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.”

The Big Lie in 1945

I have added a rather mediocre article by Helmut Sündermann, a high official in the Nazi Party press department. The title is what attracted by interest: “The Big Lie.” In this case, Sündermann’s claim is that the Allies are using the “big lie” to falsely accuse Germany of being responsible for the war, when in fact he says it has only fought for its self-preservation. The Allies are the warmongers. Given the date, 21 January 1945, it is a weak effort. Given that Germany was being driven back on all fronts, it hardly seemed useful to argue that Germany’s cause was just.

Nazi Satire about the USA (1943)

In 1943 the Nazi party’s illustrated magazine ran a series of back page cartoons titled “The Latest from God’s Own Country” satirizing the United States.  I find them interesting, and may add a page of them one of these days.  Meanwhile, here is an example from the Illustrierter Beobachter in March 1943.

The occasion was a report from the New York Times that Christ Episcopal Church in St. Joseph had turned itself into a nightclub for the youth. At the bar, a gentleman says “He would be happy if we occasionally sang a pious hymn.  Let’s do him that favor.”  At the bottom, the priest is praying under pictures of FDR and Stalin: “Dear God, give the President and above all Comrade Stalin the strength to clobber the Nazis! And I thank you from the depths of my heart for the great success of our night club! I can protect my sheep from evil and even make a few dollars.” The woman talking to the deacon says: “You know, Deacon, I have nothing against the nighttime activities here —there must be propaganda, I know — but this is the second time I found a bra underneath the pew during morning prayers — that is going a bit too far.”

The Battle of Midway

Germany coverage of the war in the Pacific was never very good.  It depended on Japanese information — which was often unreasonably optimistic.

Today’s addition is an article on the Battle of Midway, which reports that the Japanese had lost one carrier and had a second damaged (the actual number was four), and that the Americans had also lost two (one in reality). The significant news in German eyes was that Japan had occupied several insignificant islands in the Aleutian chain.

Nazi Analysis of the Japanese Attack on Pearl Harbor

The Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor came as a pleasant surprise to the Nazis, who had not been told in advance of Japan’s plans.  Today I’m adding the first reactions in the Nazi Party’s daily newspaper to the war’s extension.

The argument is that Roosevelt has gotten the war he wanted, but not when it wanted it.  As a tool of the Jews, he was planning to deal with Japan, but Japan acted first.

By the way, I got a number of requests to a recent post looking for suggestions of things to add, and I will get to some of them as time permits.

Anti-American Propaganda from Fall 1944

Late in the war the Nazis revived an old  propaganda method, the discussion evening.  These were to be gatherings where party members could discuss the themes of the day, then transmit the material to others.  I’ve got a variety of such material on the site, and have recently added late-1944 material  about what to say regarding the United States.

The problem the system faced is that people didn’t need to be persuaded to fear the Russians, but many Germans thought victory by the Western allies wouldn’t be nearly as bad.  This material is an example of Nazi attempts to combat that view.

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.

My Talk on FDR and Hitler on CSPAN3

CSPAN 3 is carrying my talk to the New York Military Affairs Society of last October

on the following schedule:

• Dec 18, 2016 | 8:00pm EST | C-SPAN 3

• Dec 19, 2016 | 12:00am EST | C-SPAN 3

• Dec 24, 2016 | 11:45am EST | C-SPAN 3

• Dec 25, 2016 | 4:45am EST | C-SPAN 3

It will probably eventually be available soon the CSPAN website as well.

More Information Bulletins for Nazi Speakers

Goebbels was only the top of the Nazi propaganda apparatus.  It extended down to every corner of the country.  Speakers were a major part of the system.  They could be mobilized on short notice, and could be a little more open about some issues than the press.

They needed to be informed, and the party’s Reichspropagandaleitung put out a variety of publications to assist speakers.  The one I find most interesting is the Redner-Schnellinformation (Speaker Express Information) which provided them with material they were expected to put to immediate use.  Although the material had nothing all that confidential (despite the claims that it was “strictly confidential”), it provides a window into the specific content of Nazi propaganda at various times.

The first issue I’ve seen is from September 1941, although since that is #19 there were numerous earlier issues. The last issue I’ve seen is from February 1944. 

Today I’m adding six new issues, including interesting ones on the Russian murder of thousands of Polish officers at Katyn, training sessions for party members, and the loss of Sicily.

I have now translated all the issues I have access to (with two exceptions that I think of less interest).  Should you know of others I’ve not yet found, please let me know.

The Battle of Bougainville: A Second Pearl Harbor (December 1943)

German press reports about the war in Europe were influenced by the requirements of propaganda, but generally had a reasonable relationship to reality.  The Pacific was a different matter.  There the Germans had to depend on Japanese accounts — and those were often wildly exaggerated.

The December 1943 article I’m posting today claims enormous, and almost entirely false, American losses in the Battle for Bougainville.  Since the military news in Europe was grim from the German perspective, it was surely encouraging to believe that, at least in the Pacific, the Axis was enjoying one victory after another.

Allied World War II Leaflets

The German Propaganda Archive focuses on material from the German side, but now and again I come across interesting related material worth noting.  The George C. Marshall Foundation has just put up a collection of Allied leaflets from World War II.

An Example

The site has images and translations.  Definitely worth a look.

More Material from Gau Sachsen

Two days back I posted an item from Gau Sachsen.  I decided to add the rest of the material I gathered from a recent visit to the German National Library in Leipzig.

It consists of seven issues of a newsletter to propagandists and one issue of advice for propagandists holding evening discussion meetings with party members. The party members were expected to use the material in their conversations with friends and work mates.  A particularly interesting aspect to the material is its reliance on enemy newspapers and magazines.  By the end of the war Germans had decreasing confident in their own media, which steadily predicted final victory even as German forces steadily retreated.  Unused to material in their press that did not support the party line, such material was persuasive (and often taken out of context).

Advice to Nazi Propagandists: January 1945

The Nazi propaganda apparatus functioned almost to the end.  Today I’m adding advice to propagandists in Gau Sachsen at the end of January 1945. A major Russian offensive had begun two weeks earlier.  The Battle of the Bulge was no longer a bulge.

The material does its best to find reason for hope, giving propagandists the outlines of arguments to use in talking with their fellow citizens, but any half-aware propagandist knew by then that things were grim.

Nazi Caricatures of FDR

Over the next month I will be adding many caricatures taken from Nazi satirical periodicals: Brennessel, Kladderadatsch, Fliegende Blätter, and Lustige Blätter.  Some are taken from my own collection, others from the excellent on-line collections of the University of Heidelberg.

Today I’m adding a page on Franklin D. Roosevelt: A few examples:

A cartoon showing FDR’s Jewish reflection

FDR on the electric chair

They provide interesting examples of Nazi propaganda, and also show how it responded to changing conditions.

Celebration of Hitler’s Takeover in the USA

In the course of gathering material on my main interests curious things sometimes show up.  This is the program for an event organized by the German consulate in New York City on the occasion of the one-year anniversary of Hitler’s takeover of power.