Propaganda
1934: Poster: "Our Last Hope—Hitler“
In the presidential elections of 1932,
Nazi propagandists appealed to
Germans left unemployed and
destitute by the Great Depression with
an offer of a savior.
April 1, 1933: Joseph Goebbels urges
Germans to boycott Jewish-owned
businesses
Joseph Goebbels addressing crowd in
the Berlin Lustgarten, urging
Germans to boycott Jewish-owned
businesses. He defends the boycott
as a legitimate response to the antiGerman "atrocity propaganda" being
spread abroad by "international
Jewry." Berlin, Germany.
1933-1939: Propaganda slide
depicting "loss of racial pride"
This propaganda slide depicts
friendship between an Aryan
woman and a black woman as a
loss of racial pride. The caption
says: "The experience/Racial pride
fades." Germany, ca. 1933-1939.
1935: Public humiliation: "I am a defiler of the race“
In this photograph, a young man who allegedly had illicit
relations with a Jewish woman is marched through the streets
for public humiliation. Flanked by German police officers, he
wears a sign that reads, "I am a defiler of the race." These events
were calculated to both punish the so-called offenders and to
make a public example of them as a deterrent to others who
might not fully subscribe to Nazi racial theory.
Norden, Germany, July 1935.
1936: Newspaper insert showing Olympic
decorations in Berlin and Bremen
An insert section of the Weser Newspaper of
Bremen, showing colorful pictures of Olympic
decorations in Berlin and Bremen. As
propaganda, the 1936 Olympics were among
the most successful events the Nazis staged.
1937: "The Eternal Jew" exhibition
Through their control of cultural
institutions such as museums, under
the Reich Chamber of Culture the Nazis
created new opportunities to
disseminate anti-Jewish propaganda.
Most notably, an exhibition entitled Der
ewige Jude (The Eternal Jew) attracted
412,300 visitors, more than 5,000 per
day, during its run at the Deutsches
Museum in Munich from November
1937 to January 1938. This image
shows the cover of a 1937 publication
advertising Der ewige Jude.
http://www.ushmm.org/propaganda/archive/
1938: Depiction of the "pure Aryan" family
A depiction of the "pure Aryan" family on
the cover of the 1938 calendar published by
Neues Volk, the magazine of the Nazi Party's
Race Political Office. Note the eagle
hovering in the background.
1938:
Poster promoting the Nazi monthly
publication Neues Volk
Jews were not the only group excluded
from the vision of the "national
community." The Nazi regime also
singled out people with intellectual and
physical disabilities. In this poster
promoting the Nazi monthly Neues
Volk, the caption reads: "This
hereditarily ill person will cost our
national community 60,000 Reichmarks
over the course of his lifetime. Citizen,
this is your money." This publication,
put out by the Nazi Party's Race Office,
emphasized the burden placed on
society by those deemed unfit.
1939: Front page of the most
popular issue ever of the Nazi
publication, Der Stürmer
Front page of the most popular issue
ever of the Nazi publication, Der
Stürmer, with a reprint of a medieval
depiction of a purported ritual
murder committed by Jews.
September 1939: A teacher
explains racial definitions
according to the Nuremberg Laws
A Hitler Youth instructor teaching
the definitions of race laid down
by the Nuremberg Laws.
1941: Antisemitic poster published in
Poland in March 1941
The caption reads, "Jews are lice; They
cause typhus." This German-published
poster was intended to instill fear of
Jews among Christian Poles.
1942:
Nazi propaganda poster with a picture of a
Jewish star and a German caption that reads,
"Whoever wears this symbol is an enemy of
our Volk."
1942-1944: Poster from the
Lodz ghetto announcing
"resettlement"
Deportations of Jews to killing
centers were described as
"resettlements," indicating that
a new life awaited the Jewish
family at the end of the journey.
Color, paper, poster from the
Lodz ghetto announcing
"resettlement."
1944: Red Cross visit to
Theresienstadt
The Germans permitted
representatives from the Danish
Red Cross and the International
Red Cross to visit Theresienstadt in
June 1944. It was all an elaborate
hoax. The Germans intensified
deportations from the ghetto
shortly before the visit, and
resumed them once the visit was
over. In this photograph, children
look well-fed and happy. Most
were later taken to Auschwitz and
murdered. Theresienstadt,
Czechoslovakia, June 23, 1944.
http://www.ushmm.org/propaganda/archive/page6/
1945: Poster: "Frontline City
Frankfurt will be held!"
This poster from 1945 shows an
embattled German family
proclaiming, "Frontline City
Frankfurt will be held!" A
Frontstadt was a city Hitler
declared must be defended
against Allied attack at all costs.
In the final months of the war,
propaganda efforts were
directed at rallying the populace
for a final defense of the
country.