Defining the Aryan Race: An “Imagined Community” …...Defining the Aryan Race: An “Imagined Community” in Images By Miriam Kashem May 2013 Submitted in partial fulfillment
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Defining the Aryan Race: An “Imagined Community” in Images
By
Miriam Kashem
May 2013
Submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the
Master of Arts in History
Dual-Degree Program in History and Archives Management
Simmons College
Boston, Massachusetts
The author grants Simmons College permission to include this thesis in its Library and to make it
available to the academic community for scholarly purposes.
Submitted by
Miriam Kashem
Approved by:
______
John Trevor Coates (thesis advisor) Sarah Leonard (second reader)
The most enjoyable part of writing this thesis is this opportunity to thank everyone who
contributed, in a major or minor way, to its creation. While this document will bear my name, the
work would not have come together if it had not been for the support, advice, and encouragement
from friends, family and professors. Since I may never be awarded an Academy Award® for
producing a film and make an acceptance speech at the Oscars, this section is the best occasion
to publicly thank those who have helped me during these past three years as a graduate student
and supported me in the writing of this thesis.
The research process and the selection of primary source materials would not have been
possible without the resources of The Wolfsonian-FIU Museum Rare Books and Special
Collections Library in Miami Beach, Florida. Particular thanks is due to Dr. Luca, a former
professor and supervisor and the Chief Librarian of the museum library, for answering my e-
mails regarding the availability of materials and setting aside items for me when I stopped by to
take notes for research. The museum’s wide collection of twentieth century propaganda made
selecting materials difficult, as there were many amazing items to choose from. Their teaching
exhibit entitled Race and Visual Culture under National Socialism also provided me with useful
ideas regarding organization and materials to use for this thesis. Thank you to Dr. Weitz, another
former professor of mine, for corresponding with me via e-mail these past three years with ideas
iii
for assignments and messages of encouragement that helped me believe in my own abilities as a
student.
My thesis advisors, Dr. Coates and Dr. Leonard, have been invaluable in providing
support and feedback throughout the process of writing this thesis. My meetings with Dr. Coates
helped guide the direction of this thesis, and his careful reading of early drafts was particularly
helpful. They have inspired me through their writing and teaching and guided my work wisely
and generously throughout. They always asked those questions that in the end would be the most
important. To Dr. Prieto and the thesis class, thank you for your thesis therapy and academic
advice. I am grateful for their scholarly generosity.
My experience as a graduate student these past three years and in writing this thesis has
often been lonely and isolating. However, I owe my salvation to many friends, three in particular
who have taught me some amazing life lessons along the way: Shelly Gonzalez, Ashley Mateiro,
and Vanessa Reyes. To Shelly, thank you for your long letters (we are reviving the art of letter
writing!) that I reread countless times when I felt sad, and your help in venting out my
frustrations via notes, e-mails and phone calls these past years. Thank you for giving me the gift
of literature again, which has helped heal many wounds. To Ashley, you may never fully
understand how much I depended on our Skype study sessions, for academic and personal
support. Your help and insight as a doctoral student has helped me navigate situations better than
I would have alone, and for that I am grateful. I am indebted to you for being able to complete
this thesis. Thank you for being your amazing self, the best gift you have given me as a friend.
Vanessa, our weekly lunches have been of great help to me, and your advice has always helped
me get through rough times. Your moving to Boston and attending Simmons finally provided me
with nice memories of my time here. Special thanks to my Captain Darjeeling and study abroad
iv
friends, whose friendship has helped me come out of my shell and reminded me that having fun
is a necessary part of life. To all of my friends, your friendship has gotten me through dark times
and has proven that friendship can be a light in darkness, and that the world is not as gray as it
sometimes appears to be.
My family has been supportive of me as a student, though they never fully understood
what I was studying at times, but they had confidence in me when I did not have any in myself.
To my mother, whom this thesis is dedicated to, thank you for your support and love over the
years, especially these past three years when I was not at home as often as I would have liked to
have been. Even though you never understood the topic I was writing about, you knew I was
studying a subject that meant a lot to me, which was enough for you to support my academic
endeavors. Thank you for reminding me of my faith to get me through difficult moments. The
resources you have sacrificed in order for me to get to this point is something I can never fully
repay, but will gladly spend the rest of my life trying to.
To everyone I have mentioned- the phrase “thank you” can only begin to describe the
gratitude I feel towards all of you. Semper gratiam habebo.
1
◘
Chapter 1 Introduction
◘
In reality, everyone uses propaganda; it is a manifestation of human community life.
- Eugen Hadamovsky, Propaganda and National Power
A discussion of propaganda will inevitably touch on the example of Nazi Germany and
the material it produced. It is the most cited instance of a government exploiting the power of
propaganda with the intent of establishing control over a population. During their rise to and
years in power, Nazi officials displayed audacious and new ways of exploiting this political tool.
In a plethora of formats, they offered idealized communities to their supporters while also
demonizing their enemies- visions that would ultimately lead to and be destroyed by war.
Analyzing the story behind the creation of propaganda as well as the materials themselves can
provide insight into its intended purpose and impact. The purpose of the study is to examine how
propaganda images such as posters and book illustrations were used within Nazi Germany to
provide a visual definition of the term “Aryan.” I will study aspects of the images in order to
determine how ideology is transformed into propaganda.
Modern propaganda studies can be said to have started after the First World War, since
its political use became significant during this conflict. In the years following the war,
propaganda began to be studied from a scientific perspective.1 In 1927, American political
scientist and communications theorist Harold D. Lasswell published a work entitled Propaganda
Technique in the World War. He presented an exercise in discovering appropriate theory with
1 Ted J. Smith III, introduction to Propaganda: A Pluralist Perspective, ed. Ted J. Smith III (New York: Praeger,
1989), p. 2.
2
which to analyze propaganda. Lasswell presented questions on the classification of propaganda
content, making a distinction between “value demands” of propaganda such as “war aims,” “war
guilt,” and “casting an enemy,” and propaganda which depicts the “expectations” of war namely
“the illusion of victory.”2 Lasswell focused on the theory of war propaganda to control public
opinion of events during the war. Edward Bernays, who worked in advertising and was part of
the American Committee on Public Information which created propaganda during World War I,
would publish Propaganda in 1928, in which he argued that propaganda and the manipulation of
public opinion was necessary in a democratic society to avoid chaos and conflict. Bernays saw
society as irrational and composed of followers with a herd instinct. He described a democratic
society as one which is molded (by propaganda) and ruled by an invisible few which control the
public mind.3 In theory, citizens of a democratic society make up their own minds on public
questions such as politics and the economic situation. In practice, however, if all members
individually studied the vast amount of data regarding politics, the economy, and ethical
concerns, it would be difficult to establish any conclusions. Therefore, there is an unsaid
agreement to let in the “invisible” few work through the issues at hand.4 The evidence and
important issues selected by the leaders are communicated to the public through propaganda. The
public accepts a standardized code of conduct which is conformed to most of the time. Though
he was criticized by many in his time, Bernays is now seen as the father of modern public
relations, the maintenance of a favorable public image by an organization or government.
In 1937, a group of historians, educators, and journalists in the United States would
establish the Institute for Propaganda Analysis. Its goal was to teach Americans how to
2 Daniel Lerner and Jackson A. Giddens, introduction to Propaganda Technique in the World War, by Harold D.
Lasswell (Cambridge: The Massachusetts Institute of Technology Press, 1971), xiv. 3 Edward Bernays, Propaganda (New York: Horace Liveright, 1928), p. 9-10.
4 Ibid, p. 11.
3
understand the propaganda that was increasingly evident in society, in order for the viewer to
better determine what was fact and what was fiction. Though short lived (until 1941-2) due to the
American entrance into the Second World War which made it difficult to remain detached in
discussing propaganda, the Institute was memorable for formulating the seven common
propaganda techniques: bandwagon, card stacking, glittering generalities, name calling, plain
folks, testimonial, and transfer.5 For example, the “bandwagon” technique is used to convince an
audience that everyone is accepting a program and they do not want to be left out. It can be best
summarized by the phrase “Everyone else is doing it.” The “plain folks” technique is when a
speaker tries to convince the viewer that their ideas are worth supporting because they are “of the
people.” This tactic is often used during presidential campaigns. These categories were said to
help people analyze and think rationally about important issues.
From the 1940s to the 1960s, propaganda analysis shifted away from the paradigmatic
examples which focused on fascism and Marxism, to a more subtle and sophisticated propaganda
present in liberal Western democracies.6 Scholars of history and communications have said that
the source which marked a shift in propaganda analysis was Jacques Ellul’s 1965 work
Propaganda: The Formation of Men’s Attitudes, in which he argued that propaganda is not a
product, but rather a permeating social phenomenon that was necessary to the operation of
technological societies. The work uses both sociological and psychological approaches to discuss
propaganda as a means to adapt the individual to a group, and to control individuals by
conformation to a group standard.7 It also introduced paired opposite categories as a means of
analyzing propaganda, such as vertical-horizontal, which is explained as vertical propaganda
5 Southern Methodist University, “Institute for Propaganda Analysis.”
6 Smith, p. 2.
7 Jacques Ellul, Propaganda: The Formation of Men's Attitudes, trans. Konrad Kellen and Jean Lerner (New York:
Alfred A. Knopf, 1972), p. 7.
4
coming directly from the source to the target audience (e.g. a campaign speech) and horizontal
propaganda is when the vertical propaganda has inspired a few members of the target audience
who spread it amongst the group (e.g. word of mouth or bandwagon effect).8 Ellul’s work
introduced new ways of studying propaganda and inspired more sophisticated and detailed
studies of propaganda. The work also encouraged an expansion of the field of propaganda
studies.9
Though propaganda studies underwent a decline in scholarship, there has recently been a
resurgence in both scholarly and public interest.10
Studies are increasingly interdisciplinary,
combining approaches from historical fields as well as those of art, rhetoric and communications.
This interdisciplinarity reflects the fact that propaganda itself is composed of multiple arts and
skills, including politics and artistic taste. Interdisciplinarity allows for a greater understanding of
how ideas are translated into propaganda and how propaganda engineers the consent of
populations.
In The ‘Hitler Myth’: Image and Reality in the Third Reich, historian Ian Kershaw
highlights the use of propaganda to demonstrate the rise and fall of the Führer cult, a personality
cult based on the popular image of Adolf Hitler. It should be noted that the book was originally
published in German, and the original title had the word “propaganda” in place of “reality.”11
Using reports from the Sicherheitsdienst (SD), the intelligence agency of the SS and the Nazi
Party, along with various formats of propaganda such as film and the press, Kershaw
demonstrates how the propaganda created a cult around Hitler that bore no resemblance to who
Hitler “really was.” By characterizing Hitler as the leader of the Germans after 1933, Kershaw
8 Ibid, p. 79-81.
9 Smith, p. 2.
10 Ibid, p. 2-3.
11 Michael H. Kater, Review of The 'Hitler Myth'. Image and Reality in the Third Reich by Ian Kershaw in The
English Historical Review, Vol. 103, No. 409 (Oct., 1988), p. 1014.
5
shows how the popularity of Hitler coincided with respect for the Party. This was during the
period of 1933-1938, when unemployment was being overcome and there were multiple
successes in foreign policy. Leading officials including Hitler began to believe in the myth as
well: “[The] day on which Hitler started to believe in his own ‘myth’ marked in a sense the
beginning of the end of the Third Reich.”12
Towards the end of the war, as the German situation
worsened, propaganda became largely ineffective as public support for Hitler waned and the
desire for an end to the war increased. Kershaw illustrates how propaganda is the stark disparity
between image and reality.
David Welch’s work has been seminal to the field of Nazi propaganda studies and shows
how the field of Nazi propaganda studies has changed. A study of a single category of
propaganda is Welch’s 1983 work concerning cinema, Propaganda and the German Cinema,
1933-1945. This work is proof of a shift to discussing individual formats of propaganda in
greater detail to determine how messages were communicated. Welch calls for historians to use
cinema as a primary source for studying propaganda. In his work, Welch separates films into five
categories (“Comradeship, Heroism and the Party,” “Blood and Soil and Strength through Joy,”
“The Principle of Leadership,” “War and the Military Image,” “The Image of the Enemy”) and
he analyzes aspects of films in each category.13
Welch demonstrates how the categories changed
as the regime went on. In presenting film analyses in a thematic format, Welch not only
discusses how ideology was presented in film, but also how propaganda shifted to meet the needs
of the Nazi Party. The work is insightful in demonstrating how propaganda responds to the
changing conditions and fortunes of the Nazi state from the prewar years into the Second World
War. Welch also edited a collection of essays entitled Nazi Propaganda: The Power and the
12
Ian Kershaw, The 'Hitler Myth:' Image and Reality in the Third Reich, (New York: Oxford University Press,
1987), p. 82. 13
David Welch, Propaganda and the German Cinema 1933-1945, (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1983), p. 4.
6
Limitations, which discusses the effectiveness of propaganda and whether it was ultimately
successful. His essay in this volume, “Educational Film Propaganda and Nazi Youth,” focuses on
films designed for a specific audience, which highlighted the themes of obedience, loyalty, and
self-sacrifice. It brought the youth into line with the system and drew new recruits in Germany
and Nazi-occupied countries.14
A sustained film program was developed for schools as well,
which directed the youth towards aspects of Nazi ideological themes, namely the themes of
German superiority and Nazi racial theories.15
Welch explains how Nazis used the emotional
appeal of film to combine entertainment and indoctrinate the youth. His 1993 work, The Third
Reich: Politics and Propaganda, focuses on a central debate of the recent decades concerning
Nazi Germany: the degree to which the German population voluntarily supported the regime,
especially its policies towards Jews. Welch discusses the subject by analyzing the role of Nazi
propaganda in shaping public opinion.16
The work discusses the mechanisms behind the creation
of propaganda and offers insight into how the Ministry of Propaganda functioned in German art
and mass media. Welch describes the organizational structure of the multiple branches within the
Ministry of Propaganda, each of which was dedicated to an aspect or format of propaganda such
as radio, film, theater and the fine arts. Welch treats peacetime and wartime propaganda as
separate thematic categories. The peace-time section focuses on the concept of a
Volksgemeinschaft (people’s community) and shows how the idea was used as a means of
diffusing elitism and class tensions with the creation of an image of a racial utopia. Welch argues
that this category of propaganda was successful, at least in decreasing class tensions. In
discussing war propaganda, Welch marks a shift after the Battle of Stalingrad from invincibility
to sacrifice. Welch’s work is valuable in that it discusses the “behind-the-scenes” aspect of
14
David Welch, Nazi Propaganda: The Power and the Limitations, (London: Croom Helm, 1983), p. 83. 15
Ibid, p. 84. 16
David Welch, The Third Reich: Politics and Propaganda, (London and New York: Routledge, 1993).
7
propaganda creation, concluding that Nazi propaganda helped create an acceptance of the regime
based both on attraction and fear.
Randall Bytwerk’s 2004 work Bending Spines: The Propagandas of Nazi Germany and
the German Democratic Republic highlights the variety of techniques used by the two
totalitarian governments, stating that each presented an ideology that was religious in nature,
providing answers to all aspects of life- culture, history, and education. Leaders of both
governments, Adolf Hitler and the later leaders of East Germany including Walter Ulbright and
Erich Honecker, used propaganda to construct themselves as strong faces of the government.
Nazi propaganda turned Hitler into a deity, a mystical embodiment of German identity. The
GDR would present Stalin as a perfect figure. In doing so, Hitler and Stalin became symbols of
the power of the body politic.
Also of note is the religious metaphor Bytwerk sees being used in propaganda, which the
states serve as churches and the propagandists as evangelists spreading the news of the faith
(ideology).17
The author supports this view with a wealth of archival material. The work treats in
detail the minutiae of Nazi and GDR propaganda. Bytwerk’s material illustrates how studying
the creation of propaganda provides insight into its public presence. Ultimately, Bytwerk
concludes that while initially successful, both systems failed in part because they expected more
of their propaganda than it was able to deliver.
In his 2006 book, The Jewish Enemy, historian Jeffrey Herf focuses on anti-Semitic
propaganda during the period of the Second World War (1939-1945) and how it was used to
influence public opinion towards Jews. Herf’s argument is that the idea of a worldwide Jewish
17
Randall T. Bytwerk, Bending Spines: The Propagandas of Nazi Germany and the German Democratic Republic,
(East Lansing: Michigan State University Press, 2004), p. 6-7.
8
conspiracy held together Nazi discourses.18
This concept would come to influence how Nazi
propaganda depicted past and present events. Herf employs an intentionalist approach to the
Holocaust, which argues that there was a plan to launch the Holocaust from the beginning of the
Third Reich. In discussing propaganda chronologically, Herf notes how the themes of
propaganda shifted to blaming Jews for the start of the war and how Germany’s enemies (the
Allied powers) were depicted as being part of the Jewish conspiracy, an idea which would
continue until the end of the war. One example Herf gives is the Word of the Week wall
newspapers, which began publication in October 1937 and ran until 1943. The large, bold print
posters were designed to slow the pedestrian and compel him to read about the prevailing
political events. Herf states that these posters were important to the visual aspect of anti-Semitic
propaganda, as a quarter of the wall posters included attacks on Jews from 1941 to 1943.19
In
discussing the extermination of Jews, Herf contends that the propaganda became increasingly
hostile as the policy towards Jews became increasingly radical. As the war worsened for
Germany, the propaganda began to use fear as a theme, while keeping the idea of the Jewish
conspiracy present as justification for their wartime actions. The text and argument provide an
array of materials, including speeches and diary entries in addition to propaganda materials.
Leaders and high ranking personalities are mentioned, such as Joseph Goebbels and Julius
Streicher, as well as influential propagandists like Wolfgang Diewerge. The work shows how
propaganda can help conceal and reveal aspects of a government and how it can be used to
dominate political and moral spheres of life.
Nazi propaganda has become a topic of popular (non-academic) interest as well. One
example of this is the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum’s (USHMM) 2009 exhibit and
18
Jeffrey Herf, The Jewish Enemy: Nazi Propaganda during World War II and the Holocaust, (Cambridge, MA;
London: The Belknap Press of Harvard University Press, 2006), p. 106. 19
Ibid, p. 28-31.
9
book entitled State of Deception: The Power of Nazi Propaganda.20
The book highlights how the
Nazi party used propaganda to exploit popular sentiments regarding discontent towards society
and government in order to get to power. Once in power, the propaganda was used to create a
racial utopia and promote indifference and hostility towards those considered undesirable. The
strength of the book (and exhibit) is its varied selection of images, which highlight the fact that
propaganda is not limited to mass rallies, speeches and textual materials, but can also include
posters, children’s board games, records, radios, and photographs. Images alongside the text of
the book are also helpful in a fluid reading experience concerning Nazi propaganda. The book
highlights how Nazi propaganda has grown as a topic. Analyzing lesser known categories of
propaganda contributes to a more complete picture of Nazi propaganda.
Imagined Communities
Benedict Anderson belongs to a group of modern historians of nationalism that includes
Eric Hobsbawm and Ernest Gellner. Anderson argues that the origins of nationalism are
inadequately recorded, despite the large influence it has had on modern society. His 1983 work
Imagined Communities: Reflections on the Origin and Spread of Nationalism provides a
historical background about the development and reception of nationalism. Imagined
Communities explains nationalism as a global phenomenon that competes with other ideological
constructions. Rather than a physical place with geographical boundaries, Anderson puts forth a
new definition that states that a nation is:
“an imagined political community- and imagined both as inherently limited and
sovereign. It is imagined because even the smallest nation will never know most
of their fellow-members, meet them, or even hear of them, yet in the minds of
each lives the image of their community. […] Finally, it is imagined as a
community, because, regardless of the actual inequality and exploitation that may
20
Steven Luckert, and Susan Bachrach, State of Deception: The Power of Nazi Propaganda, (Washington, D.C.:
United States Holocaust Memorial Museum, 2009).
10
prevail in each, the nation is always conceived as a deep, horizontal
comradeship.”21
Anderson examines the cultural roots of nationalism in part to comprehend the negative
consequences of the phenomenon (i.e. war and revolutions). In charting the emergence of
multiple national consciousnesses, Anderson highlights three causes: the inception of “print
capitalism,” through which identification with vernacular languages was made amongst people
and “power” languages were established, coinciding with the rise of nationalism in the beginning
of the nineteenth century; the new provincial elites; and the transition of empires into nations. As
older factors of identity such as religion lost standing, the concept of the nation took over.
Anderson presented the history of Creole states (colonies in the Americas) as communities which
were “formed and led by people who shared a common language and common descent with
those against whom they fought.”22
He argues that these states developed the conceptions of
nationality before nationalism took hold of most of Europe.23
One reason is the development of
the newspaper and the printer-journalist. The newspapers provided local and international news,
fortifying the concept of nationality. In reading these events, citizens of New World colonies
were able to develop the idea of an “us” versus “them” mentality.24
The presentation of
information forces the reader to reexamine the accepted history and narrative of any given
nation.
For the purpose of this study, the definition provided by Anderson will be used to
examine the term “Aryan” and propaganda images regarding the Aryan race in Nazi Germany.
Though not a nation, the idea of the Aryan race was given great importance within Nazism.
21
Benedict Anderson, Imagined Communities: Reflections on the Origin and Spread of Nationalism, (London; New
York: Verso, 2002), p. 6-7. Emphasis from text. 22
Ibid, p. 47. 23
Ibid, p. 50. 24
Ibid, p. 60-63.
11
Upon gaining power, it was necessary to develop and exploit this aspect of their ideology. One
explanation can be seen in their laws and official documents. Through propaganda images, the
Third Reich was able to clearly define the concept of the Aryan race and thereby create a new
imagined community of importance.
Defining Propaganda
One of the difficulties in analyzing propaganda is the attitude towards the term itself. It is
generally seen by the public as somewhat negative, especially when referred to or discussed in
the context of Nazi Germany or any other twentieth century totalitarian government. However, it
needs to be remembered that propaganda was originally a value-neutral term; rather, it is the
message that is communicated to the public via the tools of mass media for the purpose of
“propagating” political ideas that is either good or bad. An appropriate definition of the term is
therefore needed on which to base an analysis of propaganda images.
Two definitions of propaganda will be used for the purpose of this study so as to present
a more complete portrait of what can constitute propaganda. In his 1965 work Propaganda: The
Formation of Men’s Attitudes, philosopher and sociologist Jacques Ellul outlined propaganda as
“a set of methods employed by an organized group that wants to bring about the active or passive
participation in its actions of a mass of individuals, psychologically unified through
psychological manipulation and incorporated in an organization.”25
It is a set of ideas and
procedures that a group uses to convince a large group of people into participation with the group
and approval of its actions. In 2009, the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum utilized the
following definition for their State of Deception exhibit: Propaganda is “the dissemination of
information, whether truthful, partially truthful, or blatantly false, that aims to shape public
25
Jacques Ellul, Propaganda: The Formation of Men's Attitudes, trans. Konrad Kellen and Jean Lerner (New York:
Alfred A. Knopf, 1972), p. 61.
12
opinion and behavior.”26
These definitions show that propaganda is not only the physical
representations of ideology (such as flags, statues, and films) but also includes the methods
employed to persuade populations to accept certain opinions as fact and support the system in
power.
Sources and Methodology
The study will focus specifically on mass media, defined as the diversified media sources
intended to reach a large audience by mass communication. The sources of focus for analysis
will consist of print ephemeral images, including posters, children’s book illustrations, and
pamphlets. Therefore, it will focus on more mainstream and mass produced materials.
An analysis of images is pivotal due to the fact that the twentieth century increasingly
became the age of the visual source in all aspects of life. This was seen in advertising,
entertainment, the arts, and politics. Due to the increased importance of images in the twentieth
century and the introduction of the mass media age, it is important that they be studied as a
means of communication of ideas and values. As a means of propaganda, visual materials are
more universal and effective than textual documents, as the viewer must be literate to access
written material. Images open up mass communication to the entire population, especially the
illiterate who historically have made up the majority of humanity.
This study seeks to examine ephemeral visual sources of propaganda from the beginning
pre-war years of the Third Reich, the period of 1933 to 1939; specifically those which create a
visual definition of the Aryan race. The propaganda will be from this period since it is the
beginning of the Third Reich and the propaganda is foundational in that it establishes the
important aspects of Nazi ideology. The foundations of “Aryan” propaganda were necessary to
sustain the Nazi state. The majority of the materials are from the Race and Visual Culture under
26
Luckert and Bachrach, p. 2.
13
National Socialism teaching exhibit created by The Wolfsonian-FIU Museum and additional
materials from their collection of Nazi propaganda. A group of thirty images, the majority of
which are from the museum library’s collection, were consulted, and the ones selected for
analysis were chosen based on the date of print (or production) and whether or not it had a
representation of a human figure (whether Aryan or Jewish) in the foreground of the work. The
instructional materials for propagandists are from the German Propaganda Archive website
created and maintained by Randall Bytwerk and Calvin College. Secondary material will also be
used to study the formation of Nazi ideology and the concept of what was Aryan. This thesis will
illustrate that in using Anderson’s concept of the “imagined community,” Nazi images can be
seen as defining the Aryan race, which was of both political and racial importance to the Third
Reich. The why and how of the propaganda’s creation is examined, and an analysis of the
technical aspects of the images is presented as well. Rather than gauge the short and long term
success of the reception of propaganda, the study will focus on the translation of ideology to
propaganda images. The study will present an interdisciplinary approach by utilizing new
sources and incorporating historical and artistic terminology with which to discuss the materials.
This will provide new insight into the function of images in propaganda and provide an example
for the use of lesser known forms of propaganda in historical study for the benefit of a more
complete understanding of the Third Reich.
Chapter two will focus on presenting the nineteenth century theoretical foundations of the
Third Reich regarding race, and how the definition of Aryanism has changed over time.
Important schools of thought, including Social Darwinism and the völkisch movement, will be
discussed in regards to their influence on Nazi ideology. Chapter three examines the policies
regarding propaganda and its production in Nazi Germany. Political figures’ theories of
14
propaganda will be discussed alongside procedural information given to propagandists. The
chapter will focus on how theory was translated into instructional materials for Nazi
propagandists. Chapters four and five present an analysis of the images themselves, and conclude
how elements of the image’s construction translate into the creation of the “imagined
community” of the Aryan race. The findings will be discussed in relation to Anderson’s theory
and the modern significance of Nazi propaganda studies.
15
◘
Chapter 2 Concepts and Theories
◘
All that is not race in this world is trash.
- Adolf Hitler, Mein Kampf
Aryan: From Language to Race
All words have a history of how they came to their present use, since the meaning and
significance of terms change over time. In studying the history of a word, it is possible to see
trends and schools of thought that influenced the word’s transformation. The term “Aryan” was
first applied in reference to a family of languages and those who spoke them in the eighteenth
century, which included Sanskrit, Zend, Persian, and Slavonic. The term may have been used
specifically in reference to ancient Indians that called themselves Aria or Ariya; though the wider
application referred to the group of languages as a linguistic identity. While this group of
languages was also called “Indo-European” or “Japhetic,” the term “Aryan” became more
popular in the latter half of the eighteenth century.1
Historian Stefan Arvidsson dates the modern history of the term to the late eighteenth and
early nineteenth centuries in his 2006 work Aryan Idols. The term was used in Europe in the
translation of Middle Eastern texts. In 1771, French Orientalist Anquetil-Duperron, used the term
“Aryan” as a self-designator in Avestan and in the country Iran when translating the Avesta into
French.2 This text was translated into German around 1776-83, which is probably the first time
1 Stefan Arvidsson, Aryan Idols: Indo-European Mythology and Ideology as Science, trans. Sonia Wichmann
(Chicago, London: The University of Chicago Press, 2006), p. 20. 2 Author’s Note: The Avesta is the collection of sacred texts of the Zoroastrian faith, written in the Avestan
language.
16
the text was recorded in that language (Ger. Arier). In 1819, German scholar Frederich Schlegel
connected the term to the German word for honor (Ehre) and connected the concept with those
of honor and noble actions.3 Through his works, the term Arier came into vogue in the German
language. In addition to linguistics, theorist Arthur de Gobineau formulated in his 1855 work An
Essay on the Inequality of the Human Races of the inferiority of certain races (creating three
‘races:’ white, yellow, black) and that the Aryan was the pinnacle of the white races and created
the basis for European aristocracies.4 Gobineau stated that all of the great civilizations of history
started with the white race. All major European languages would use the term “Aryan” by the
first half of the twentieth century.
The term gained popularity in usage in the nineteenth century due to the fact that it was
considered more organic than terms created by scholars.5 The work also became more widely
used when it was adapted by racial anthropology at the end of the nineteenth century. Racial
anthropology challenged the linguistic significance of the term by creating its own image of
Aryans: “based on similarities and differences among selected parts of the human body among
various groups of people.”6 In time, the anthropological and racial use of the term became used
outside academia. The term shifted from a family of languages to a physical-genetic species.
This marked a shift from possibility to necessity: now it was capable of distinguishing which
people did or did not belong to a biological entity.7
In 1887, the first noted reference to “Aryan” meaning “non-Jewish” came from a
Viennese fitness society which declared that only Germans of Aryan descent were permitted
3 Ibid, p. 21.
4 “Aryan | Arian, adj. and n.”. OED Online. Oxford University Press.
http://www.oed.com/view/Entry/11296?redirectedFrom=aryan&. 5 Arvidsson, p. 21.