Luther and Hitler 1933

 I would like to know more about this poster.  It was issued in 1933 on the 450th anniversary of Luther’s birth.  I do not know anything more than that, and would welcome enlightenment.

The translation: “Hitler’s battle and Luther’s teaching are the German people’s sure defense.”

How to Use a Nazi Wall Poster

The Parole der Woche was a weekly “wall newspaper” issued by the Nazi Party.  There are a variety of examples on the German Propaganda Archive. The issue below is from 1940 and promotes the idea that World Jewry was out to destroy Germany.

Today I am adding a 1940 article from Unser Wille und Weg, the monthly for propagandists, that encourages greater use of the poster.  Old editions were not to be discarded, but reposted in different locations.

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.

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.

New Hitler Youth Quotation Posters

I have a large section on the Wochenspruch der NSDAP, a weekly series of quotations with inspiring quotations issued between 1937 and 1944.

However, other branches of the party issued quotation posters as well.  Today I added numerous Hitler Youth quotation posters, the result of a recent visit to the German National Library in Leipzig which has about 30 of them from 1940.  They are not as graphically interesting as those issued by the Reichspropagandaleitung. Here is an example:

This one has a quotation from Dr. Walter Gross, a leading Nazi racial theorist, encouraging girls to become mothers.

Goebbels and Truth

For some years a colleague and I have been working to discourage the use of a dubious quotation by Joseph Goebbels:

“If you tell a lie big enough and keep repeating it, people will eventually come to believe it. The lie can be maintained only for such time as the State can shield the people from the political, economic and or military consequences of the lie. It thus becomes vitally important for the State to use all of its powers to repress dissent, for the truth is the mortal enemy of the lie, and thus by extension, the truth is the greatest enemy of the State.”

No one ever provides a source for the quotation.  Our point is not that Goebbels always told the truth, but rather that an effective propagandist is unlikely to say in public that he lies. Goebbels prefered to tell the truth, or at least part of it, whenever possible, since clear lies reduce the effectiveness of propaganda.  

I recently came across an interesting 1940 Nazi poster announcing Goebbels’s love of truth:

The truth is always stronger than the lie

In 1940 it was easy for Goebbels to tell most of the truth most of the time, since Nazi forces were winning on every front.  In 1945, to the contrary, he had a problem  Although he told some bald-faced lies then, he more often resorted to vague claims that Germany would somehow still win the war because of its insurmountable will.

Julius Streicher Meeting Posters

I’m adding a collection of eight posters advertising meetings addressed by Julius Streicher between 1922 and 1933.  After joining Hitler’s Nazi Party in 1922, Streicher began speaking extensively outside his home city of Nuremberg.

This poster promotes an August 1923 meeting in Vienna.

Anti-Semitic Poster from the November 1932 Election

While looking through Julius Streicher’s Der Stürmer for something else, I came across this poster from the November 1932 Reichstag election.

It translates loosely as “Get rid of misery, get rid of the Jews.”   I’ll added it to the pre-1933 poster page.

Wochenspruch Pages Updated

I’ve updated my pages on the Wochenspruch der NSDAP, the weekly poster with inspiring quotations issued by the Reichspropagandaleitung.

I now have posted all of the images available to me.  There are  some images I don’t have, and I am far from having a complete set of texts.  I have almost everything after 1940, but am missing many from the years 1937-1939.

If you can help me to fill the gaps, I’d appreciate it.

Nazi Posters from Early 1941

While looking through early 1941 issues of Unser Wille und Weg (the Nazi monthly for propagandists) for another reason I came across black and white photographs of three posters that I've added to the poster section of the GPA.

This could be used by local party groups to advertise political meetings.

This also served the same purpose.  It was part of a campaign that had soldiers on leave speak to audiences about their experiences at the front.

This was a nationally-distributed poster promoting unity between the front and the homeland.

All three posters were probably in color (and the bottom one certainly was). 

Despite the strains of the war effort, which had led many formerly engaged in making propaganda to join the military, propaganda activity remained intense.

Wochenspruch der NSDAP

I have hundreds of examples of the Wochenspruch der NSDAP on the site.  This was a weekly poster with inspiring quotations issued between 1937 and 1944.  Before 1940, many were issued by the Gauleitungen, afterwards (mostly) by the Reichspropagandaleitung.  My page is the most complete collection available, but it is not complete.   New ones surface every now and then.

Just yesterday I found confirmation that the final issue (which I have not seen) was #15/1944.  The image is courtesy of MAR Historical.

I, and others, are attempting to find as many of these as we can.  Should you have ones not on my site, I’d appreciate hearing about them.

An Anti-Semitic Poster from 1932

A friend of the site provides me with this interesting image that I have added to the poster page:

Death to Marxism

Join Us!

It probably was issued for one of Reichstag elections of 1932, since the snake has the three-arrow symbol of the “Iron Front,” an anti-Nazi coalition established in December.  It could also be from the Prussian elections that year.  It looks to be something produced by a regional party organization, since posters produced by the Reichspropagandaleitung were generally more polished.

A Wochenspruch Mystery

There are something over 500 examples of the Wochenspruch der NSDAP on the German Propaganda Archive.  It was a weekly poster with inspiring quotations that was displayed in prominent public places throughout Germany.

They were first issued in 1937 (I think), some coming from the individual Gaue, others from the Reichspropagandaleitung in Munich.  This situation continued until early in 1939, when all issues came from Munich — with the exception of Gau Sachsen, which continued to issue its own well into 1941.  I just bought the latest one I’ve seen, dated 6-12 April 1941.

I am curious as to why Gau Sachsen kept producing its own two years longer than anyone else.  Should anyone uncover the reason I’d be delighted to hear it.

Wochenspruch der NSDAP

The Wochenspruch der NSDAP was a weekly poster with inspiring quotations issued between 1937 and 1944.

August 1940

I’m still trying to figure out the full story.  Before mid-1940, many of the individual Nazi Gau propaganda offices issued them, apparently using texts supplied from the Reichspropagandaleitung in Munich — but not all of the time.  Some would release issues that quoted the local Gauleiter, for example.  The same quotations show up in different areas with different dates.  After mid-1940, nearly all were issued by the Munich office, but Gau Sachsen, at least, issued its own until into 1941.

The total number is well over a thousand.  I began with a modest page on them early in the GPA, but I kept buying more, and collectors send me images of others.  The collection grew from one page to two — and now I am splitting it into more pages.  The index page provides full details.  Although a comprehensive listing is probably impossible, but my collection is the most comprehensive available.

Gau Oberdonau, November 1938

If you have ones I do not have, I welcome assistance in building the collection.

Three New Images: Two Posters and Hitler Art

Alexander Historical Auctions kindly gave me permission to include three images from their recent catalog.  Two are of interesting posters I’ve not seen before.  These posters are now on the poster page covering 1933-1945.

1933 Nazi Leaders

Poster Advertising the SS Weekly

The next image is what they are confident is one of Hitler’s later paintings, dating to around 1920.  There are a lot of fake Hitler paintings in circulation, but they are an established firm that knows what it deals with, so the chances are they are correct.  

A good general summary of Hitler’s paintings from a 1998 article reprinted by Snyder’s Treasures, another dealer in such items.

Two Nazi Anti-Semitic Posters from the East

A visitor to the site provided me with two vivid Nazi anti-Semitic posters I’d not seen before.  The first is, I think, in Ukrainian:

Google’s translation site suggests a meaning of “Satan has taken off his mask.”

The second I find particularly interesting:

I think it is in Ukrainian, which Google translates as “He poisons our lives.”  I had not realized that there was a Ukrainian translation of the book.

Kristallnacht Poster (1938)

A friend of the site provided me with this remarkable poster:

It announces a rash of meetings throughout Munich on 10 November 1938 to bring out the public to protest “World Jewry,” which is made to blame for the anti-Semitic violence throughout Germany the previous night.  As best I can tell, Gauleiter Adolf Wagner (head of the party in Munich) addressed the biggest rally, with 20 party orators speaking at meetings in other parts of the city.  The text is translated on the poster page.

New “Wochenspruch der NSDAP” Quotation Posters

I have added several dozen new translations to the Wochenspruch der NSDAP page.  These were weekly posters with inspiring quotations.  Most are from Gau Westfalen-Süd, but from a few other areas as well.

Several particularly surprise me.  I had thought that the individual Gaue ceased issuing them after mid-1940. Nearly all did. However, Gau Sachsen continued to issue its own into 1941.  Should anyone know more about this, please let me know.

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.