The Nazis sold the printed word for 20 cents
The fascist propagandists did not write about the evil deeds. According to the directive of the Chief of Staff of the High Command of the German Armed Forces 6 June 1941, the main goal of the propaganda was to split the Soviet society, stir up national discord, suppress the morale and resistance of the Soviet people, to present the war against the USSR as the liberating mission of Germany fighting allegedly against Stalin , Bolshevism and the Jews.
According to this propaganda directive, the Hitlerite authorities in the occupying territories primarily organized, under the Nazi censorship, the publication of newspapers and other periodicals. To this end, they immediately seized the printing presses. Due to the fact that the leadership of Kalmykia could not evacuate the republican printing house in a timely manner, it was at the disposal of the occupation authorities, the military commander's office, with technical and working personnel and printing equipment. At the head of the printing house, according to the order, signed by the two city heads of the Elista city government, N.P. Trub and B. Tsuglinov, after agreement with the propaganda service of the military commandant’s office, remained the former director of I.G. Lyalkov, and then Dordzhieva was appointed to this post.
In the Elista printing house, the occupiers printed mostly propaganda materials — newspapers, leaflets, posters, texts of announcements of the military commander's office, city administration, as well as various forms. The workers and technical staff of the Elista printing house worked here almost in the same composition, including even the Communists PP Raspopov and A.N. Mandzhiev. However, not all employees of the printing house went to the service of the Germans. Member of the CPSU (b) K.O. Nasunova, who worked as a typesetter in the printing house before the invasion of the fascists, although she could not evacuate, hid in the remote village of the Trinity Ulus and stayed there until the liberation of Elista.
Having seized a large printing press and mobilized its workers, the occupying authorities organized the publication of two propaganda newspapers in Elista: in the Kalmyk language Teegin Heard Steppe Eagle (edited by I. Boldyrev) and in Russian Free Land (editor in charge V. Manuylov ). The Kuban, Kuban and others newspapers were published in the Kuban, Volny Rostov, Golos Rostov, the Don, the Dawn of the Caucasus, Morning of the Caucasus, the Stavropol Word and others were published in the Stavropol region. According to historian A.V. Okorokova, in the temporarily occupied territories of the Soviet Union, the fascists organized the publication of more than 300 newspapers in the 30 languages of the peoples of the USSR.
The first copy of the newspaper “Free Land” was released almost two weeks after the occupation, September 6 1942, on Tuesday, in a small format, costing 20 kopecks. The next issue of 4 October came out with an enlarged newspaper format; it was already printed on two full sheets. The periodicity was maintained - three times a week (Tuesday, Thursday, Sunday), the price of the specimen was increased to 50 kopecks. Neither the publisher, nor the editor, nor the circulation were indicated in the newspaper. The materials in two newspapers were mainly printed without the names of the authors, with the exception of the articles by the head of the health department of the city council I.F. Ageeva, who actively and openly spoke on the pages of Free Land.
By the nature, the compilation and focus of the articles, it is felt that professional German propagandists worked in the editorial offices of both newspapers, and the former Soviet correspondents in the style of presentation. Publications show that Hitler's propaganda acted according to a strictly defined pattern from above, in accordance with the instructions of the Goebbels department, making only adjustments to recent events, taking into account the captured region.
From the “Free Land” editorial from 20 September 1942, “Why the war rages,” it is clear that the Nazis in Kalmykia began to instil in the population of the occupied territory the idea that the outbreak of war was provoked by the Bolsheviks, by Stalin: , especially with its great neighbors England, France and Russia. Hitler, not wanting to spread the war, concluded a non-aggression pact with the Soviet Union. But Stalin, in agreement with England, decided to attack Germany. I had to preempt him. ” Do you feel how familiar this fascist ideological scheme is in some of today's books? This is especially true of a certain Victor Suvorov with his "Icebreaker". A number of historians and public figures also continue this fascist propaganda line.
A curious fact, then the author of the editorial for credibility even referred to Lenin: “Stalin concluded with England, the United States, that is, with the toughest enemies of socialism, who trample down the rights of the working people, with those countries that Lenin called for and against whose destruction. You have been deceived. In fact, Stalin did not care about you, he did not care about peace and the well-being of the working class, he wanted world domination for himself and for the Jews. ”
The editorial ended with the words: "German troops will help you in the execution of your passionate work: under the protection of National Socialism, to become free people on a free land."
Along with such articles, a significant place was given to the analysis of policies of repression, collectivization, dispossession in the USSR. These well-known facts, the harsh accusations of Bolshevism, and the Soviet authorities led to the idea that only Germany could save the people of the Soviet Union from Stalinist tyranny. This topic was devoted to a series of articles “Bolshevism - the name of a huge terrible prison”, which was published in seven issues (No. 1-7) of a newspaper in Russian signed by V. Manuilov. The alleged victims and eyewitnesses were also involved in covering this subject.
On the front pages of the newspapers a special section was published, "Summary of the High Command of the German Army." It described in detail about military events in the nearby regions, on the Stalingrad and Caucasian fronts, about the imminent completion of the rout of the Soviet troops, which allegedly lost their combat readiness. For example, the report placed in No. 2 of September 8, 1942 reported: “From August 25 to September 4, the Soviet aviation lost 1062 aircraft, of which 812 were shot down in air battles. Germany for the same period of time lost 49 aircraft on the Eastern Front.
In the editorial “Fighting in the southern sector of the front,” the great success of the German army and the plight of the Soviet troops was said: “From the beginning of the spring fighting, considered to be from the battles on the Kerch Peninsula, to the end of the battle in the bend of the Don, the German and Allied forces captured 1 044 741 person; captured 6 271 tank, 10 131 guns of all types. The enemy lost 4 960 aircraft in air battles.
Up to the entourage of Paulus 6, the newspaper Free Land sought to present materials about the successes of the German army not only in all sectors of the Eastern Front, but also in others. Therefore, its pages in October-November 1942 were filled with such messages: “In Stalingrad, in fierce street battles, new quarters of the northern part of the city were taken” (No. 14 from October 6), “In Stalingrad, the German troops captured the tractor plant named after Dzerzhinsky and the Red Barricades gun factory (No. 19 from October 18), "In the Caucasus, German and Romanian troops occupied the city of Nalchik" (No. 25 from November NNXX), "Long live Rommel" (No. 1 from October 19).
After the 21 of November 1942 closed the ring around the 6 Army, other German and Romanian units, not only the tone of the official chronicles of the fronts, but also the font, the text of the reports became less. So, in the report of the High Command of Germany for 24 in November 1942 of the year it was reported sparingly: “In the Caucasus, the bad weather prevented great military operations. South-west of Stalingrad, in a large bend of the Don, Soviet troops ruthlessly sacrificing people and materials broke into the Don defensive front. ” Not a word was said about the five German corps as part of the 19 German divisions, two Romanian, most of the artillery, and large engineering units of the Eastern Front.
Leading the propaganda of their victories, claiming the supposedly catastrophic situation of the Soviet state, the occupants resorted to tricks using the real facts of the meetings, speeches of the leaders of the Communist Party and the government. They tried to lead the inhabitants of the occupied territories to the idea that Soviet leaders admit defeat, hopelessness of the situation. Thus, in the editorial “Recognition of Kalinin” (No. 37 from November 17) it was said that M.I. Kalinin received leading Komsomol-collective farmers in the Kremlin and addressed them with a great speech (indeed, there was such a meeting). The following are some of the statements from his speeches with a correspondingly distorted interpretation. “The war that our state is leading,” said Kalinin, “is very heavy and bloody. The Germans managed to draw the armies of a number of states into the war on their side, and we have to fight with a number of European states alone. ”
“This is a very valuable confession from the representative of the government of the USSR,” the article emphasized, “until now, the population of the USSR only heard about the allies, their help, solidarity, and then suddenly it turns out that we have to fight alone.” The article concluded with the conclusion: "This is the first speech of a representative of the Soviet government, with full frankness recognizing to the entire population of the Soviet Union the absolutely disastrous situation of the country."
German propagandists did not forget to instill in the population the superiority of the German economy, including livestock, a more close and understandable industry to the people of Kalmykia. In the article "The military-economic opportunities of Germany after three years of war" (the newspaper "Free Land", No. 22 of October 25), it was noted that "the production of military weapons in our state is in good condition: Tanks, guns and so on are developed in series, according to plans drawn up, at the front there is no shortage of weapons. For this, farm productivity should be as high as possible, which we have. ”
In connection with the development of the partisan movement on the territory of Kalmykia, the occupation authorities attempted to take preventive measures against it that were defamatory. 20 September 1942 of the year appeared in the same newspaper an article “To clear the steppe from Bolshevik filth”, signed by B. Tsuglinov, head of the Elista city government. He tried to convince the population of the futility of fighting a well-armed German army. The author explained that small, unorganized and not equipped groups of people acting on the principle of "partisan", can not achieve anything and do any harm to the Germans. At the same time, he urged the population not to assist them, but to actively join in the struggle on the side of the fascists "to eliminate the partisan banditry cultivated by the Bolsheviks."
The enemy’s propaganda tried to convince the population that the Germans had come to save the peoples of the USSR from Bolshevism, to build a new life, to help them in the development of culture, education, to restore lost traditions and customs. Therefore, in the pages of the newspapers, the opening of an elementary school, a prayer house, a performance by the force of amateur artists who were driven away (for the amusement of German soldiers) were presented as a boon of the occupation authorities.
October 22 1942 of the year in the newspaper in Russian reported that "classes began in schools." In fact, it was about two primary schools with a contingent of students in 120 and 165, in the curriculum of which German was also included.
The opening of these schools and the introduction of new training programs fully complied with the Nazi concept of education for the population in the eastern regions, as outlined by the Reichsfuhrer SS Himmler in the report to Hitler 25 in May 1940. According to Himmler, “for the non-German population of the eastern regions there should be no high schools. For him, it is enough to have a four-year folk school. The purpose of training in this school should be only a simple score, at most up to 500, to learn to sign, instill obedience to the Germans. ”
On the pages of many issues of the newspaper “Free Land” there were such headings: “The Church and the Khurul are Reopened”, “Freedom of Religion”, “The Theater of Elista Resumed Work” and others. They necessarily emphasized that this was due to the merit of the command of the military commander's office, city government. Described their grand opening with the participation of the leadership of the Nazi government structures.
Particularly distinguished by this article I.F. Ageeva, head of the public health department of the city government, praising the achievements of German medicine, its development, and, allegedly, with the advent of the Nazis, the possibilities of raising medical services for the population. In these same articles, he constantly tried to blacken and diminish the Soviet health care system, to question in general the presence in Kalmykia of qualified medical assistance.
On the pages of newspapers a significant place was allocated for placing announcements (about recruiting for the police, introducing curfews, registering the population, etc.), notices about the introduction of various taxes from the population, delivery of products (milk, eggs, vegetables, potatoes, flour), cattle, birds, warm clothes, shoes.
Sources: Nuremberg process: a collection of materials. T.3. M., 1989 year.
Okorokov A.V. Special front. German propaganda on the Eastern Front during the Second World War. M., 2007.
Dashichev V.I. Hitler's strategy is the road to disaster. M., 2005 year.
State archive of the Rostov region. F. P-1. Op. 3. D. 868.
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