Parole der Woche
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''Parole der Woche'' ("Slogan of the Week" or "Word of the Week") was a
wall newspaper A wall newspaper or placard newspaper is a hand-lettered or printed newspaper designed to be displayed and read in public places both indoors and outdoors, utilizing vertical surfaces such as walls, boards, and fences. The practice dates back to ...
published by the (propaganda department of the
Nazi Party The Nazi Party, officially the National Socialist German Workers' Party (german: Nationalsozialistische Deutsche Arbeiterpartei or NSDAP), was a far-right politics, far-right political party in Germany active between 1920 and 1945 that crea ...
) from 1937 to 1943. Historian
Jeffrey Herf Jeffrey C. Herf (born April 24, 1947) is an American historian of Modern European, in particular, modern German history. He is Distinguished University Professor of modern European at the University of Maryland, College Park. Biography He was born ...
describes ''Parole der Woche'' as "the most ubiquitous and intrusive aspect of Nazism’s visual offensive ... no form of Nazi visual propaganda made so crucial a contribution to the regime’s presentation of ongoing events".


Establishment

Herf suggests that the Nazi artist
Hans Schweitzer Hans Schweitzer (25 July 1901 – 15 September 1980), known as Mjölnir, or Mjoelnir was an artist who produced many posters for the Nazi Party (NSDAP) under Adolf Hitler. In Teutonic mythology, Mjölnir is the name of Thor's hammer. He was recr ...
was influential in the establishment of ''Parole der Woche'', which began to publish in October 1937. An article in ''Unser Wille und Weg'', the internal newsletter of the RPL, stated in June 1936: On 23 September 1939, shortly after the outbreak of
World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...
, Nazi propaganda minister
Joseph Goebbels Paul Joseph Goebbels (; 29 October 1897 – 1 May 1945) was a German Nazi politician who was the ''Gauleiter'' (district leader) of Berlin, chief propagandist for the Nazi Party, and then Reich Minister of Propaganda from 1933 to 19 ...
emphasized the importance of posters to Nazi propaganda efforts, "above all" ''Parole der Woche''.


Themes and influence

''Parole der Woche'' combined multiple styles including those of
editorial An editorial, or leading article (UK) or leader (UK) is an article written by the senior editorial people or publisher of a newspaper, magazine, or any other written document, often unsigned. Australian and major United States newspapers, suc ...
s, leaflets,
posters A poster is a large sheet that is placed either on a public space to promote something or on a wall as decoration. Typically, posters include both textual and graphic elements, although a poster may be either wholly graphical or wholly text. ...
, and
tabloid journalism Tabloid journalism is a popular style of largely sensationalist journalism (usually dramatized and sometimes unverifiable or even blatantly false), which takes its name from the tabloid newspaper format: a small-sized newspaper also known as ...
. Although antisemitism was marginal in ''Parole der Woche'' until 1940, it later became a major theme, with one-third of the posters from 1941 to 1943 expressing antisemitism. Six issues dealt with ''
Germany Must Perish! ''Germany Must Perish!'' is a 104-page book written by Theodore N. Kaufman, which he self-published in 1941 in the United States. The book advocated the sterilization of all Germans and the territorial dismemberment of Germany, believing that t ...
'' and the supposed Jewish-Allied intention to exterminate the German population. The posters repeatedly accused Jews of starting the war and intending to exterminate Germans. On the day before the
German declaration of war against the United States On 11 December 1941, four days after the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor and the United States declaration of war against the Japanese Empire, Nazi Germany declared war against the United States, in response to what was claimed to be a series ...
, ''Parole der Woche'' published an issue with a chart showing the supposed international Jewish conspiracy which connected Roosevelt, Churchill, and Stalin. Herf argues that to Germans who had no other sources of information, "The image and text of the wall newspaper offered a seemingly compelling explanation of how the Jews, so few in number, could have been so successful in plotting against Germany." In this poster and others, antisemitism was combined with
anti-Americanism Anti-Americanism (also called anti-American sentiment) is prejudice, fear, or hatred of the United States, its government, its foreign policy, or Americans in general. Political scientist Brendon O'Connor at the United States Studies Centr ...
,
Anglophobia Anti-English sentiment or Anglophobia (from Latin ''Anglus'' "English" and Greek φόβος, ''phobos'', "fear") means opposition to, dislike of, fear of, hatred of, or the oppression and persecution of England and/or English people.''Oxford ...
, and the conspiracy theory of
Jewish Bolshevism Jewish Bolshevism, also Judeo–Bolshevism, is an anti-communist and antisemitic canard, which alleges that the Jews were the originators of the Russian Revolution in 1917, and that they held primary power among the Bolsheviks who led the revo ...
. The posters were published at the size of , or alternatively , in landscape. They were designed to be read by multiple people simultaneously from a distance of a few feet and used colors and graphics to attract, even compel, attention. Along with the posters, the Nazi Party also published miniature versions the size of
playing cards A playing card is a piece of specially prepared card stock, heavy paper, thin cardboard, plastic-coated paper, cotton-paper blend, or thin plastic that is marked with distinguishing motifs. Often the front (face) and back of each card has a fi ...
, which were often attached to official communications. Around 125,000 poster-size copies were printed of each issue and posted in "every imaginable public place", such that, according to Herf, people in Germany "could not avoid" seeing it. In Spring/Summer 1940, the Nazi Party reported that there were 63,121 orders for the poster: 34,635 from the
German Labor Front The German Labour Front (german: Deutsche Arbeitsfront, ; DAF) was the labour organisation under the Nazi Party which replaced the various independent trade unions in Germany during Adolf Hitler's rise to power. History As early as March 1933, ...
, 10,940 from doctors' organizations, and 5,960 from the owners of bars, restaurants, and similar businesses. On May 5, 1943, the Reich Propaganda Directorate in Berlin informed regional propaganda offices that it was ending the Word of the Week due to the demands of war putting pressure on budgets and the calling up of more party members for active duty. The posters were noted for their heavy use of
exclamation marks The exclamation mark, , or exclamation point (American English), is a punctuation mark usually used after an interjection or exclamation to indicate strong feelings or to show emphasis. The exclamation mark often marks the end of a sentence, f ...
, a hallmark of NS-Deutsch—the form of the German language used by the Nazi regime.


Spoof

From 1942 to 1945, small-sized spoof versions were produced as
black propaganda Black propaganda is a form of propaganda intended to create the impression that it was created by those it is supposed to discredit. Black propaganda contrasts with gray propaganda, which does not identify its source, as well as white propaganda ...
by the
Political Warfare Executive During World War II, the Political Warfare Executive (PWE) was a British clandestine body created to produce and disseminate both white and black propaganda, with the aim of damaging enemy morale and sustaining the morale of countries occupied ...
and dropped by Allied aircraft over Germany. On 11 March 1943, Allied aircraft distributed a leaflet about German victory: Propaganda Warfare Executive manager
Sefton Delmer Denis Sefton Delmer (24 May 1904, Berlin, Germany – 4 September 1979, Lamarsh, Essex) was a British journalist of Australian heritage and propagandist for the British government during the Second World War. Fluent in German, he became friendly ...
wrote that this leaflet was a deliberate parody of a similar genuine ''Parole der Woche'' leaflet which spoke of actual German victories. In late 1943, one of these leaflets contained a quote misattributed to Hitler: "If the German people should collapse beneath its present burden, I would shed no tears for it—it would deserve its fate..." In 1944, one leaflet stated "We want a leader by the
grace of God Divine grace is a theological term present in many religions. It has been defined as the divine influence which operates in humans to regenerate and sanctify, to inspire virtuous impulses, and to impart strength to endure trial and resist temptati ...
and not a murderer from
Berchtesgaden Berchtesgaden () is a municipality in the district Berchtesgadener Land, Bavaria, in southeastern Germany, near the border with Austria, south of Salzburg and southeast of Munich. It lies in the Berchtesgaden Alps, south of Berchtesgaden; the ...
!" This slogan became especially popular with anti-Nazi Germans and those who considered the war hopeless.


References


Sources

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External links


Many issues
for view at
United States Holocaust Memorial Museum The United States Holocaust Memorial Museum (USHMM) is the United States' official memorial to the Holocaust. Adjacent to the National Mall in Washington, D.C., the USHMM provides for the documentation, study, and interpretation of Holocaust hi ...
website
Issues
at Randall Bytwerk's website {{Nazi propaganda Nazi newspapers 1936 establishments in Germany 1945 disestablishments in Germany