A 1932 Nazi Pamphlet

I particularly like to add ephermera to the site, items that may have had mass distribution at the time but have largely disappeared.

Today I’m adding a pamphlet from the first round of the 1932 German presidential election, titled Adolf Hitler: German Worker and Front Soldier.  It was issued by the party’s propaganda office in Munich and surely had an enormous distribution.

It gives a brief biography and attempts to demonstrate Hitler’s leadership by a variety of examples. 

More on “Yankee Beetles” in the GDR

The GPA has material from a 1950 East German pamphlet accusing the United States of dumping potato beetles on the GDR.

The BBC recently did an interesting story on the topic, including interviews with people who were East Germans at the time and who found themselves in the fields with the unpleasant task of plucking potato beetles from the undersides of leaves.  They were rather dubious about the charge, they recall.

International Ethnic Mush (1941)

I particularly like to add ephemera to the GPA — pamphlets and other items that were produced in large numbers, but not intended to grace library shelves for coming generations.  Today’s addition is a remarkable pamphlet titled International Ethnic Mush or United National States of Europe?  It was published in the first half of 1941 by Robert Ley, head of the Nazi labor organization and a person unsavory even by Nazi standards.

The print run was 2,000,000, and I assume it was widely distributed.  It is filled with crude anti-Semitism and a fair amount of Germanic pride.  Ley tells his readers that they are the master race that has earned the right to rule Europe.

Germans to be Exported (1931)

Fritz Reinhardt was a significant figure in Nazi propaganda.  Before 1933 he instituted a correspondence school that trained about 6,000 Nazi speakers.  He issued a barrage of material to support those speakers.

In 1929 he issued a pamphlet claiming that under the Young Plan, an international agreement on German reparations, Germans would be sent abroad to work for the French.  This is a follow-up pamphlet that appeared in October 1931, making the same claim.

Although like all good propaganda it provides enough evidence to make the argument at least superficially plausible, he does make the astonishing (and completely unsupported) statement that twenty to thirty million Germans would have to be sent abroad under the Young Plan.

A 1932 Nazi Pamphlet for the Communists

I’m continuing to add early Nazi propaganda material to the site.  Today, I add a translation of The Bolshevist Swindle, a pamphlet published early in 1932 that was directed to the communists. It takes most German communists to be honest but deluded workers, and tries to prove that Stalin’s policies in the Soviet Union are worse than those of any Western capitalism.  At about the same time, a pamphlet by the same author titled The Sensationalist Newspapers Lie!  was released that was directed at the Socialists.

There are other pamphlets from the period on the GPA as well, including several published during the March and April 1932 presidential elections.  They demonstrate how serious the Nazis were in adapting their appeals to reach the most disparate audiences.

Nazi Pamphlet “Hitler to Brüning” (December 1931)

I’m gradually adding translations of material from before 1933.  Today, I’m posting an interesting pamphlet titled Hitler to Brüning. It’s the text of Hitler’s response to Chancellor Brüning’s emergency decree of early December 1931, which among other things banned political uniforms, meetings, and insignia.  Brüning at the time lacked a parliamentary majority and was maintained in power by Reich President Hindenburg, who under the Weimar Constitution had the authority to permit that.

It is an interesting example of Hitler’s rhetorical style — and was at the time persuasive not only to his Nazi followers, but probably to many others as well.

A "German Christian" Pamphlet from 1934

The "German Christian" movement (the Deutschen Christen) was the Nazi attempt to reconcile Christianity with Nazism, a rather difficult task. Today I add a pamphlet by Gerhard Hahn, a leader of the movement, titled The Cross of Christ and the Swastika, which discusses the activities of the movement in Hanover. Things didn't turn out quite as well as Hahn predicts in the pamphlet.

A symbol of the movement is shown on the cover above — the Christian cross superimposed on the swastika. During World War II, an American poster used the same symbol in an entirely different context. The goal was to show the cross as the victor over the swastika. I do not know anything about the history of the poster. I'd be interested to know if it was modeled after the "German Christian" logo.

New Booklet for Boys on the Russian Campaign

Between 1940 and the end of 1942, the Nazis issued weekly 32-page booklets in a series titled Kriegsbücherei der deutschen Jugend ("War Library of the German Youth"). 156 appeared in the regular series, along with about a dozen special issues at the end.

I've added a translation of one of the last of the series, Waffen SS in Battle near Leningrad. Although it appeared in the late fall of 1942, it covered events of over a year before, when German forces were advancing toward Leningrad. I assume that, since the news on the Eastern Front was not all that good (the crisis at Stalingrad was clear to the leadership, if not yet the public), they were looking for a story of rapid advances rather than looming defeat.

In praise of the Berlin Wall

A little late for the 20th anniversary of the end of the Berlin Wall, I'm adding parts of an East German pamphlet released shortly after the Wall was erected. It praises the Wall as a victory for peace and socialism, and a defeat for West German militarists. It has an interesting section in which a veteran of the forces that built the Wall looks back 100 years later, and takes pride in his achievements. Things didn't quite turn out that way.

Nazi Economic Propaganda (May 1932)

Of late, I've been interested in Nazi propaganda material from 1932. Today, I am adding a May 1932 pamphlet titled the Economic Emergency Program of the NSDAP. Largely based on Gregor Strasser's work, it outlines in broad terms what Nazism proposed to do to rescue Germany from the Great Depression. Although it doesn't provide much detail on how the proposals will be implemented, many of the proposals would have sounded good to Germans at the time. It proposes a huge program of job creation, land reclamation, help for farmers, import reductions, taxing the rich, helping the middle class, nationalizing the banking system, reducing interest rates, and building large numbers of private homes, among other things.

A 1942 Pamphlet on Nazi Ideology

As I've mentioned before, I look for ephemeral propaganda items that often had broad circulation but a short life. Today, I'm adding a 1942 pamphlet by Walter Tießler, in whom I've had an interest recently (I added a different article by him yesterday). Titled Not Empty Phrases, but Rather Clarity, it lays out the fundamentals of Nazi ideology. It was intended to have a relatively long period of usefulness, so there are few references to events that could quickly make it outdated.

Facts and Lies about Hitler (1932)

Lately I've been working on increasing GPA material from the Kampfzeit, the Nazi term for the period before 1933 when the party was fighting for power. My latest addition is a late March or early April 1932 pamphlet titled Facts and Lies about Hitler.  Released shortly before the second round of the Reich Presidential election on 10 April 1932, it presents Hitler as a self-made man who has been slandered  by his opponents, and who is the only person capable of saving Germany.

Propaganda from the 1936 Reichstag Election

 I've added a small flyer issued during the March 1936 Reichstag election campaign, during which the Nazis made substantial propaganda efforts even though there was no opposition. It summarizes the economic achievements of the first  three years of Nazis rule. 

The first picture is of the front cover the second of an interior page showing the increase in employment after three years of Nazi rule.

A 1954 East German Propaganda Flyer

The actual peace treating ending World War II was not signed until after the collapse of the GDR. That provided all sorts of occasions for East-West friction during the Cold War. I've added a translation of an 8-page pamphlet from 1954 in which the GDR argues that unlike the Treaties of Bonn and Paris that further integrated West Germany into the Western alliance, a Soviet proposal for a peace treaty would benefit all Germans. It provides a good summary of the GDR's arguments at this point in the Cold War.

Bring Down the System! (1932)

Lately I've been looking for pre-1933 Nazi propaganda material. Today, I'm adding a pamphlet prepared for the July 1932 Reichstag election titled Bring Down the System! It is an illustrated summary of the Nazi arguments against the Weimar government.

Why Hindenburg? (1932)

Today I've added a 1932 pamphlet titled Why Hindenburg? Hitler was challenging Hindenburg for the office of Reich President. This is one of a series of appeals from the period targeted at particular audiences. The pamphlet had a delicate task. The Nazis respected Hindenburg, as did most of the German public, so it was impossible to attack him directly. Instead, this pamphlet argued that those supporting Hindenburg from the Social Democratic, Center, and Democratic Parties were hypocrites, since they had vehemently opposed him in the previous election, held in 1925. Hindenburg, it argues, is a noble old man being exploited by those who will do anything to stop the Nazis.

A Nazi Pamphlet from Early in 1932

I'm particularly interested in ephemeral propaganda — posters, leaflets, and pamphlets with a large circulation, but a short life. Today I've added a pamphlet titled The Sensationalist Newspapers Lie! This was issued in large numbers early in 1932, before the March and April presidential elections, and is aimed at members of the Social Democratic Party. It gives a clear idea of the kinds of arguments the Nazis were tailoring to a specific audience.

A 1943 anti-Bolshevist pamphlet

I particularly look for propaganda that had wide distribution, but a short life. Pamphlets are a good example — they are often mass distributed, and quickly discarded. My latest addition is a spring 1943 Nazi pamphlet titled What Does Bolshevization Mean in Reality? It was issued as part of a major anti-Bolshevist (the word the Nazis preferred to "communist") campaign, the directive for which is also available on the GPA. The purpose was to persuade Germans that even though the war situation was looking grimmer after Stalingrad, they had no choice but to fight or die, since Soviet victory would mean the end of everything German.

A June 1943 Speech by Albert Speer on Armaments Production

After Stalingrad, the Nazi intensified their "total war" measures. On 5 June 1943, Albert Speer and Joseph Goebbels addressed a mass meeting of armaments workers in Berlin, at which Speer claimed enormous increases in German armaments production. I've added a translation of his speech. The speech Goebbels delivered was already on the GPA.

The illustration is the cover of the pamphlet containing both speeches.

A 1943/1944 Anti-Semitic Pamphlet

I've added a partial translation of a nasty 1943/1944 pamphlet titled The Jew as World Parasite. Originally published by the Nazi Party for use in party education, an edition for the Wehrmacht was issued in 1944. It's a good example of late-war Nazi anti-Semitism.