World War II: The Power and Impact of Propaganda

World War II propaganda was displayed and spread through various methods by both the Allied and Axis powers. The type of propaganda created heavily relied on its effectiveness and the response generated by its intended audience. Designers had to decide what medium was best for the situation, depending on how many people and what kind of people would view it (Navarro). Propaganda was changed based on the area in which it was displayed in an attempt to gain support from various ethnic and racial groups. For instance, and African American soldier would be depicted on a poster in an African American area, as opposed to a white soldier ("World War II Propaganda").
The “heroes” portrayed in the propaganda, no matter the nation it came from, were also designed to be considered conventionally attractive. However, the nation’s enemies were depicted as ugly and unattractive so they would be perceived as more evil. The enemy was shown as awful and innately cruel. American propaganda often displayed the rights and personal freedoms that enemy nations had violated. By showing how other countries were purely evil, nations were able to convince their citizens that they were on the “right” side of the war (Navarro). Shaping public opinion is the main goal of propaganda, and countries were desperate to have influence over the

information their citizens received. In Germany, the government agency Ministry of People's Enlightenment and Propaganda was created to spread the ideas associated with Nazi Germany and the Third Reich ("World War II Propaganda"). While the United States was one of the later countries to begin the use of propaganda, the office of War Information was created to regulate the distribution of American war messages (Bird and Rubenstein).
As technology advanced, films became more commonly used as a method of spreading ideologies and information during World War II. Film productions companies such as Disney played a large role in America's propaganda machine. The cartoon “Der Fuehrer's Face” was able to bring humor to a dark situation and restore American morale. Another Disney short film, “The Spirit of ‘43”, was able to persuade Americans to aid the war effort. When polled, around one third of the twenty-six million Americans who viewed the cartoon claimed that it helped convince them to save money and pay their taxes (Stillich).
While some films created during the time period were intended to be humorous and uplifting, more serious documentaries were also a popular genre of film produced. Even Disney was well known for its film “Education for Death: The Making of the Nazi”, a somber documentary depicting the hate-filled education of German children (Stillich). The director Frank Capra, most famously known for his film It’s a Wonderful Life, was recruited by Army Chief of Staff George C. Marshall to create a documentary series for the United States government. His series Why We Fight became increasingly popular across the country. However, the information expressed in the documentary and others like it were commonly accepted as impartial facts, when in actuality they contained extremely based propaganda. In his series, Capra took propaganda footage from Axis countries and edited it to portray America’s enemies in the most negative light as possible (Navarro). Although, America was not the only country using film to influence the war effort. The Nazi regime produced several films such as “The Eternal Jew” to promote their Anti-Semitic ideology and hatred of various ethnic, religious, and social groups. The famous German actress and dancer Leni Riefenstahl was even used as a spokesperson to gain support for the Nazi party ("World War II Propaganda").
The advancement of technology also brought about the popularity of the radio. The radio was an easily accessible method of spreading information quickly and it allowed people to keep with developments in the war. The radio was most heavily used by the United States in spreading propaganda. Germany used the radio to spread information that would potentially disrupt the French-British alliance. To prevent the spread of false information, the government-funded agency Radio Freedom House was established to disprove German propaganda claims (“World War II Propaganda”).
Literature during the time period surrounding the second World War also transformed how people viewed the war. Most notably, Adolf Hitler’s novel Mein Kampf embodied the Nazi ideology and Hitler’s plans for Germany. The novel expresses Hitler’s desire for a successful nation, the unification of all Germans, and the white supremacist idea of the “purification” of the races ("World War II Propaganda"). Similar ideas of European and German unification were conveyed in the weekly German newspaper Das Reich (Weber). Other letters published letters supposedly sent from German soldiers fighting the Soviet Union. The letters described squalor and starvation the Soviets were living with, while emphasizing the prosperity and superiority of the German people. Hitler extended the popularity of these ideas through speeches as well. In his speech “The Fuhrer to the German People”, Hitler justifies the German attack on the Soviet Union by saying it was necessary for Germany’s survival. His justification for this invasion as well as other would provide the German people with a purpose for fighting the war ("World War II Propaganda").
Magazines also played an important role in determining the prevailing opinion of the American people.

Magazines such as Time and Life published articles that contributed to the growing resentment toward the Japanese after Pearl Harbor (Winkler). Other magazines featured articles that centered around working women to convince women to join the workforce while the men were off at war. Consequently, after the war, these same magazines portrayed women as homemakers and emphasized the traditional role of women in the home. This was in an effort to persuade women to vacate their wartime positions to provide returning veterans with jobs

(Mathis).