German Propaganda Archive Calvin University

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Background: The Nazi propaganda apparatus kept functioning almost to the end. This page has links to a variety of propaganda publications from Gau Sachsen between November 1944 and April 1945. The material went to lower-level propagandists (a distribution list is at the end of each issue). These were people in daily contact with their fellow citizens, and the material aimed at providing them with plausible arguments to use in daily discussions.

The war situation was grim and steadily worsening, and Germans by the end of the war were highly suspicious of their own propaganda. The key arguments that recur throught the material are that the Allies have serious supply problems, that new German weapons are turning the tide of the war, that German forces are fighting effectively and bravely. Additionally, there is heavy reliance on reports from the foreign press (which Germany got though neutral nations like Spain, Portugal, and Sweden). To Germans unused to a relatively free press, such reports had greater credibility than their own news sources.

I translate from the copies at the German National Library in Leizpig, which was the equivalent of the American Library of Congress. The "geheim” note in pencil at the top of some items is post-war. Leipzig fell into the Soviet zone of occupation. The librarians did not destroy items from the Nazi period, but made them almost inaccessible. All kinds of interesting things were suddenly available after 1989.

The source: Various items from the German National Library in Leipzig.


Propaganda Advice from Gau Sachsen: 1944-1945


Politischer Informationsdienst: Advice for party leaders

Informationsdienst für die Zellensabende im November 1944: Guidelines for meetings of party members.

[Page copyright © 2015 by Randall Bytwerk. No unauthorized reproduction. My e-mail address is available on the FAQ page.]


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