What was the main mistake of Dr. Goebbels
Today we will talk about such a useful thing as agitation and propaganda. Yes, in our age, posters are exhibits of museums, but the XNUMXth century has shown how useful this kind of propaganda as an art poster can be. Especially in the occupied territories.
It is on this type of propaganda that we will now focus our attention. And since the topic is quite voluminous, we will talk about counter-propaganda in another article.
So, German posters from the times of the Great Patriotic War for the peoples of the occupied territories.
I must say that there were no other options for conveying various ideas. The Germans tried to publish newspapers in the occupied territories, but here German logic collided with Russian resourcefulness. As soon as printing houses were opened, sets began to disappear, with the help of which leaflets were printed right there, on handicraft machines assembled. The radio was seized by both sides, since the radio at that time was a source of information for scouts behind enemy lines, in addition, it turned out that using a radio receiver with a signal from almost Moscow it was possible to undermine the commandant's office in Kiev. So it’s better not to risk it, and there is nothing for the peoples to listen to enemy voices.
So the poster has become very common on pillars and walls, not only in the occupied territories of the USSR, but throughout Europe. Examples will be below.
It is known that to work with the inhabitants of the occupied regions, Goebbels created a whole department, which was called "Vineta". In general, the name is so-so, it is a kind of analogue of our Kitezh-grad, only Vineta was located at the mouth of the Oder and was swallowed up by the Baltic Sea. They say - for the crimes of its inhabitants, who have become a model of savagery and immorality. In general, "Vineta" also did not finish very well.
But while the war was going on, "Vineta" became the main tool for processing the minds of the inhabitants of the Eastern Territories. Brochures, posters, leaflets, newspapers, gramophone records, movie clips - everything went into action.
Naturally, the head of the department was a German. Moreover, they were very enlightened and educated people. At the end of the war, for example, "Vinetu" was headed by a native of Moscow, a former teacher of the history department of Moscow State University, Herman Greife. But naturally, mostly collaborators worked in the departments.
It is probably worth mentioning some of them. Alexander Albov, White Guard emigrant, lieutenant of the Izmailovsky regiment, full of St. George's Knight. General Vasily Biskupsky, head of the personnel department of Vinety. Members of the NTS, an émigré anti-Soviet organization, willingly went to Vineta. Igor Novosiltsev, Boris Bruno, Alexey Shermazanov, Sergey Iegulov, Andrey Borovsky, Georgy Shirobokov, Yuri Izmestiev. Sergei Nabokov, brother of the famous writer, was noted for his participation in the work of Vineta.
The department received a lot of employees from the occupied territories and from former prisoners of war.
However, it should be said that there were those who did not fall for the "house in the village" and rations. The best examples in stories Anton Ivanovich Denikin and officers of his headquarters can serve: Colonel Pyotr Vladimirovich Koltyshev, Major General Vyacheslav Grigorievich Baranov, Lieutenant General Pyotr Semenovich Makhrov.
Now about Vineta's products. It is clear that the agitation was directed primarily at the inhabitants of the occupied territories, and here gentlemen emigrants and collaborators worked with all their hearts. The fact that the soul was rotten is, as they say, aspects.
All products can be clearly divided into several periods. In the initial period, it was mainly about advertising the German soldier-liberator from Stalin's "Judeo-Bolshevik regime". And, of course, that the grateful liberated people, to whom all this was addressed, had to work tirelessly and fruitfully for the good of the Third Reich.
Naturally, the issue of the fact that in the "liberated territories" there were those who did not really want "liberation" were not ignored either.
Agree, a strong poster. For 1941. Such confidence that Germany would win was evident in every line. I do not rule out that the authors sincerely believed in this and even counted on the fact that something would break off for them for their creative work.
Here are two examples of explicit enumeration. Neither Stalin nor Churchill were Jews. Okay, Churchill could have everything there, in principle, but Stalin ... However, Goebbels himself said that a good mouthpiece and 1% of truthful information are needed for the result.
The main mistake of Dr. Goebbels is precisely here: the drawings were too different from the real. Yes, no doubt, there were quite a few people in the occupied territories who had reason to hate the communist system. And who were happy to cooperate with the new authorities. However, they were not the majority. So here is the very case when propaganda played in the opposite direction.
And work again. And again, those who saw these posters saw the difference between the promised and the actual. Yes, perhaps many would not mind working. But not where they were taken by echelons according to orders. Hence, to put it mildly, a great desire not to go to Germany and work for its good, but to go into the forest and, if possible, undermine the rails along which the next train with goods produced "for the good" will travel from Germany.
And the further from the blissful 1941, the more the idea of the posters changed. That's noticeable.
Have you read it? Oh sure. Where else could you get at least some information? However, I do not exclude at all that the picture is staged.
It should be noted that the European departments of Vineta worked with no less passion. It was necessary to ensure the power over the brains in all countries, so that even there they could calmly work for the Reich. I think this series will show well that not only the brains of Russians, Ukrainians and the peoples of the Caucasus were processed, there are posters that were hung in Bulgaria, Yugoslavia, Belgium, Holland.
And of course, one cannot ignore the separate work on sculpting passes for captivity. Actually, it worked for the first time. Plus, to be honest, the command of the Red Army itself created many opportunities in the first year of the war precisely so that the soldiers preferred captivity. It happened in our history.
You must admit that the rules of conduct for defectors were written by an intelligent person. A good instruction, perhaps it worked well, fortunately, there were more literate people in the USSR than in the previous war.
Or you can do it without gaps. All the same, a one-way road, in fact. But here, too, is a so-so moment, they would say right away, give up, whoever can, we'll figure it out. And then with passes, then without ...
But, in general, well done. The main thing is that they promise life, feeding, medical care and, in general, "good treatment." And most importantly - work! Working for the Reich should be happiness for every person.
War requires many resources. And someone has to produce these resources. And therefore - everything is in Germany, there is "work and bread". But in general, it doesn't look very good. Bread is good. The question is how much work and how much bread. This is the difference between legal work and legal slavery.
Apparently, work and bread in such quantities have become not the kind of paradise life dreamed of in the occupied territories. Hence the ever-increasing resistance. And - first - persuasion with posters.
Fig from the Red Army for the partisans. Considering that the partisan movement was created and supervised by the structures of the NKVD, this is almost true. Another question is that "...everything for the Victory", respectively, everyone helped. BUT Vineta was not aware of this.
Sh.VZ. - the abbreviation "bayonet in the ground" ...
What can be said as a result? All in all, a good job. Of course, things were getting more and more colorful for Europe, but there were no such problems with the Europeans as with the Soviets. Europe quietly churned out the whole war Tanks, guns, airplanes, rifles and other necessary things. There was no need to agitate the Czechoslovakians, they plowed like the Stakhanovites. Therefore, the posters are brighter and more beautiful.
In the occupied territories, pay attention, the further you go, the easier it is. In one or two colors, because why waste paint and throw beads. It doesn't matter who wanted to - he went to the partisans and you will lure these people with posters to paradise with work and bread.
The main mistake of Goebbels and his apparatus was the expectation that the "uneducated and dark" (that is to say, stupid) Soviet people would go for agitation like a donkey for a carrot. Alas, the frames were a little different. The former White Guards simply were not aware of all the changes that have taken place in the country during the 20 years of Soviet power. Relying on their own memories of not the most educated people, the "crystal bakers", of course, did a great job. The problem is that what was declared did not correspond to reality.
The arrival of defectors and collaborators on the information front, of course, corrected the situation. But it was already a little late. After 1942, when Germany became very much in need of workers' hands, the recruitment of the same Ostarbeiters was replaced by violent hijacking.
As a result, we got a situation where one thing was declared, but in reality something completely different turned out. And the flow of volunteers to work dried up very quickly. But the influx into the partisan detachments increased to a certain extent.
A big gap in the workaholic of the information front from among the white emigrants and traitors was that in the Soviet territories they very quickly realized that agitation, in essence, does not carry the truth. Although in relation to workers in Germany there are many documents confirming fairly decent living conditions, nevertheless, 1% of the truth, even with a very good mouthpiece, is not enough for a people who can think and understand. Therefore, the beautiful waste paper from Vineta has remained waste paper.
And in the end it is natural. But alas, hardly anyone brought flowers to the graves of the "liberators" from Germany. So there is already a fairy tale.
The too beautiful tale of liberation from the Jewish shackles of communism was drawn by Dr. Goebbels with his associates. There are too many colorful lies that those who saw everything with their own eyes did not fall for. I don’t know why everything worked so well in Europe, perhaps the fear of communism helped, but for some reason it didn’t work on the territory of the Soviet republics. Probably because in Russia from time immemorial, "A fairy tale is a lie, but there is a hint in it."
By the way, all this is relevant in our time.
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