While I was in London working with the Canadian Women's Army Corps at the Canadian Military Headquarters, I experienced a whole new way of life. Everything was new and lots of things came at me from all sides. What struck me the most was the propaganda.Back in Canada, propaganda was mainly in the form of posters. The government saturated the country with them - they were stuck on buses, shop windows, billboards, theaters...Some of them were inspiring, others motivating. However, this was not enough and conscription was introduced again in 1944.
In Britain, there were also posters everywhere, and some censorship. Newspapers were careful about what they printed, trying to keep a balance between informing the nation about the events of the war and keeping the country calm and upbeat. Newsreels were produced that exaggerated the relationship between Britain and America. BBC was told that they could not report on any government activity until two weeks after it had taken place, so that they could act without the general public pressuring them. The overall aim for British propaganda was to keep the citizens of England hopeful and optimistic, as well as encourage men and women to join the army. Believe me, it worked. Even when the country was being bombed night and day by the Germans, the English remained bright and cheerful.
Once in a while, I would hear a bit of the propaganda going on in Germany, either through the radio or stories soldiers brought back with them. The German propaganda was scary. Everything was under Nazi control - newspapers, magazines, the radio, music, literature...I once heard part of a speech given by Hitler on the radio. It was horrible. Although I could not understand a word of it, the forcefulness with which he spoke, the sickening triumph in his voice, the cheering voices of millions and millions of people...Soldiers came back from Germany telling stories of how the Allies were being portrayed as cowardly murderers, the Americans evil gangsters and Germany as the greatest, finest country of all. Hitler was brainwashing thousands and thousands of people.
What was the most unnatural of the Nazi propaganda was the targeting of the Jews. It was sickening. Propaganda was a weapon of war. In Britain and Canada, it inspired me. In Germany, it was terrifying. It was wrong.
Did you ever come into contact with German propaganda? Was propaganda in your country convincing? Do you agree with me that it was a weapon of war?
I stayed in Canada for the most part of the war but I did get a chance to go to Britain for a little bit. Before the war began, I was doing my groceries as usual and that is where I saw a poster advertising for the Women's Royal Canadian Naval Service. That is how I first enlisted to become a Wren. It said by joining that I would be "freeing a man for the fleet." I thought that the more men in battle, the better the chance we would have in winning the war, so it was rather convincing. While I was training in Ontario, I noticed propaganda was increasing. Everywhere I went, there would be more and more signs for soldiers to enlist in war. When I was in Britain, I did notice just as much propaganda on the streets. I do have to admit that if I was a woman living in Britain, I would sure find all of it very convincing. I remember one of the posters I saw was about a scary looking Nazi that was eating all of the countries that they conquered. That really made me scared but as you said, it did inspire me. The propaganda in Britain and Canada would really appeal to your emotions and your sense of national pride. In Germany, it was definitely a weapon of war. I have never been to Germany but I'm sure that it must have been the worse. Just from the news, it sounds like a terrible place and most of the Germans who really want nothing to do with war have no say in anything.
ReplyDeleteI was always a nurse before I recruited with the other nursing sisters in the war so propaganda didn’t really affect me in any way. Either way I did see posters around Canada persuading women to become nurses because the country needed them. The posters showed women that wore a nice clean nurse outfit and smiling very happily. I agree with the poster that being a nurse is a very rewarding job that could definitely make you smile but the amount of deaths or tragedies they faced could turn that smile upside down! I also agree the outfits were nice, I was very fond of the nice light blue color of it but it was definitely not kept as clean as the poster’s! We would be facing injured men everyday and stood on floors that were usually pools of blood. If the posters added some blood stains onto their outfits, that would be much more realistic. As for German propaganda, I didn’t really have time to observe them. After I enlisted into the war, I was serving in every country but my home and spent all my time taking care of patients. Even though I never got to take a good look at them, I did talk to a British soldier who told me about how sickening propaganda was in Germany. The soldier said they portrayed the Jews as evil beings and people we could never trust, the British soldier said that back at home, he had a good friend who was a Jew and what they were advertising was definitely not true. The soldier also said that he never wanted to enlist into this war, he was very passionate about his studies and wanted to have a professional job as a teacher in the future. Propaganda in his country made many of his friends join the war because of how powerful and glorifying some posters made the soldiers look. After he saw all his friends join the war, he was quickly pressured to join also or he would be called a coward for not taking a stand for his country. I certainly believe that propaganda was a weapon for the war because those advertisements were brain washing people and giving everyone false ideas on what reality was really like! They could make people who had absolutely no interest in something do it or change someone’s established image into something completely new! I do not agree with propaganda, if the government wants to get people doing something, they should use better methods and not cheat.
ReplyDeleteIt is hard to believe that posters and speeches were capable of brainwashing the sense right out of people and changing their morals and values, but it happened alright. Was it wrong? Of course; but it was not stopped early enough. By the time the world had put a critical eye on what was happening, fear had already set in and Hitler had Germans in the palm of his hands. Tragic, but true. Though I was never directly exposed to the propaganda in Europe, the success of its capabilities were shown with each day of Hitler’s power run.
ReplyDeletePropaganda is what motivated me to get the job at the factory. Employers knew that there was absolutely no way to keep up production with all of their men at war, so their only alternative was to recruit women. They used extensive amounts of propaganda to promote us to take the place of men in the factories. In America, the poster of the muscular female working character, Rosie the Riveter, was used to get women involved. Rosie was not only very feminine and beautiful, she looked great in her working clothes and presented a favourable image of a working woman who was serving her country. In Canada, we were Bren Gun Girls and propaganda portrayed us as vital members of society who directly helped the war effort. Did the propaganda work? If you consider 261,000 female workers a good number, then I guess so!
Over the years and my travels during the war, I have been exposed to many different countries' propaganda. I even had to gather intelligence on it once. Through the propaganda, we hoped to gain some insight into how the enemy thought...
ReplyDeleteIt was truly amazing to see the effects of propaganda. At the same time, it was saddening to see so many people brainwashed to lay their lives down for such a cause...
Propaganda is undoubtedly a weapon of war!
Propaganda back at home and overseas were completely different. Back at home, propaganda to join the RCAF was huge. Advertisements were basically attempting to get Canadian citizens to enlist to become a RCAF combat striker. The majority of the people who enlisted were men. Some advertisements encouraged young Canadian women, aged 21 to 41 to join the Royal Canadian Air Force. Advertisements to enlist appeared on billboards, shop windows, theaters, buses streetcars and even matchbox covers. If you weren’t part of the RCAF, women were housekeepers, factory workers, feeding the children, or nursing. Propaganda towards women was aimed at persuading us to become involved in supporting the war effort. Some also encouraged us to fill roles previously filled by men, who were now fighting in battle.
ReplyDeleteOverseas, propaganda was much different. Some women RCAF pilots, received orders to fly planes that males had refused to fly. The hope to this idea was to make the men fly the planes and to face their fears. This endeavor was successful but put a negative stereotype on women. “If a woman can do it, anyone can”. I felt compelled when all men think they are better than us women. Eventually even the Army recognized how undignified that attitude was to the women pilots.
I think my dad was the James Sawyer mentioned. US Army.
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