Herr Dr. Berend's Story
Propaganda aimed at children
WW2 Home | Propaganda
During the Second World War in Germany, propaganda was used at different levels. As there was no television, propaganda was mainly in newspapers, magazines and on the radio. There was also some propaganda in the cinema. This was clever because it was inserted into movies about everyday affairs, for example the Nazis loved movies about romance and so something about sending your man to war could be inserted into this film.
Music also contained propaganda. The Nazis did not like Jazz music and so they made it forbidden to listen to it.
Herr Dr. Berend said "The world is divided into good guys and bad guys. The Germanic race was supposed to be superior and world wide. They were told to act superior. The Jews were considered to be the bad blood. It was the blood that made them bad". He also added "My Biology teacher told me about the bad Jewish blood. When I went home that evening I asked my father who was a doctor, what made the Jewish blood bad? And my Father replied that there were four blood groups, A, B, AB and O. Even for people with different types of skin. My father told me not to go in and question the teacher about it otherwise my father would have got into trouble. I had to be careful not to contradict things."
Most of the propaganda was aimed at young men. They had to be brave without asking any questions. As young men, when they went to the cinema they were shown movies on spitfires being shot down and then a voiceover of "A German boy never cries." These were also in posters.
Others posters were put on the side of buses and trains. One of the posters showed a villain or caricatures of a bad guy, with the words "The enemy is listening." This told people to be quiet about saying anything that other people had said about how the war was going on etc. There were also posters about saving electricity and against the waste of food. They were told to give the waste to animals or cook it the next day. As no oil and gas was used to produce heat for fires, so they used coal, they were told to watch their coal stashes and not to waste it.
Herr Dr. Berend said "My family was very liberal. Things that needed a discussion were discussed. My Uncle brought me a radio home from America. Somehow I managed to get British radio. This was forbidden and if you spoke to anybody about it you would be jailed. I only told my Grandparents, my parents and other members of my family. In a museum I saw an account of a 17 year old boy who listened to British radio and then went round saying about how they were going to lose the war. I then saw later in a museum on another board a note that was written by the German Army to his parents saying Your child was shot this morning. I nearly wept"
Another type of propaganda was leaflets that were dropped by the RAF. Herr Dr. Berend said "The Germans started the war. Stalin helped Hitler by providing the posters and he also helped Hitler to set up some of the first air-raids. The British came at night and the Americans came during the day. One of the leaflets dropped by the RAF was a double-sided poster. On one side it showed Hitler looking stupid whilst speaking to his people. This side read "hat kind of maniac is running your country". This poster was mainly visual. Another leaflet had facts about the number of British planes that were being built each month that could eventually come and get us".
America only joined the war in November 1941 because of the Japanese attacking their navy. Herr Dr. Berend said "Hitler showed how much of an idiot he was for calling war on America. In the following spring of Hitler calling war on America, I remember going to the cinema to see a film - it was a propaganda film. It was made up of news film reels. This film was called Around the Statue of Liberty. The first thing you saw was people wrestling in the mud, sitting on flagpoles for hours on end, farmers throwing wheat on the road. They seemed to be presented as animals. Another thing you saw them doing was dancing to Jazz music. As I have said, this was forbidden in Germany. Although secretly my mother and I was quite enjoying this music. This was supposed to motivate young men to want to join the Hitler Youth to fight against these 'animals".
"When I was 10 years old I was conscripted into the Hitler Youth (the Nazis organisation). This started off as some fun but it turned into pre-military training. For example you had to find your way through a forest, this sounds okay but then we had to do it 2-3 times a week for many hours and often until late at night. To me it seemed like a mixture of boy scouts and the military. Only strict commands were soon given out. When I was 14 I was evacuated to the countryside along with all of the other children in Berlin. In 1944 at the age of 15, I was called upon by the military. Everything seemed to be done with great haste. The same night I was given training on how to work a rifle, a grenade and bazookas. That night I went into an air-raid shelter. It was the Americans last large air-raid. I remember sitting on a box of fuses for hand grenades. Suddenly the cellar door was blown off and thrown into the room. We were trained to help people, so that is what I did. I saw a young girl, which was considered to be very wrong. She asked me to help her child that was stuck in some rubble at the top of the ruined building. I saw the child's leg. I pulled it and the leg came away but no body came away with it. I felt I was in a film only I could see what I was doing from somebody else's eyes.
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Page last updated: 25th February 2014