How was the Nazi Germany art propaganda helped?
Answers
The Nazis made extensive use of propaganda to cement their reign of terror. An illustrated book looks at the psychological manipulation behind Nazi poster art.
"Is propaganda, as we understand it, not also a form of art?" asked Joseph Goebbels, Nazi Propaganda Minister, in June 1935. The question may have been rhetorical, but at the time, the Nazis had already been in power for almost two-and-a-half years.
They had long laid the foundations for their reign of terror that would culminate in World War II and the Holocaust. It was a regime based on intimidation, murder and control that would not end until 1945.
Nazi propaganda images served far more purposes than only being election campaign posters — as seen here
Propaganda posters as weapons of war
Adolf Hitler didn't lose any time in getting the military ready for war, and he made sure that civilians would toe the line, too. While the troops were equipped with new tanks, airplanes and submarines, the people on the home front were fed endless newsreels in movie theaters, heard a deluge broadcasts on the radio, and saw propaganda posters wherever they turned.
Sylke Wunderlich examines the significance of these posters in her book Propaganda of Terror, which features more than 200 illustrations and focuses on art and ideology.
"I think the artistic style of the posters contributed greatly to the fact that they were so successful in influencing the masses," Wunderlich told DW, adding that she means they were "successful" in the sense of Nazi politics.
She highlights that the Nazis had never shied away from copying the most effective Socialist and Communist strategies, even well before the Nazi party had risen to power in 1933. In terms of their style and iconography, posters and placards depicting the likeness of Adolf Hitler could have easily been a product of the revolutionary left — if they had instead shown a picture of Rosa Luxemburg or Karl Liebknecht instead.