Peculiar Uses of the German Propaganda Archive (II)

This is the second in a series of occasional commentaries on unusual purposes to which the GPA is put. Just today, I came across the interesting image at the bottom of this post. I'm almost sure the original image was taken from my site. Although one might find reasonable arguments to make against President Obama and his policies, he's probably not a likely second coming of Adolf Hitler. These kinds of arguments stop the conversation, since what possible reply is there to the charge: "You're just like Hitler?"

The Hitler comparison was commonly made with George Bush, but Obama is now "ahead" in the Hitler comparison race. As of today, a Google search for "Bush and Hitler" gets about 1,200,000 hits, whereas "Obama and Hitler" gets just over 8,000,000.

My advice is to stop reading any comparison of Hitler to someone else, unless that someone else really is a Nazi.

State of Deception Exhibition

I usually don't recommend books on this blog, other than my own, but I strongly suggest buying State of Deception: The Power of Nazi Propaganda. It has 194 pages, including many unfamiliar illustrations (two of which I provided).

The book accompanies an exhibition on Nazi propaganda running at the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum.

Eight More Weekly Quotation Posters

I've added eight more of the weekly quotation posters issued between 1937 and 1944. Each had an inspiring quotation, usually from a Nazi leader. They were posted throughout Germany in public places.

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.

Nazi Postcards Series: "Women Working for You"

Soldiers appreciate pictures of women, and Nazi propaganda supplied soldiers with what they wanted. I've added a page with seven postcards from 1943 on the theme Women working for you. They showed attractive women at work in what formerly had been mostly male occupations.

A 1924 Nazi Poster

I came across an early Nazi poster from Westphalia, dated 1924. Hitler was in jail, and the party was illegal, so a group called the National Socialist Freedom Movement carried on some of the party's business. It is on the page of pre-1933 Nazi posters.

The January 1933 Lippe Election

The Nazis reached their electoral high point in the July 1932 Reichstag elections. Although they had the largest faction, the Reichstag was unable to do anything, and new elections were called for November 1932. The Nazis lost ground, although they remained the largest party. To many, both within and outside the party, it looked as if the Nazis were declining. An opportunity to prove the contrary came with the parliamentary election in Lippe, a tiny German state with about 100,000 inhabitants. The Nazis put everything they had into the campaign, which turned out well from their point of view, and restored a sense of momentum. I've added a chapter from a book on Gau Westfalen-Nord, published in 1939, which looks back on the Lippe campaign as a great victory.