came from

found photographs, which he recycled to create a powerful

political effect.163 He chose recognizable press photographs

of politicians or events from the mainstream illustrated

press.164 This allowed him to create loaded and politically

contentious images.165 His most famous image was of Adolf

Hitler. Titled Adolf the Superman: Swallows Gold and Spouts Junk, the image was

created as a political poster for use in the 1932 elections.166 It was used to

undermine the politician’s public speaking ability through caricature.167 The poster

was an artful combination of Hitler, an x-rayed torso, and a cascade of gold coins.168

Heartfield aimed to call attention to the wealthy industrialists who funded

the Nazi party.169 Throughout all of his photomontage, he aimed at fulfilling

photography’s potential as a weapon of political struggle.170 He radicalized

161 Zervigón, 275. 162 Belli, Bertelli, and Celant, 132. 163 “Agitated Images: John Heartfield & German Photomontage, 1920-1938” The J. Paul Getty Museum, www.getty.edu/art/exhibitions/heartfield/ 164 www.getty.edu/art/exhibitions/heartfield/ 165 www.getty.edu/art/exhibitions/heartfield 166 Zervigón, 275. 167 Zervigón, 275. 168 Eskilson, 275. 169 Zervigón, 275. 170 Belli, Bertelli, and Celant, 172-173.

Figure 7: Adolf the Superman: Swallows Gold and Spouts Junk. “Agitated Images: John Heartfield & German Photomontage, 1920-1938,” The J. Paul Getty Museum, http://www.getty.edu/art/exhibitions/heartfield/

25

mechanical processes such as photography, airbrushing, photogravure and

photolithography by going beyond illustration techniques.171 Heartfield himself

summed up his intent by saying, “The poster must become a new, powerful weapon

of socialist propaganda with the objective of influencing the broadest popular

masses.”172 Heartfield fled to Czeschoslovakia and settled in Britain after Hitler

consolidated power in 1933.173

The SS (Nazi Party’s Schutzstaffel/Protective Squadron) broke into his

apartment, aware of his posters and their intent.174 Heartfield created a bridge

between Germany and England through his propaganda. He, along with other

propagandists, was conscious of the weapon of propaganda being used in each

country. He continued to work in England after he fled from the Nazis, joining the

enemy of the Nazi Party.175

While Germany was producing propaganda to instill fear of defeat in their

citizens, other countries created propaganda to spread the truth of Germany’s

actions as well as to boost their citizenry’s morale. Several other countries created

organizations to function as Ministries of Propaganda as World War II

approached.176 Never before, in previous wars, had such committees or any

comparable organizations existed.177 Great Britain saw the need to create divisions

171 Belli, Bertelli, and Celant, 172-173. 172 Belli, Bertelli, and Celant, 172-173. 173 Zervigón, 275. 174 Zervigón, 275. 175 Zervigón, 275. 176 Ian McLaine, Ministry of Morale: Home Front Morale and the Ministry of Information in World War II (Allen & Unwin, London, 1979), 12. 177 McLaine, 12.

26

in a subcommittee to prepare for any pre-war legislative and executive measures

that might be necessary.178 In October 1935, a subcommittee of the Committee of

Imperial Defense was created for the purpose of preparing broad guidelines for the

establishment of a Ministry of Information ahead of the outbreak of a war.179

According to author Ian McLaine, the function the Ministry would be to:

…present the national case to the public at home and abroad in time of war. To achieve this end it is not only necessary to provide for the preparation and issue of National Propaganda, but also for the issue of ‘news’ and for such control of information issued to the public as may be demanded by the needs of security. 180

Great Britain sought to inform its citizens in many ways through five

principle divisions of the Ministry that were created to spread information:

including News, Control (censorship), Publicity, Collecting (Intelligence) and

Administration.181 The Home Office directed affairs including overseeing the

planning of each division.182

British propaganda in visual form was created by the Home Publicity

Subcommittee, which was responsible for investigating ways in which

domestic propaganda should be conducted.183 The Subcommittee clearly

stated its objectives with a strong focus on the public’s well-being and the

collaborative importance of Britain’s allies.184 The Subcommittee directed its

efforts on performing a service for the public while simultaneously

178 McLaine, 12. 179 McLaine, 12. 180 McLaine, 12. 181 McLaine,12. 182 McLaine, 12. 183 McLaine, 18-19. 184 McLaine, 18-19.

27

countering any enemy propaganda.185 By doing so, they believed that the

public could be kept “in good heart” and prepared for any new measures that

were to be taken by the Government.186

Propaganda policy was deliberated in two committees. The first

committee was the Policy Committee, comprised of the Minister and his chief

executive officers.187 Their assignment was to formulate and approve the

departmental policy over the whole range of the Ministry’s domestic and

overseas functions.188 A subordinate of the Policy Committee was the

Planning Committee, whose task was to formulate the means for carrying out

domestic policy and to recommend courses of action to maintain civilian

morale.189 The Ministry of Morale worked with all divisions of propaganda as

well as the morale of the home front.190

Despite the Ministry’s claim of concern for the public during this time

of war, it was apparent as the war progressed, there seemed to be a marked

progression of more interest in attacking the enemy.191 Anti-German

propaganda began to rapidly appear and the ministry saw it as a prime duty

on the home front that, “by the dissemination of the truth to attack the

enemy in the minds of public, it became clear as it progressed that

statements made about the enemy represented a deliberate attempt to

185 McLaine,18-19. 186 McLaine,18-19. 187 McLaine, 138. 188 McLaine, 138. 189 McLaine, 138. 190 McLaine, 137. 191 McLaine, 137.

28

manipulate public opinion and attitude.”192 As propaganda took shape in the

ministry, it was evident that the truth represented by the committee’s

propaganda was presented to the public to serve specific ends for the

Ministry’s mission.193 As psychologist E.H. Henderson explains, the aim of a

propagandist is to indoctrinate a certain attitude by the means, which

prevent critical thinking.194 Put simply, that is, propaganda only reflects what

the government wants the public to believe, which, in this instance,

continuously included that the home forces were successfully defending the

public while the opposing forces were determined to cause utter destruction

to Britain’s way of life.

England had developed a system of propaganda similar to Germany. England

enlisted various artists deemed as the “Official War Artists.”195 These artists would

urge Britons to do whatever they could to support the war funds and soldiers

fighting the battle.196 The most common medium of propaganda was, of course, the

poster. Artists such as Abram Games created visually striking juxtapositions of

illustration and typography.197

Games designed more than one hundred posters that were unlike any other

poster created before.198 Some of his work was believed to be too striking for having

192 McLaine,137. 193 McLaine, 137. 194 McLaine, 137-138. 195 P. Rennie, “Review: Abram Games Graphic Designer: Maximum Meaning, Minimum Means.” Journal of Design History 17.3 (2004), 1. 196 Rennie, 1. 197 Rennie, 1. 198 Rennie, 1.

29

seductive models and in some posters incorporating

arresting images of war.199 One of Games’ most notorious

posters was what he titled, “Your Talk May Kill

Comrades” done in 1942 around the same time as the

release of the German Word of the Week.200 Spiraling

forms flow out of the soldier’s mouth that rapidly turn

into a blood-red bayonet that kills three of the soldier’s

comrades. This poster, however, was simplistic in its

design.

Games believed in the idea of “maximum gains

from minimum means.” He tended to stick with simple forms illuminated by strong

colors to get the meaning across to the viewers.201 This poster, along with his others,

were part of a British war campaign.202 Similar to how Goebbels oversaw all

propaganda, Britain set up a committee to do the task.203

The War Artists Advisory Committee (WAAC) required hired artists to

produce a style that was readily accessible to the public through images that would

create patriotic defense of the nation.204 This group of artists needed to able to

record the war at home and abroad in cooperation with the rest of the Ministry.205

199 Rennie, 1. 200 Rennie, 1. 201 Rennie, 1. 202 Rennie, 1. 203 McClosky, 69. 204 McClosky, 69. 205 McClosky, 69.

Figure 8: Your Talk May Kill Your Comrades. Victoria and Albert Museum, http://collections.vam.ac.uk/item/O76697/your-talk-may-kill-your-poster-games-abram/

30

Abram Games’ work was acquired by the committee which contributed to the WAAC

idea of creating avant-garde art, not merely propaganda.206

Art and its wartime presence, transformed the defense of British culture into

a matter of urgent importance not solely for the country, but also for the future of a

world civilization threatened by the spread of dictatorship and war.207 Working

under the WAAC, Games was able to create lithographs of striking images that

would remain memorable as iconic posters of World War II.208 Games and the entire

ministry strove to provide truth and support for its citizens as well as reassurance

of the end of the war.209 Both Games and Heartfield created politically charged

posters that changed propaganda forever. The two used styles and techniques never

used before and were iconic. Despite their differences, it is clear that both impacted

propaganda forever.

Psychologically, propaganda was a mind game. No matter which country was

producing it during World War II, it always had a similar objective: to control public

opinion and win the public over through the continuation of propaganda. Clearly,

victory was on the minds of every country despite their differences in approach to

propaganda. For Hitler, who devoted two entire chapters in his autobiographical

manifesto to the topic, he believed that propaganda was the most important

department of a group.210 He stated in the manifesto, “Propaganda tries to force a

206 Rennie, 1. 207 McClosky, 69. 208 Rennie, 1. 209 McClosky, 69. 210 Zervigón, 12.

31

doctrine on the whole people…the victory of an idea will be possible the

sooner…propaganda has prepared people as a whole…”211

Hitler completely understood the importance of propaganda even though he

would later admit defeat to the enemy’s posters and general propaganda.212 The

Allies (Britain, US and Soviet Union) were determined to fight through the use of

propaganda even if it meant unconditional surrender.213 Germany especially

enforced the doctrine of propaganda by only showing their idea of truth throughout

the war.214 While, England enforced that their propaganda was for the morale of the

soldiers, homeland and to emulate the Nazis.215 Each country was aware of the

other’s use of propaganda and attempted to surpass it. The two during this time

were clearly two of the greatest propagandists, each using new techniques through

art and psychology.

Once the premise of art as a psychological and artistic weapon is accepted, it

is straightforward to view it through the theoretical framework of Marxism.

Marxism combines with this idea in the accessibility of art, class and production of

propaganda.216 Propaganda and art, in a theoretical framework of Marxism, are

readily created by every individual as well as being part of economic production.217

Hitler reinstated this idea that everyone can be artist. He himself was an active artist

211 Hitler, 582. 212 Herf, 231. 213 Herf, 238. 214 Herf, 216. 215 McLaine, 138. 216 Anne D’Alleva, Methods and Theories of Art History, (Laurence King Publishing LTD, London, UK, 2012), 51. 217 D’Alleva, 53.

32

and took over the management of propaganda upon his entrance into the German

Worker’s Party after the First World War.218

This relates to Goebbels’ focus on art overwhelming the masses.219 He saw

that, in order for the Nazi campaign to be successful, it had to be accessible, readily

produced, as well as present to all citizens.220 Marxism also pushes the mindset of

art being a division of labor.221 This can applied to the example of Ministries of

Propaganda in every country. England and Germany both set up organizations,

although extremely different in purpose and organization, which divided labor

amongst various artists, publicists, and other positions.222 England set up their

Ministry of Propaganda that had various sections related to the distribution of

propaganda no matter the form.223 Each assigned a task to ensure victory. Germany

also created their own version of the Ministry of Propaganda and distributed the

efforts, although the main focus seemed to rather be on propaganda than morale as

was England’s professed focus.224

The final aspect in the relationship of Marxism and propaganda is the way in

which art creates social relationships.225 It is similar to the idea of its relation to

economic production, however, this viewpoint explains that art enriches these

social relationships.226 Art relates both to the person or subject being depicted as

218 Hiler, 579. 219 Rhodes, 13. 220 Rhodes, 13. 221 D’Alleva, 51. 222 McLaine, 12. 223 McLaine, 30. 224 Herf, 127. 225 D’Alleva, 52. 226 D’Alleva, 52.

33

well as commenting on the human condition.227 In World War II, this can be applied

to the subjects being shown and the condition of the country during the war. For

example, Germany frequently depicted its prosperous soldiers in posters and

magazines while at the height of the war, their country was suffering.228It was

difficult to hide their predicted defeat in the propaganda that was distributed

towards the end of the war.229 Everything would be rationed amongst civilians as

they were forced to show continued support to the Nazi Party and the soldiers.230

While propaganda showed nothing but a prosperous future, it ended up

being the opposite in the homeland. England on the other hand, was rather

regulated throughout the war.231 There was a constant concern of attack on the

country after the Blitz and similar to Germany, rations were distributed.232Public

awareness was heightened while propaganda focused on the morale of the country

and support of troops.233 Marxism shows how propaganda was able to be rapidly

produced almost to the extent of a machine and created a connection and awareness

of it as an art form and its connection to each country.

Propaganda was rarely used before World War II, and even in the case where

it was, it was nowhere as significant as the weapon that was created during this era.

227 D’Alleva, 52. 228 Walter Taub, “Report on the German People,” Collier’s Magazine (October 16, 1943), 19. 229 Herf, 214. 230 Taub, 19. 231 Museum of London, “What was Life Like in London during World War II?”, 1, http://www.museumoflondon.org.uk/files/8413/7052/6622/WhatwaslifelikeinLondonduringWorldWarII.pdf 232 McClosky, 69. 233 Museum of London, 4.

34

It was not only an art form but also was psychological. New techniques were used to

rapidly produce and distribute the various forms of propaganda. Artists were

enlisted to create vibrant typographical posters and murals, which were never seen

before. Psychologically, propaganda was able to essentially brainwash citizens to

believe their country was winning and the enemy was doing harm, while in

Germany’s case it was quite the opposite.

Nevertheless, before this significant war, propaganda was nowhere near as

instrumental and effective as it grew to be. As an art form, it forever changed the

world, both in the way art was produced and how propaganda was used. The artists

who designed these various posters knew the power their art held. By using

compositional techniques that were new, they were able to disempower the enemy

and support their countries. Art and propaganda became one during the war thus

creating a powerhouse in political culture.

35

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