Violence in Nazi Anti-Semitic Propaganda

Two months back I gave a paper at Texas A & M University’s conference on symbolic violence.  The paper ended up having so many images that I can’t think of a good place to publish it, so for the time being I am making it available here.

It looks at the range of Nazi anti-Semitism, examining how Nazi violence against Jews was presented as justified self-defense, whereas alleged Jewish violence against Germany was portrayed as part of the World Jewish conspiracy to conquer the world.

New “Wochenspruch der NSDAP” Quotation Posters

I have added several dozen new translations to the Wochenspruch der NSDAP page.  These were weekly posters with inspiring quotations.  Most are from Gau Westfalen-Süd, but from a few other areas as well.

Several particularly surprise me.  I had thought that the individual Gaue ceased issuing them after mid-1940. Nearly all did. However, Gau Sachsen continued to issue its own into 1941.  Should anyone know more about this, please let me know.

Nazi Speaker Directive on Italy (1943)

One more Nazi speaker directive — this one telling speakers how what to say about Italy’s “treasonous” act of deposing Mussolini.  The basic argument is that Italians thought they could get out of the war by surrendering, but the material says neither the Allies nor the Germans will let them.  The evidence was a variety of citations from the Allied press along with some from Nazi-occupied Europe.

The same argument was used for the remainder of the war: the Allies will make wonderful promises before they take over, but forget them afterwards.  They were using similar arguments in the spring of 1945.

Dealing with the the Soviet Union (1939 and 1941)

I’ve been working at the German National Library in Leipzig this week, adding a burst of material as those those who follow this blog will have noticed.  Today I add two items from the Zeitschriften-Dienst.  This was a weekly newsletter that went to all magazine editors with material to incorporate into their publications.

First, there are guidelines from August 1939 when the German-Soviet agreements shocked the world and prepared the way for Hitler’s attack on Poland. This was a remarkable shift in German policy, which throughout the previous years had argued that Bolshevism was a great threat to the world. The material focuses on the economic benefits to Germany of the alliance and tells journalists to avoid all ideological matters.

Second is the directive from June 1941. Now the emphasis is on the great ideological differences between the two totalitarian states. The invasion started well from the Nazi perspective, and at the end of the article editors are told to remember that the invasion of the Soviet Union is a phase in the greater war against England. Things turned out a bit differently.

New Speech by Julius Streicher (1939)

The most prominent Nazi anti-Semite after Hitler, Julius Streicher was also Gauleiter of Franconia.  In that office he gave a speech on 5 January 1939 to the block wardens and cell leaders of his Gau.  These were low-level party volunteers who tended to pester their neighbors with requests for donations, attendance at political meetings, etc.  They were not always popular.  This is something of a pep talk, telling them how important they are and how much he depends on them.  He also explains that any comedian poking fun at them will face his wrath.

Before the end of the year Streicher was deposed from office for rather gross misconduct.

Nazi Speaker Information on Fashion and British Plans for Germany

Over time I’ve been adding to the archive material intended for Nazi speakers.  This material was then used by thousands of speakers to discuss the Nazi propaganda line in public meetings throughout Germany.  Today I am adding two editions.  The first is from March 1943, and attempts to deal with an unintended consequence of Goebbels’s February 1943 speech on total war.  He had called for the elimination of luxuries, but some over-eager citizens thought they were following his instructions by insulting well-dressed women.  Speakers are to say that it is still good for women to take care in their appearance.

The second edition is from mid-February 1944 and expresses outrage at English Lord Vansittart’s discussion of re-educating the Germans after the war. It also discusses Allied carpet bombing.

Albert Einstein in Nazi Propaganda

Since Einstein was Jewish, the Nazis were compelled to argue that his theory was nonsense and that he himself was up to no good.  There was a surprising amount of anti-Einstein propaganda after 1933, more of which I may add over time.  Today I add a 1939 article from Mitteilungen über die Judenfrage, a publication of the Institut zum Studium der Judenfrage, the most prestigious of the anti-Semitic scholarly enterprises during the Third Reich. Titled “Albert Einstein: The ‘Tourist Attraction’ of Princeton,” it says that there is nothing new in the Theory of Relativity (or if there is, Einstein plagiarized it), and that he is up to evil deeds as he abuses American hospitality.