Erwin Schockel's "The Political Poster"

Erwin Schockel’s book Das politische Plakat is one of the most interesting Nazi books on propaganda.  Published in 1938 (with a second printing in 1939), it was intended as the first of a series of books for Nazi propagandists.  The outbreak of war put an end to the plan.

I’ve translated what to me is the most interesting chapter: a discussion of good and bad posters, with many examples.  For example, this poster from the Economic Party is discussed as an amusingly bad poster.

This, on the other hand, is a good one:

Schockel thinks it has a serious weakness: Hitler looks like a Hollywood film actor in soft focus rather than the all-powerful Führer.

Nazi History in Gau Westfalen-Süd

The Nazis produced a series of histories of their early years in various German districts.  These were typically thick volumes filled with stories of brave Nazis fighting against great odds until Hitler’s victory in 1933.

Today I am adding sections of one such book, a history of party activities in Gau Westfalen-Süd.  Since the book runs over 600 pages, I am translating only enough to give a sense of its contents.

Nazi Views of American POWs

I have a page on Signal, the illustrated Nazi magazine that was issued in over twenty languages.  Every now and again I expand that page. Today I am adding an interesting article from August 1944, shortly after D-Day.

The cover  is captioned: “Europe’s liberators have arrived.” A French woman, rather well dressed under the circumstances, is fleeing the ruins of a town destroyed by the Allied invasion.

The article reports conversations with recently captured American and English soldiers.  The basic Nazi argument was that German soldiers were so superior both in ability and will as to be able to overcome the Allied superiority in mere numbers.  This article makes that point: Allied soldiers are stupid cannon fodder with no idea of what they are fighting for.

Training Nazi Propagandists

By 1939, the Nazi propaganda apparatus faced a challenge.  Experienced propagandists now had important jobs and new ones had to be trained.  The propaganda leadership was discussing how to do that.  There had to be practical training. As Goebbels said, one could no more produce propagandists by theoretical lectures than one could teach swimming on dry land.

In an article I’m adding today, the Gaupropagandaleiter of East Prussia outlines his methods. Forty new propagandists were sent out with ten experienced ones for 2-3 day stints in towns and villages, where they gained experience and guidance.

The article was published in the party’s monthly for propagandists.  Many other articles from Unser Wille und Weg are also available on the GPA.

1933 Anti-Semitic Poster

A friend of the site provided this poster from March 1933. It’s not clear if it was issued before or after  the 28 March 1933 call by the Nazi Party for a nation-wide boycott.

A translation is available.

Goebbels on Depravity in Berlin

Today I’m adding an article from January 1928 in which Goebbels claims that the center of Berlin is a den of iniquity that the Nazis will clean up once in power.

The image is the dust jacket  to a later collection of essays in which the article is reprinted.

My Hitler/FDR Talk Now Available On-line

CSPAN was quick to put my talk on the rhetorical duel between Hitler and FDR on their site.  It is available here:

https://www.c-span.org/video/?416204-1/franklin-d-roosevelt-adolf-hitler