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Wehrmacht Propaganda Troops and the Jews

Daniel Uziel

  1. See, for example, David Welch, The Third Reich: Politics and Propaganda (London: Routledge, 1993); Josef Wulf, Presse und Funk im Dritten Reich. Eine Dokumentation (Frankfurt am Main: Zeitgeschichte Verlag, 1983); Jay W. Baird, The Mythical World of Nazi War Propaganda 1939-45 (Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press, 1974); Ernest K. Bramstedt, Goebbels und die nationalsozialistische Propaganda (Frankfurt am Main: Fischer, 1971).
  2. Ortwin Buchbender, Das tönende Erz: Deutsche Propaganda gegen die Rote Armee im Zweiten Weltkrieg (Stuttgart: Seewald, 1978), pp. 16-19.
  3. This survey is based largely on the books by Buchbender and von Wedel: Hasso von Wedel, Die Propagandatruppen der deutschen Wehrmacht (Neckargemünd: Scharnhorst Buchkameradschaft, 1962).
  4. D’Alquen is better known as editor-in-chief of the SS periodical Schwarze Korps.
  5. See, for example, von Wedel, Die Propagandatruppen, pp. 25-26, and the general tendency in Hans Leo Martin, Unser Mann bei Goebbels. Verbindungsoffizier des OKW beim Reichspropagandaminister 1940-44 (Neckargemünd: Scharnhorst Buchkameradschaft, 1973). Martin was liaison officer of the WPr. in the Ministry of Propaganda and worked in close association with Goebbels. In spite of the negative remarks his book contains, other testimony indicates that they were on excellent terms and that, in general, they had good working relations.
  6. “Stellungnahme der Pressegruppe zur Berichterstattung der Reichsdeutschen Presse über den Einsatz der Wehrmacht zur Befreiung des Sudetenlandes,” February 1939, Bundesarchiv-Militärarchiv, Freiburg (BAMA), RW4/333, OKW/I Pr. D2.
  7. BA-MA, RH53-18/92, reports VII-B22-106, 107, 110, 125
  8. See eighteen photos preserved in the original file in BA-MA, RH53-18/92.
  9. Ein Typ den jeder kennt.” Hubert Lenz, Gebirgsjäger. Die 1.Gebirgsdivision 1935-45 (Bad-Nauheim: Podzun, 1954), p. 62.
  10. “Weisungen für die Propagandakompanien des Heeres,” September 8, 1939, BA-MA, RW4/185, RMVP/Hauptreferat Bildpresse.
  11. “Propagandaweisung des Reichspropagandaministers für den 2.10.1939, 01.10.1939,” BA-MA, RW4/241/1, WPr.Id to PK501, 649, 637, 621, LwPK1, 4 & LwProp. Zug.
  12. Ufa Tonwoche, Nrs. 474/41/1939, 476/43/1939.
  13. Ufa Tonwoche, Nr. 471/38/1939.
  14. Hippler was Reich Supervisor of Films. WPr. to AOK8/Ic, October 7, 1939, BA-MA, RW4/241.1.
  15. Personal interview by the author with Dr. Fritz Hippler, Berchtesgaden, April 16, 1998.
  16. Joseph Goebbels, Tagebücher, 15 vols., Elke Fröhlich, ed., (Munich: Saur, 1996), October 17, 1939.
  17. “Tätigkeitsbericht der Gruppe Ic/AO des AOK17 für den Monat Januar 1941 (A.H.Qu. Zakopane),” BA-MA, RH20-17/274.
  18. This was stated in the report, but the ghetto in Lublin was not established until March 24, 1941.
  19. “Lageberichte (PK)” Nr.41, February 1-28, 1941, BA-MA, RW4/338, WPr.Id; this is the only detailed report in the files.
  20. Ibid. Nr. 43 (April 1-30, 1941), Nr. 44 (May 1-31, 1941).
  21. “Meine Dienstreise nach Litzmannstadt im September 1940,” February 25, 1941, BA-Berlin, R55/409, Pro/4 ORR Imhoff an Personalabteilung/Min.Rat Flügel. It should be noted that the journalists mentioned were reckoned together with the propaganda troops, but other SS photo and film teams active in the framework of Himmler’s personal staff were not connected in any way whatsoever with the Wehrmacht.
  22. “Lagebericht (PK)” Nr.45 (June 1-30, 1941), BA-MA, RW4/338, WPr.Id; the best example of the use to which the materials were put is the article “Juden unter sich,” Berliner Illustrierte Zeitung, No. 30, July 24, 1941. The subtitle reads: “This is how the people lives from whose midst the murderers came – from Bromberg Lemberg, Dubno and Bialystok. Report from the Warsaw Ghetto.” It is interesting to see how the photos made even before the invasion of the Soviet Union were exploited in propaganda prepared after the discovery of the crimes of the “Jewish-Bolshevik” regime; ibid.
  23. Reports by the reporters Hans R. Ertz, Hans-Werner Groth, Friedrich Luegmayer, Karl Gleiss, BA-MA, RL15/67.
  24. See, in particular, the report: Kriegsberichter Gefreiter Karl Gleiss (Lw.KBK6): “In zerstörten Städten kehrt wieder Ordnung ein. Die deutsche Verwaltung beginnt zu arbeiten,” September 16, 1941, BA-MA, RL15/71. From entries in the war diary of PK 612 dated July 4, 1941, it is possible to conclude that there was a specific order from the WPr. to report in that tone. It is stated there that the most recent instructions from Berlin demanded material on the reaction of the local population to its “Jewish oppressors”; BAMA, RH45/6, KTB PK612, July 4, 1941.
  25. Ibid., Kriegsberichter A. Feickert (Lw.KBK6): “Reichskommissariat Ostland,” September 2, 1941.
  26. See, for example, “Marine Prop.Abt. Nord: Zusamenstellung der seit Beginn der Ostfeldzuges gemachten Filmaufnahmen bis einschl. October 15, 1941,” MA-BA, RW4/213. The report contains footage titled Synagogenbrand in Riga und russische Plünderer in Verhör (cameraman Ibler, length 345 m) and five photos taken by the photographer Bangemann on September 3, 1941 with the caption “Auf den Rückzugstrassen der Sowjetarmeen. Juden lernen Handarbeit.”
  27. See the detailed instructions on this matter in “Der Bevollm.Komm.Gen. in Serbien: Fotographieren der Vollstreckung von Urteilen,” January 3, 1942, BA-MA, RH26-104/52; ibid., “Fotographieren der Vollstrecken von Todsurteilen,” January 22, 1942.
  28. Oblt. Liepe: “Bericht über die Erschiessung von Juden,” October 13, 1941, BA-MA, RH24-18/213.
  29. Hamburger Institut für Sozialforschung, ed., Vernichtungskrieg. Verbrechen der Wehrmacht 1941-44. Ausstellungskatalog (Hamburg: Hamburger Edition, 1996), pp. 28-31. In photo no. 2 one can clearly discern the cameraman and his assistant filming the incident. The originals of Grünefeld’s photographs are deposited in the German Historical Museum (DHM) in Berlin. See Winfried Ranke, Deutsche Geschichte kurz belichtet. Photoreportagen von Gerhard Grünefeld 1937-65 (Berlin: DHM, 1991).
  30. Ahlrich Meyer, Der Blick des Besatzers: Propagandaphotographie der Wehrmacht aus Marseille 1942-1944 (Bremen: Ed. Temmen, 1999), pp. 19- 27.
  31. Ibid., pp. 22-23, 106-142.
  32. “Gefangene schildern Sowjetverlust in der Schlacht ostwärts Witebsk. Bolschewistisches Allerle – Samuel wurde in 6 Wochen Leutnant,” January 13, 1944, BA-MA, RW4/803, Pz.PK697/KB Heinz Henke.
  33. “Die Feuerprobe - Bewährung der ungarischen Heimatfront,” April 4, 1944, BA-MA, RW4/801, Prop. Zug b.58.Pz.Korps/ KB Werner Haverbeck.
  34. Messerschmidt, Die Wehrmacht im NS-Staat, p. 326.
  35. “Propaganda-Abteilung Südost: Lage- und Tätigkeitsbericht der Propagandaabteilung,” May 26 – June 25, 1941, BA-MA, RW4/231. On the historical context of anti-Jewish propaganda in Serbia, see Walter Manoschek, “Serbien ist Judenfrei!”. Militärische Besatzungspolitik und Judenvernichtung in Serbien 1941/42 (Munich: MGFA, 1993).
  36. “Propaganda-Abteilung Südost: Lage- und Tätigkeitsbericht,” June 26 – July 25, 1941, BA-MA, RW4/231.
  37. Lt. Dr. Schrade: “Kurze Niederschrift über Dienstbesprechung am 29.07.41,” BA-MA, RW4/252.
  38. See the collection of materials in the following files: BA-MA, RH45/45-48, 66, 69, 75-76.
  39. PA Frankreich/Referat Rundfunk/Abteilung Zeitgeschehen: “Tätigkeitsbericht über 10 Monate Zeitgeschehen,” May 23, 1941, BA-MA, RW35/217.
  40. See comments by the intelligence officer of the military government in France: “Der Militärbefehlshaber in Frankreich/Ic: Die deutschfeindliche Propaganda im besetzten Frankreich und ihre Bekämpfung,” May 25, 1941, BA-MA, RW35/238.
  41. Propaganda-Abteilung Frankreich: “Die Wirksamkeit der Feindpropaganda, Zielsetzung der deutschen Propaganda und Möglichkeiten in Frankreich,” May 3, 1942, BA-MA, RW4/256; the report also stressed the fact that, in Paris alone, there was a Jewish population of over 120,000.
  42. Ibid.
  43. “Dr. Taubert/RMVP an die Propagandaabteilung beim Militärbefehlshaber in Belgien und Nordfrankreich (über Abt. RV und WPr.),” April 27, 1942, BAMA RW4/256.
  44. Propaganda-Abteilung Frankreich/Referat Film: “Tätigkeitsbericht für die Zeit vom 12.-19.12.41,” BA-MA, RW35/224, RW35/226; Ibid., 13-20/6/42.
  45. Propaganda-Abteilung Frankreich/Gruppe Aktiv-Propaganda: “Allgemeines Stimmungsbild (vom 10.6-8.7.42),” July 8, 1942, BA-MA, RW4/237.
  46. Propaganda-Abteilung Frankreich/Gruppe Aktiv-Propaganda: “Allgemeines Stimmungsbild (vom 8.7-11.8.42),” August 11, 1942, BA-MA, RW4/237.
  47. A collection of leaflets apparently disseminated in 1942, is contained in BAMA, RW4/257. RW4/258 contains texts with antisemitic content meant for the Arab population of North Africa and the French colonial troops stationed there.
  48. See, for example, “Richtlinien für die Aktivpropaganda in die Sowjetarmee,” September 1, 1942, BA-MA RW4/257, WPr.(AP): Para. A of the “Main Tendencies in Active German Propaganda,” states that “the German army and its allies are not fighting against the peoples of the Soviet Union. Their struggle is solely against the Jewish-Bolshevik system of exploitation and terror.” For a detailed picture of the system of active propaganda in the East, see Buchbender, Das tönende Erz; efforts on the Western front were much more limited, their influence quite marginal. A rare example of antisemitic material prepared for troops in the West is BA-MA RW4/258, “Flugblatt für die amerikanischen und englischen Truppen.”
  49. See the texts of leaflets in BA-MA, RW4/812.
  50. Buchbender, Das tönende Erz, pp. 98-102. Leaflets deriding the commissars had slogans such as “Schlagt die Kommissare nieder, schlagt die Juden nieder!,” “Nieder mit den Juden und Kommissaren!,” “Haut den Judenkommissar, seine Fresse schreit nach einem Ziegelstein!” (“Strike down the Jews and commissars," “Down with the Jews and commissars!” “Strike down the Jewish commissar. His dog’s face is shouting for a brick.”) The last leaflet called on Soviet soldiers to take a real stand against the commissars.
  51. Ibid. pp. 160-166.
  52. Some of the leaflets bore slogans such as: “In den Kampf gehen nicht die Juden sondern Ihr”, “Zitat des Dichters Dostojewski über die Juden,” “Stalin treibt Euch im Interesse der Juden ins Verderben,” “Wer sind die Herren in der U.d.S.S.R. Die Juden” etc. ("You’re going to battle, not the Jews,” "From the words of Dostoyevsky on the Jews,” “Stalin is sending you to your ruin for the sake of the Jews,” “Who are the masters in the Soviet Union? The Jews”); AOK6/Ic Prop.: “Flugblattübersicht für Monat August 1942,” September 20, 1942, BA-MA RW4/257.
  53. Dienststelle Major Baun: “Unsere Propaganda u. deutsche Kriegsgefangene,” July 18, 1942, BA-MA, RW4/257.
  54. Buchbender, Das tönende Erz, p. 182.
  55. Ibid., p. 278.
  56. Der Chef der Sicherheitspolizei und des SD an WPr.: “Propagandisten bei den Einsatzgruppen der Sipo und des SD in den besetzten sowjetischen Gebieten,” July 1, 1942, BA-MA, RW4/192; WPr.Ia to PK621, Prop.Abt.W, Prop.Abt.U, PK695: “Propagandisten bei den Einsatzgruppen der Sipo und des SD in den besetzten sowjetischen Gebieten,” July 8, 1942.
  57. Bernd Ball and Hans Safrian, “Auf dem Weg nach Stalingrad. Die 6. Armee 1941/42,” in Hannes Heer and Klaus Naumann, eds., Vernichtungskrieg. Verbrechen der Wehrmacht 1941-44 (Hamburg: Hamburger Edition, 1995), pp. 272-273.
  58. “Tätigkeitsbericht vom 27.9.41,” September 29, 1941, BA-MA, RH20-6/492, PK637 an AOK6/Ic. This activity was recorded in the report of the unit as part of active propaganda. See also Helmut Krausnick and Hans-Heinrich Wilhelm, Die Truppe des Weltanschauungskrieges. Die Einsatzgruppen der Sicherheitspolizei und des SD 1938-42 (Stuttgart: Deutsche Verlags Anstalt, 1981), p. 235.
  59. WPr. film delivery lists in: BA-MA, RW4/293.
  60. WPr.Id to WPr.VId and Ie, March 13, 1940, BA-MA, RW4/259; among the books distributed to company commanders were the following: Dr. P. Aldag, Juden beherrschen England and H. Bollensiefen, Juden in Frankreich.
  61. Hpt. Kattermann to Pg. Uffz. Karl Dürfler, February 10, 1940, BA-MA, RH45/16a.
  62. “Die Arbeit der Partei-Propaganda im Kriege,” in Unser Wille und Weg 11 (1941), p. 8. It is stated there that “cooperating with the police, our men also collected radio sets that had previously belonged to Jews. After they were tested and repaired, about half were passed on to the army for the use of the troops.” Adolf Eichmann headed section IV B4 of the RSHA.
  63. OKH/O QuIV to WPr. and I, December 7, 1939; WPr.IIc to OKH/O QuIV, December 11, 1939; WPr.IIc to RSHA, December 11, 1939; WPr.IIc to RSHA, December 30, 1939, BA-MA RW4/420.
  64. Der Oberfinanzpräsident Magdeburg an RMVP/Ministeramt: “Eingezogenes und verfallenes Vermögen; hier Schallplatten und Abspielgeräte für Schallplatten,” July 4, 1942, BA-Berlin R55/679.
  65. Ibid.
  66. Propaganda-Abteilung “SO”: “Lage- und Tätigkeitsbericht für den Monat August 1942,” September 4, 1942, BA-MA, RW4/237.
  67. Messerschmidt, Die Wehrmacht im NS-Staat, p. 326.
  68. The following numbers of the bulletin contain direct or indirect antisemitic content: MfdT No.29, 87, 115, 116, 119, 120, 125, 126, 130, 146, 147, 153, 157, 195, 197, 198, 206, 209, 222, 253, 264, 317, 319, 324, September 1944 (357), 368, 382, BA-MA, RW4/357.
  69. MadR Nr.205, July 24, 1941, BA-Berlin, R58/162. The newsreel focused on in the report is Wochenschau No.567/30/1941, July 16, 1941; the “killing operation" referred to is an invention of German propaganda in order to characterize the “Jewish-Bolshevik terror in the Soviet Union.” The “lynch trial” refers to the scene of the burning of the Riga synagogue, filmed by cameramen of the Marine-Propaganda-Abteilung Nord. On the general response of the German population to the anti-Jewish measures, see David Bankier, The Germans and the Final Solution: Public Opinion under Nazism (Oxford and New York: Oxford University Press, 1992).
  70. MadR Nr.211, August 14, 1941, BA-Berlin, R58/163. The newsreel in question is No. 570/33/1941, August 6, 1941, which shows the expulsion of the Jews of Balti.
  71. Welch, The Third Reich, p. 82.
  72. “Auszüge aus sich widersprechenden Truppenberichten, Vorschläge für die deutsche Propaganda in den Feind- und Gefangenenaussagen,” August 16, 1942, BA-MA, RW4/257, WPr.(AP). The command of the 17th Army noted: “The requirements for German propaganda: intensified struggle against the Jews ... provision of as much information as possible on the Jews.” The Intelligence Section of the 9th Army contended that “the Jewish Question comes up only rarely, and then not in an especially pronounced way.”
  73. Propaganda-Abteilung W: “Zur Lage und Stimmung der Bevölkerung in Stadt und Gebiet Smolensk,” n.d. (late 1941), BA-MA, RW4/236; Buchbender, Das tönende Erz, p. 270
  74. Heeresgruppe Mitte: “Propaganda-Einsatz gegen die Rote Armee und die russische Zivilbevölkerung,” August 11, 1941, BA-MA, RW4/252
  75. Propaganda-Abteilung U: “Anlage 2 zum Übergabebericht der PropogandaAbteilung U,” August 27, 1942, BA-MA, RW4/237.
  76. For example, Propaganda-Abteilung Belgien: “Stimmungsbericht vom 10.6- 9.7.42,” July 9, 1942, BA-MA, RW4/237.
  77. Propaganda-Abteilung Frankreich/Referat Film: “Tätigkeitsbericht für die Zeit vom 25-30.4.41,” BA-MA,RW4/237.
  78. Michael R. Marrus and Robert O. Paxton, Vichy France and the Jews (New York: Basic Books, 1981), p. 212.
  79. Propaganda-Abteilung Frankreich/Gruppe Aktiv-Propaganda: “Allgemeines Stimmungsbild (vom 10.6-8.7.42),” July 8, 1942, BA-MA, RW4/237. Attached to this report is a thick appendix containing German translations of letters from French citizens in which they voiced their opinions on anti-Jewish measures and the Jews more generally.
  80. Propaganda-Abteilung Frankreich/Gruppe Aktiv-Propaganda: “Allgemeines Stimmungsbild (vom 8.7.-11.8.42),” August 11, 1942, BA-MA, RW4/237.
  81. Marrus and Paxton, Vichy France and the Jews, pp. 181-182; see also the entire chapter on public opinion, pp. 179 - 214.
  82. Examples of letters from soldiers are contained in Walter Manoschek, ed., “Es gibt nur eines für das Judentum: Vernichtung”. Judenbild in in deutschen Soldatenbriefen (Hamburg: Hamburger Edition, 1995); Ortwin Buchbender and Reinhold Stertz, Das andere Gesicht des Krieges (Munich: C.H. Beck, 1982). See, also, the book published during the war: Wolfgang Diewerge, ed., Deutsche Soldaten sehen die Sowjet-Union (Berlin: W. Limpert, 1941). Photos of this kind were contained in the exhibition on Wehrmacht war crimes put on in Germany and Austria, 1995-1999; see the exhibition catalog, Vernichtungskrieg, Verbrechen der Wehrmacht 1941-1944. Ausstellungskatalog.
  83. Hpt. Boness, Chef WPr.: “Beobachtungen beim Einsatz Osten Juni-Sept. 1942 (Woronesh, Sewastopol, Don Gebiet, Rostow, Kuban, Krasnodar, Kaukasus),” September 11, 1942, BA-MA, RW4/192.
  84. Messerschmidt, Die Wehrmacht im NS-Staat, pp. 240-241.
  85. Ibid., p. 241.
  86. Wedel, Die Propagandatruppen, p. 73.
  87. His story is partially documented in files BA-MA RW4/162, 186. I am indebted to Brian Rigg, who made it possible for me to examine Jacoby’s personal documents in his possession. He also provided me with information on the whole question of Jews and Mischlinge who served in the Wehrmacht.
  88. “Inspektion des Bildungswesens der Marine/ROA Abt. an Kommando Marinestation der Ostsee: MA Mt.d.R. Werner Lüddecke,” September 29, 1942, BA-MA, RW4/209. After the war Lüddecke returned to his former profession as a writer; see, for example, his novel Der Hund vom anderen Stern (Munich: Ehrenwirt, 1962).
  89. Personal interview by the author with Dr. Fritz Hippler, Berchtesgaden, April 16, 1998.
  90. WPr.BO to Gruppe IV, November 7, 1941, BA-MA, RW4/204. Zentner also survived the war and later published several “soft” apologetic books on the Wehrmacht containing a great deal of PK material. See Kurt Zentner, Nur einmal konnte Stalin siegen. Lehren und Bilder aus dem Russlandfeldzug 1941-45 (Hamburg: Gruner, 1952).
  91. Brian Rigg relates that numerous senior officers tried to assist officers serving with them when it became known that they were of “mixed” racial background. Their ranks included Field Marshals Walther von Reichenau and Erich von Manstein, who could hardly be suspected of being “sympathetically disposed” toward Jews.
  92. Willi A. Boelke, ed., Kriegspropaganda 1939-41. Geheime Ministerkonferenzen im Reichspropagandaministerium (Stuttgart: Deutsche Verlag, 1966), p. 357.
  93. BA-MA, RW4/157; Hasso von Wedel, Die Propagandatruppe, p. 76.
  94. Günter Heysing, ed., Dokumentation einer Verleumdung. Die “Wildente” bei UPI, im Bundestag, im ”Spiegel” (Hamburg: Die Wildente, Beiheft 2, n.d.), p. 5.
  95. Edgar Stahf, “Wie man Herzen erobern kann. Aus der Geschichte der Prop. Staffel Estland,” in Die Wildente (17), February 1958, p. 17.
  96. Propaganda-Abteilung Ostland: “Lagebericht No. 4,” September 29, 1941, BA-MA, RW4/233.
  97. Günther Heysing, “Bitte, keine Kollektivurteile,” in Die Wildente, 22 (April 1960), pp. 10-11.
  98. BA-Berlin, SS-HO Heysing, Günther: SS Führerstammkarte Günther Heysing.
  99. Günther Heysing, “Im Tal des Todes,” October 18, 1941, BA-Berlin, R55/1077. This file contains a number of articles regarded by the Propaganda Ministry as especially outstanding and which consequently were widely distributed.