The “Stab in the Back” Legend (1942)

While looking for other things I came across this vivid cartoon from  Der Schulungsbrief (#1/2/3 of 1942).  This was the Nazi Party’s periodical for “political education.”  Households were strongly encouraged to subscribe.

It portrayed the Nazi legend that Germany had won World War I militarily, only to be stabbed in the back by Jewish traitors in the homeland.  It’s interesting that this appeared early in1942, after the invasion of the Soviet Union had not proved as successful as expected.  Discerning Germans by then were beginning to realize that the war could be lost — an idea propagandists wanted to discourage by suggesting that the only way Germany could lose was through treason.

The Nazi Edition of the Protocols of the Elders of Zion

My current project is a study of the uses to which the Nazis put the astonishing forgery The Protocols of the Elders of Zion.  That document purports to be the records of a secret Jewish conclave that discussed progress in the Jewish campaign to take absolute world power.  It is popular today in the Arab world (Egyptian television apparently did a series based on it), but even in the United States there are adherents. Look over the discussion page for the Wikipedia article on the Protocols if you are curious to see some of its believers struggling to defend its authenticity.

The Protocols were first published in German shortly after the end of World War I. There were a variety of editions, but the most successful was that by Gottfried zur Beek (a pseudonym for Ludwig Müller von Hausen). It was taken over by the Nazi Party’s publishing house and had at least 22 printings.  I have not been able to determine the number of copies printed, but it has to have been in the millions.

The 1938 edition shown above included a lengthy introduction that attempted to prove its genuineness that I add to the GPA today. It makes remarkable reading.  The author (whose name is not given) follows the usual methods of such conspiratorial nonsense — providing a wide variety of “evidence” that does not hang together in a way that supports the case.

Symbolic Violence in Nazi Anti-Semitic Propaganda

I recently presented a paper at Texas A & M University’s Conference on Symbolic Violence that looked at a wide range of images from the Nazi period.  Basically, I concluded that the more murderous the Nazis were in practice, the less violent their images.  During World War II, Hitler and Goebbels regularly used words to discuss the “annihilation of the Jewish race in Europe,” but their language was abstract in a way images were not.

Paintings from Hitler’s Personal Collection

I have a page of Nazi war art on the GPA.  One of the paintings is by Franz Eichhorst.  It was titled “Remembrance of Stalingrad.”

A Nazi  art magazine Kunst dem Volk considered it a masterpiece:

“The pale colors, the splendid presentation, and the solemnity of the moment are emphasized in this picture, which has an almost monumental character. Although the painting demonstrates the artistic understanding of the painter and also his mastery of drawing, one forgets it all because of the artist’s splendid work, accepting it as obvious and given. That is probably the best that a painting can do.”

It turns out that the painting ended up in Hitler’s personal collection and disappeared after the war.  It was just found in a Czech monastery along with six other paintings.

Chinese Magazine Article on Propaganda

I often get requests for high definition images of material on the German Propaganda Archive.  Recently, I provided some images to an amazing Chinese magazine, The Outlook Magazine.  They wanted images of Nazi racial wall charts for an article on propaganda in the January 2012 issue.  That is not on-line yet — I’ll add a link when they post the issue.

Price Controls in Vienna (1939)

In March 1939 the Gauleiter of Vienna, Josef Bürckel, launched a campaign against alleged Jewish commercial misdeeds in Vienna.  A variety of posters were issued immediately after, two examples of which are below.

The first poster states: “Bürckel Says: The honest merchant is a servant of the people! He who charges excessive prices is an enemy of the people! Good products — fixed prices. Higher sales — Less exploitation. No hoarding or dumping prices. No borrowing — No worries. Clear bills — Good friends.” The second has a direct anti-Semitic theme: “Down with the Jewish bargaining spirit!” These were printed in Das Kleine Blatt, a Vienna newspaper.

Two New German World War II Posters

A visitor to the site provided images of two posters which I’ve added to the GPA’s page of posters from 1933-1945. The first was new to me.  Issued, I think, shortly after the German defeat at Stalingrad, it encourages Germans to fight unceasingly until “final victory.” It would have been odd to issue the slogan for 1943 in May (during the second campaign). There is GPA page with directives for this campaign.

The second is an SS recruiting poster used in Belgium.

I am not certain of the date, but it is probably from 1942 or 1943.