World War II Propaganda

http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/amex/goebbels/peopleevents/e_pr
opaganda.html
"The essence of propaganda consists in winning people over
to an idea so sincerely, so vitally, that in the end they
succumb to it utterly and can never again escape from it,"
wrote Joseph Goebbels in his diary. Adolph Hitler agreed.
Following the Nazis' rise to power in 1933, he established a
Reich Ministry of Public Enlightenment and Propaganda with
Goebbels as its head. Goebbels promoted the Nazi message
through art, music, theater, films, books, radio, and the
press, and censored all opposition. Goebbels worked to
inflame the anger of Germans over their defeat in World War
I and emphasized German cultural and military achievements
to boost national pride. He played an important role in
creating an atmosphere in Germany that made it possible for
the Nazis to commit terrible atrocities against Jews and other
minorities.
War and Propaganda
During World War II German propaganda emphasized the
prowess of the German army and contrasted it with the
British and Allied armies who were depicted as cowards and
butchers, or brave but misguided. Russian troops were
presented as dehumanized beasts and killers who attacked
without fear of death. After the Nazi loss at Stalingrad in
February 1943, Goebbels admitted recent losses and argued
for total war in his famous Sportpalast speech. While the new
strategy prolonged the war, Goebbels recognized that his
efforts were failing. A month before his suicide in Berlin, he
took note of the Allied propaganda being directed back at
him. "Enemy propaganda is beginning to have an
uncomfortably noticeable effect on the German people.

Anglo-American leaflets are now no longer carelessly thrown

aside but are read attentively; British broadcasts have a
grateful audience."
British Propaganda
The radio broadcasts were the handiwork of the British
Political Warfare Executive (P.W.E.), created by Winston
Churchill in 1941 to disseminate propaganda that would
damage enemy morale. The British Broadcasting Company's
foreign language broadcasts became a key element in the
Allied campaign for German loyalties. By 1945 the British had
established more than 40 clandestine pseudo-German radio
stations using powerful American transmitters. The P.W.E.
also delivered subversive messages to the German people
through so-called black propaganda, printed postcards and
leaflets dropped behind enemy lines. Though a product of
Hollywood, William Wyler's award-winning Mrs. Miniver
(1942) portrayed the struggle on the British home front and
glorified Britain's resolve to fight. The film ended with a
rousing sermon in a bombed-out church: "This is the people's
war. It is our war. We are the fighters. Fight it, then. Fight it
with all that is in us, and may God defend the right." United
States President Franklin Roosevelt found the speech so
inspiring that he had it printed and airdropped over the
European front.
American Propaganda
The Office of War Information (O.W.I.) was the source of
such propaganda in the U.S. In 1941 most Americans,
especially those who remembered World War I, were still
isolationist, believing that their country should rebuild
following the Great Depression, not fight a distant war. After
the Japanese attack at Pearl Harbor, most were convinced to
support the war, but Roosevelt created the O.W.I. in 1942 to
boost wartime production at home and undermine enemy

morale in Europe, Asia, and Africa. OWI photographers

documented aspects of homefront life and culture such as
women in the workforce, and dealt with a wide array of
morale issues such as the question of using Japanese
Americans as soldiers, and "subversive activities" like the Los
Angeles zoot suit riots.
Highly Visible Messages
Other propaganda came in the form of posters, movies, and
even cartoons. Inexpensive, accessible, and ever-present in
schools, factories, and store windows, posters helped to
mobilize Americans to war. A representative poster
encouraged Americans to "Stop this Monster that Stops at
Nothing. PRODUCE to the Limit!" It depicted a monster with
two heads, one Nazi, one Japanese, clutching the Statue of
Liberty in one hand and fending off American advances with
the other. Nearby a hand holds a wrench with the inscription
"production" -- the key to winning the war.
Movies and Cartoons
While most propaganda aimed to boost patriotism, some took
on racist overtones. Director Frank Capra produced seven
films called Why We Fight, which portrayed Germany, Italy
and Japan as nations of inhuman murderers. As World War II
progressed, the O.W.I. had a hand in Hollywood, which
churned out patriotic films such as Yankee Doodle Dandy
(1942) with James Cagney, Pin-Up Girl (1944) with Betty
Grable as a USO entertainer, and Anchors Aweigh (1945)
with Gene Kelly as a dancing sailor. Even cartoon characters
got into the act. Warner Brothers sent Popeye and Bugs
Bunny to fight the Japanese, while Disney released a short
showing Donald Duck incapacitating Hitler with a ripe tomato.
The war, movies and cartoons did their part to keep
Americans focused on the war effort, even as they were
being entertained. The Allied forces fought long and hard

against the Nazis in the air and on the ground, but also with
the powerful tool of propaganda.