>Originally posted July 18, 2007.

Part One (UK) and Part Two (USA) of these series.

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Most nations would stop fighting when realizing there’s no chance of winning the war. Germany didn’t. They continued to fight long after they had abandoned all hope. I’d say this had very much to do with propaganda. And very much with a certain doctor.

On March 13, 1933, the Ministry for Popular Enlightenment and Propaganda was founded under the direction of Dr. Josef Goebbels. No such thing had ever existed before, in Germany or in any other country. This was the time of the awakening of the (uneducated) masses.
Adolf Hitler had read Lord Northcliffe: “The bombardment of the German mind was almost as important as the bombardment by cannon”.
In Mein Kampf he writes:
“The psyche of the masses is not receptive to anything that is weak. They are like a woman, whose psychic state is determined less by abstract reason than by emotional longing for a strong force which will complement her nature. Likewise, the masses love a commander, and despise a petitioner”. One could say Hitler despised the masses…
He is also quoted saying:
“Haven’t you ever seen a crowd collecting to watch a street brawl? Brutality and physical strenght is what they respect. The man in the street respects nothing more than strenght and ruthlessness – women too for that matter. The masses need something that will give them a thrill of horror”.
Hitler argued that propaganda must be adressed to the emotions and not to the intellect. He had no need for educating the already educated. He spoke in black and white, and with enormous power and energy – always emotional.

With Goebbels as head of propaganda the Nazis rose to power. Goebbels described Hitler’s speeches as “religion in the most mysterious and deepest sense of the word”. He truly admired his Führer. And they used these very personal words – his Führer, my Führer – never the Führer; because it was a relationship, bonded by blood.

The propaganda machine worked the hardest at the mass gatherings. Each single individual underwent, in Goebbels words, “a kind of metamorphosis from a little worm to a giant dragon”. These huge demonstrations mostly took place at night when people’s minds were most open to persuasion. At the annual rally in Nuremberg half a million people attended to gather strenght.
Albert Speer was responsible for the art direction at the rallies, and the “cathedral of light” was his idea: 130 anti-aircraft searchlights placed around the rally field at intervals of forty feet. The huge eagle (over 100 feet in wingspread) was also one of Speer’s brilliant creations.

When the Second World War started, the Propaganda Ministry had complete control of the press, radio, film, posters, art, literature, music, theater… It is therefore nothing strange with people acting as they did. When every contemporay book you read, every newspaper, every film you see, every broadcast you hear for years and years, always with the same spirit, the same propaganda, you definitely lose your judgment.
Goebbels particularly enjoyed the cinema. He realized that this new art form could reach a far wider audience than books or theater. The old Motion Picture Law was replaced by the Reich Motion Picture Law in 1920, and from that moment nothing was approved that ran counter to the spirit of the times.
You’ve all seen Triumph of The Will (1935), and maybe even Olympia (1938), Leni Riefenstahl’s masterpieces of truly great art. There’ so much to say about those movies, but I intended these posts to be about the poster art, so… Maybe another time.

People may forget an article, but they won’t forget a picture, especially when they see it often, everywhere, and when the message is pure and strong, black and white. A flyer could be thrown away, the radio turned off, the political meetings not attended… Everybody walks the streets, though. The poster could not be avoided. Graffiti artists use this direct method as well.
The master of Nazi propaganda posters was named “Mjölnir” (real name: Hans Schweitzer). “What lenghty speeches failed to do, Mjölnir did in a second through the glowing fanaticism of his powerful art”, as one Nazi leader put it.

Personally, I find the Nazi propaganda the most fascinating, and certainly the most beautiful, dark, powerful and striking. Maybe this has to do with me too being totally intoxicated by their visual force? However, I am not alone. The Nazi propaganda resulted in billions of artifacts inspired by the powerful art of persuasion (hello Dyanne Thorne!).

Bonus propaganda:
Goebbels assembled a swing band called Charlie and His Orchestra to perform Nazified versions of the jazz hits of the day! How about that?
First volume of their music
Second volume of their music

And now, the magic of the mystic art…

>Originally posted June 30, 2007.

During the last years of World War II the Office of War Information, a US department of psychological warfare, was showering occupied Europe with 7 million flyers a week, which was made possible due to the invention of the leaflet bomb which could hold 80,000 leaflets in one piece. On July 16, 1943, 16 million leaflets alone were dropped in every part of Italy, informing the Italians that they could either die for Mussolini and Hitler, or live for Italy.
That’s how much used propaganda was, and still is.
But the propaganda flyers didn’t only try to convince or persuade – they worked as warnings as well, often telling of coming bombing attacks, thus allowing time to leave the area. That’s why propaganda was read by so many.

Besides flyers, leaflets and posters, radio was a very important propaganda medium. Playing on the emotions of the public, utilizing great speeches and announcers, this made a deep impact. It frightened and inspired the people into action.
The Americans also used film to a great extent. “That which is done by Hollywood today will be emulated by American cities tomorrow”. Hollywood had very strong Jewish and British elements, and it did what it could to help. They created cruel stereotypes of the enemy, and it worked out really well, speaking directly to the primitive emotions of the American audience. The bad guy gangster became the bad guy Nazi, and so on.
Music was also used as propaganda, the well known label Decca Records, for example, producing vinyls entitled We’re gonna have to slap the dirty little Jap (and Uncle Sam’s the guy who can do it), and Columbia released Praise the lord and pass the ammunition, while Bluebird had their Good-bye mama (I’m off to Yokohama).

As stated in Part One of this series, the American propaganda used God, democratic values and stereotypes to persuade the public. A lot of the posters also speak of the danger of careless talk, most of the time depicting women as those careless talkers.

So, here’s some amazing propaganda posters, done the American way.