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 businessesJoseph Goebbels addressing crowd in the Berlin Lustgarten, urging Germans to boycott Jewish-owned businesses. He defends the boycott as a legitimate response to the anti-German "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 BremenAn 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" exhibitionThrough 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" familyA 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 StürmerFront 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 LawsA 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 TheresienstadtThe 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.