Wednesday, August 14, 2024

A Nazi View of America in 1943

I sometimes come across things that aren’t worth adding as a page on the German Propaganda Archive, but may interest people. This cartoon comes from Signal (2nd May issue 1943), an illustrated German magazine that appeared in over twenty languages during WWII. It makes the standard Nazi argument that the United States idolized technology and eliminated all individuality.

The text says: “The person is also ‘standardized’: Europeans also value technological progress as long as does not become their idol That is what America does. One eats from tin cans, one wears standardized shirts, standardized hats, standardized suits. One also thinks in standardized ways. American culture is no longer civilized.

This is how the standard American looks to Europeans, who value and preserve the variety of their cultures.”