Propaganda in World War II

Nazi Party propagandist Joseph Goebbels once wrote in his diary:[1]

"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."

Winston Churchill in 1941 created the Political Warfare Executive (PWE) for the distribution of propaganda damaging to the morale of the enemy. Foreign language broadcasts of the BBC World Service were central to gaining influence over the people of Germany. Goebbels, before committing suicide, remarked that "Enemy propaganda is beginning to have an uncomfortably noticeable effect on the German people [...] British broadcasts have a grateful audience."[1]

The British used black propaganda techniques to deliver subversive messages directly to the German people by dropping leaflets and postcards.[1]

The Hollywood film Mrs. Miniver (1942) by William Wyler told the saga of the British home front, ending with a sermon delivered in a church destroyed by Allied bombs: "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."[1]

The Reich Ministry of Public Enlightenment and Propaganda was established in 1933. Goebbels, appointed by Adolf Hitler to lead the ministry, used radio, press, books, films, and all forms of communication media to promote the Nazi ideology. Germany's defeat in World War I was emphasized to provoke German feelings of rage and anger. Germany's cultural achievements and military accomplishments built up national pride. The British and Allied armies were cast as butchers, the Russians as inhuman beasts. The Ministry censored opposing viewpoints.[1]

Germany's war against the Soviet Union was described by Nazi Party officials as Weltanschauungskrieg (war of ideologies).[2]

Soldiers on the front had limited access to information. Often, written materials were the most direct means of propaganda available. By November 1939, the 12th Infantry Division of the Wehrmacht was daily given newspapers, a practice that continued during the occupation of Vendée, receiving also the field newspaper of the 4th Army, and the transcribed Wehrmachtbericht (Wehrmacht communiqué).

The Nazi Party recognized early on the value of radio receivers to transmit political propaganda. German troops were given such receivers that were used for entertainment and indoctrination. During Operation Barbarossa, the 12th Infantry Division of the Wehrmacht were served by a travelling "radio van" that made the rounds carrying a very powerful receiver. The Panzergrenadier Division Großdeutschland and the 18th Panzer Division were also given radios.

Films were shown to German soldiers for entertainment and indoctrination. They were very popular with the soldiers who had a "film van" accompany them during the occupations of France and The Netherlands. It was the most popular off-duty activity among the soliders. The 18th Panzer Division converted schools in Prague to cinemas (a practice they learned from the Russians).[2]

The effectiveness of Goebbel's propaganda was diminished by Germany's defeat at the Battle of Stalingrad in February 1943. Forced to concede the military defeat, he made a case for total war, which prolonged the war without altering its eventual outcome.[1]

Americans were, after World War I and the Great Depression, not in support of fighting a distance war. But, after the Pearl Harbor attack, the Office of War Information was the main source of propaganda was created by President Franklin Delano Roosevelt in 1942. Photographers documented various aspects of the American homefront to undermine enemy morale. Some of the propaganda has been criticized as having racially charged content, such as the films of Frank Capra Why We Fight, which showed the enemy nations as inhuman. The involvement of the OWI in Hollywood has been noted for the creation of patriotic propaganda films such as Yankee Doodle Dandy, Pin-Up Girl and Anchors Aweigh. Posters, movies and cartoons helped recruit Americans to serve in the war. One poster showed a two headed monster, with a Nazi head and a Japanese head, clutching the Statute of Liberty, with a slogan "Stop this Monster that Stops at Nothing. PRODUCE to the Limit!" Production was presented as the critical factor in winning the war. Popeye and Bugs Bunny were shown fighting the Japanese, and a short film of Donald Duck attacking Hitler with a tomato was released by Walt Disney. These efforts aimed to combine entertainment with awareness of the war effort.[1]