Nazi Propaganda
Nazi officers and politicians had a great influence over what beliefs and principles were ideal during WW2 in Germany. In 1940, a series of quotation posters were issued by the Propaganda Office of the Hitler Youth Headquarters in an attempt to persuade the youth of Germany into working towards the future success and maintenance of Hitler’s “empire”. One poster reads, “German currency is today no longer the object of speculation by the Jews and financiers, but rather the reward of labor. What our fathers achieved must also be valuable to us, to be treated with care and economy. Every unnecessary purchase is a luxury. All must save for the Führer’s work!” (Bytwerk, 1940) This poster shows how the Hitler Youth headquarters objectifies the Jews, claiming the way to make money before was through the financiers and investments based on knowledge from the Jews. Now money is a reward for labor, working hard for your country is the most important thing in order to value what the Nazi’s have achieved. Money is only to be spent on the necessities, as this will save money for Hitler’s work. The headquarters was heavily focused on calling out those youth who did not invest in the Nazi parties work as seen in another quotation poster, “Whether in school or the work place, or serving in the HJ or BDM, whether at home with your mothers: everywhere you have tasks that you must fulfill if you want to say that you are Adolf Hitler’s proper German boys and girls.” (Bytwerk, 1940) For clarification the HJ stands for Hitler-Jugend or “Hitler Youth”, made up of males aged fourteen to eighteen and similarly the BDM, Bund Deutscher Mädel or “League of German Girls”, was made up of females aged fourteen to eighteen. The poster in a way devalues the youth, saying if you aren’t fulfilling your tasks and duties to the Nazi party then you aren’t a proper German boy or girl. Several more of the quotation posters explain the same arguments in different words but with the same message of