--- title: WWII propaganda:posters, radio and film by every side url: https://propagandaarchive.org/learn/ww2-propaganda/ description: Every major belligerent of 1939 to 1945 ran organised propaganda through posters, newsreels, film, radio and leaflets. section: Learn --- ![Illustration: a First World War field-intelligence collage of trench maps, wireless transmission logs and aerial reconnaissance photographs.](https://propagandaarchive.org/static/generated/detail/hero-wwi.jpg) [Learn](https://propagandaarchive.org/learn/) · Basics # WWII propaganda:posters, radio and film by every side On this page > **Content note.** This page quotes antisemitic language from Nazi sources and describes racial imagery used by more than one side. It is quoted and described as the record shows it. ## Short answer Every major belligerent of 1939 to 1945 ran organised propaganda through posters, newsreels, film, radio and leaflets. The methods overlapped: fear of the enemy, unity slogans, secrecy warnings and appeals to sacrifice. The systems did not: Germany, Italy, Japan and the Soviet Union controlled press and broadcasting through the state, while Britain and the United States ran agencies, some openly labelled and some secret (such as Britain's Political Warfare Executive), inside wartime censorship and a press they did not own. Nazi propaganda also served a genocide, which no other propaganda service here did. This archive applies one definition to all of them: [Doctrine (working definition)](https://propagandaarchive.org/about/working-definition/). ## How each side ran it **United States.** Executive Order 9182 created the Office of War Information (OWI) on 13 June 1942, merging four information offices [1]. Its Domestic Branch produced posters, pamphlets and films and reviewed Hollywood scripts. It was contested at home: in April 1943 senior writers resigned in protest at its direction, and Congress cut the branch back that summer [1]. See [The Office of War Information's Domestic Branch, 1942-43](https://propagandaarchive.org/case-studies/owi-domestic-branch/), [The U.S. Office of War Information and the Writers' War Board: a 'strategy of truth' meets the advertising men](https://propagandaarchive.org/case-studies/us-owi-writers-war-board/) and [Why We Fight: the U.S. Army's orientation films, 1942-1945](https://propagandaarchive.org/case-studies/why-we-fight-series/). The 1942 exclusion of Japanese Americans from the West Coast took place in the year OWI was created (['Instructions to All Persons of Japanese Ancestry' (exclusion order posted in San Francisco)](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/exclusion-order-japanese-ancestry-1942/)), and U.S. material about Japan often used racial caricature. Dower documents the racial framing on both sides of the Pacific war [2]. **United Kingdom.** The Ministry of Information opened on 4 September 1939. Its "Keep Calm and Carry On" poster was printed in almost 2.5 million copies and held back for a crisis, and *Careless Talk Costs Lives* began in February 1940 [3]. A separate, secret Political Warfare Executive (formed August 1941) ran black radio to Germany, starting with the "Gustav Siegfried Eins" station in May 1941, which claimed to be an illegal transmitter inside Germany, and forged documents and stamps [4]. See [Britain's Ministry of Information and Political Warfare Executive: posters at home, black radio abroad](https://propagandaarchive.org/case-studies/british-moi-pwe/) and [Wartime radio voices: open and hidden broadcasts aimed at the enemy, 1939-1945](https://propagandaarchive.org/case-studies/wartime-radio-voices/). **Nazi Germany.** See the machinery section below: [The Reich Ministry of Public Enlightenment and Propaganda, 1933-1945](https://propagandaarchive.org/case-studies/reich-propaganda-ministry/). **Soviet Union.** After the German invasion of 22 June 1941, a party-controlled chain (Agitprop, the Soviet Information Bureau, the Red Army's political administration, TASS) replaced class-war language with Russian national history [5]. TASS Window posters, stencilled by hand for shop windows, began on 27 June 1941 [6]. The same system denied the Katyn shootings in 1943; a 1990 TASS statement acknowledged that the NKVD had carried them out. Before the invasion, the 1939 to 1941 line had followed the Soviet-German pact. See [Soviet wartime propaganda, 1939-1945: Sovinformburo, Agitprop and the Red Army press](https://propagandaarchive.org/case-studies/soviet-wartime-propaganda/) and [Pravda, Izvestia and TASS: the institutional structure of the Soviet press monopoly, 1912-1991](https://propagandaarchive.org/case-studies/pravda-tass-soviet-press-institution/). **Japan.** A Cabinet Information Bureau (from December 1940) set the line, censored the press and published a state photo weekly, while neighbourhood associations carried slogans and savings drives to households. Imperial headquarters' communiqués, such as the one on Midway, departed from what had happened, and defeats received new words such as *gyokusai* ("shattering like a jewel") [7]. See [Imperial Japan's wartime propaganda at home: the Information Bureau, the neighbourhood associations and the war communiqués](https://propagandaarchive.org/case-studies/imperial-japan-home-front/). **Italy.** Mussolini's press office became the Ministry of Popular Culture in 1937. It sent editors daily written orders (*veline*), and a state newsreel was compulsory in cinemas [8]. See [Fascist Italy's propaganda machine: from the Duce's Press Office to the Ministry of Popular Culture](https://propagandaarchive.org/case-studies/fascist-italy-minculpop/). ## Recurring techniques The same devices recur, though not equally on every side. - **Fear of the enemy:** [Fear appeal](https://propagandaarchive.org/techniques/fear-appeal/). Examples include the TASS Window "What Hitler Wants," the U.S. "This Is the Enemy" poster, and the Japanese leaflet to Australian troops. - **Unity and identity:** [Identity fusion](https://propagandaarchive.org/techniques/identity-fusion/) and [Transfer](https://propagandaarchive.org/techniques/transfer/). Slogans such as "Luxury is the enemy" and "Total war" tied everyday acts to the nation. - **Label for the enemy or an out-group:** [Name-calling](https://propagandaarchive.org/techniques/name-calling/) and [Scapegoating](https://propagandaarchive.org/techniques/scapegoating/). - **Cover words:** [Euphemism / doublespeak](https://propagandaarchive.org/techniques/euphemism/). Examples include "evacuation" in the U.S. exclusion orders and "resettlement" in German documents. - **Selection and staging:** [Card stacking](https://propagandaarchive.org/techniques/card-stacking/). The 1944 Theresienstadt visit is an example. - **Blaming the target for one's own conduct:** [Accusation in a mirror](https://propagandaarchive.org/techniques/accusation-in-a-mirror/). - **Hidden source:** [Narrative laundering](https://propagandaarchive.org/techniques/narrative-laundering/) and [Astroturfing](https://propagandaarchive.org/techniques/astroturf/). British black radio is an example. Scale differs. British and U.S. agencies had rivals, legislators and a press outside their control, and their concealments were later documented (see the OWI and PWE pages above). The Axis and Soviet services had no such domestic rivals. ## Nazi propaganda's machinery and the Holocaust record The Reich Ministry of Public Enlightenment and Propaganda was created on 13 March 1933 under Joseph Goebbels [9]. The Reich Chamber of Culture, established in September 1933, made membership a condition of working in press, radio, film and the arts, and excluded Jews. A daily press conference gave editors their instructions. A cheap "people's receiver" radio (the *Volksempfänger*), launched in 1933, had limited range, and from 1 September 1939 deliberately listening to foreign broadcasts was a crime [10]. Films included Leni Riefenstahl's *Triumph des Willens* (1935) and, in 1940, *Der ewige Jude*. See [Film under Goebbels: Triumph des Willens (1935) and Der ewige Jude (1940)](https://propagandaarchive.org/case-studies/nazi-film-triumph-and-eternal-jew/). The record on the persecution of Jews is documented in detail at [Nazi propaganda before and during the Holocaust, 1933-1945](https://propagandaarchive.org/case-studies/holocaust-propaganda/): - **Der Stürmer.** Julius Streicher's weekly ran antisemitic caricature and invented ritual-murder accusations under the masthead "Die Juden sind unser Unglück" ("The Jews are our misfortune"), and had a circulation of 600,000 in 1935, according to the Nuremberg tribunal [11]. - **30 January 1939.** Hitler told the Reichstag that another world war would end in "the annihilation of the Jewish race in Europe." - **1941.** The propaganda apparatus presented a self-published American pamphlet, Theodore Kaufman's *Germany Must Perish!*, as an official Jewish plan to destroy Germany, in the same months that deportations began [12]. - **20 January 1942.** The Wannsee protocol used "evacuation" and "final solution" for deportation and murder [13]. - **23 June 1944.** Before a Red Cross visit, the SS deported about 7,500 people from Theresienstadt to Auschwitz and beautified the ghetto. A propaganda film followed, and many of those who appeared in it were deported from September 1944 [14]. - **1946.** The tribunal convicted Streicher on Count Four, crimes against humanity, citing "the poison Streicher injected into the minds of thousands of Germans" [11]. The German state's own secret morale reports recorded where belief fell, notably after Stalingrad [9]. Scale, intent and outcome are not comparable with any other propaganda service on this page: no Allied, Soviet, Italian or Japanese service's output had a genocide as its object, though each ran campaigns documented in the case studies with their own harms. ## From the collection Four collection objects, one each from the United States, Nazi Germany, the Soviet Union and Japan. ![Office of War Information poster No. 76, 1943, "This Is the Enemy": a hand with a swastika armband drives a bayonet through a Bible](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/images/this-is-the-enemy-1943.jpg) *United States, 1943. Office of War Information, Poster No. 76. A swastika-armbanded hand and a Bible stand for the enemy; the poster names no place or event.* ![The Berlin Sportpalast during Goebbels's "total war" speech of 18 February 1943, under a banner reading "Total war - shortest war"](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/images/sportpalast-total-war-speech-1943.jpg) *Nazi Germany, 1943. Reich Propaganda Ministry and NSDAP Gau Berlin. Goebbels's Sportpalast rally, with an invited audience, broadcast on radio and shown in the newsreel. Bundesarchiv, CC BY-SA 3.0 DE.* **Content note:** Caricature of Hitler with a swastika. This object is shown as it was published. [Why](https://propagandaarchive.org/about/#as-it-was) ![Muscovites reading TASS Window No. 5, "What Hitler Wants", in a shop window in Moscow, July 1941](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/images/what-hitler-wants-tass-window-1941.jpg) *Soviet Union, 1941. TASS Window studio, Moscow. Window No. 5, drawn by Mikhail Cheremnykh, read by passers-by weeks after the German invasion. Photo A. V. Ustinov, Moscow Main Archive, CC BY 4.0.* ![Standing street sign in Tokyo, 1940, reading "Luxury is the enemy!" beside a "Serve the rise of Asia" banner](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/images/luxury-is-the-enemy-sign-1940.jpg) *Japan, 1940. National Spiritual Mobilization Movement headquarters, Tokyo. One of about 1,500 signs put up from 1 August 1940 after a ban on luxury goods.* The generated list below comes from the archive's records and grows as objects are added. Only public-domain or openly licensed images are hosted, so what appears reflects licensing, not the historical record. The case studies linked above document each side in full, including sides with few or no images here. ## From the collection: Second World War 89 objects, listed by issuing country: United States 22, Empire of Japan 17, United Kingdom 14, Soviet Union 6, Australia 5, China 5, Nazi Germany 5, Netherlands 3, Canada 2, Finland 2, Belgium 1, New Zealand 1, Portugal 1, Provisional Government of Free India 1, Romania 1, Sweden 1, Thailand 1, Vichy France 1. This list is generated from the collection records, so it changes as objects are added. ### United States (22) - [Don't Let That Shadow Touch Them: Buy War Bonds](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/dont-let-that-shadow-touch-them-1942/) (1942 · Fear appeal, Transfer) - [He's Watching You](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/hes-watching-you/) (1942 · Fear appeal, Scapegoating, Transfer) - [Loose Lips Might Sink Ships](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/loose-lips-might-sink-ships/) (1942 · Fear appeal, Card stacking) - [This Man Is Your Friend: Chinese. He Fights for Freedom](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/this-man-is-your-friend-chinese-1942/) (1942 · Glittering generalities, Transfer) - [This Man Is Your Friend: Russian. He Fights for Freedom](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/this-man-is-your-friend-russian-1942/) (1942 · Glittering generalities, Transfer) - [Wanted! For Murder — Her Careless Talk Costs Lives](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/wanted-for-murder-careless-talk/) (1942 · Fear appeal, Scapegoating, Card stacking) - ['Instructions to All Persons of Japanese Ancestry' (exclusion order posted in San Francisco)](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/exclusion-order-japanese-ancestry-1942/) (Apr 11, 1942 · Euphemism / doublespeak) - [All the Ear-Marks of a Sneaky Jap!](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/all-the-earmarks-of-a-sneaky-jap-1943/) (1943 · Name-calling, Scapegoating). Content note: Ethnic slur against Japanese people in the headline. - [Americans Will Always Fight for Liberty](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/americans-will-always-fight-for-liberty-1943/) (1943 · Transfer, Glittering generalities) - [China Fights On](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/china-fights-on-united-china-relief-1943/) (1943 · Transfer, Glittering generalities) - [Let's Fly This Flag: Everybody at Least 10 Percent in War Bonds](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/lets-fly-this-flag-1943/) (1943 · Bandwagon) - [The More Women at Work the Sooner We Win!](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/more-women-at-work-sooner-we-win-1943/) (1943 · Plain folks, Glittering generalities) - [She May Look Clean—But](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/she-may-look-clean-but-1943/) (1943 · Fear appeal, Scapegoating) - [This Is the Enemy](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/this-is-the-enemy-1943/) (1943 · Scapegoating, Transfer, Fear appeal). Content note: Nazi swastika and violent imagery. - [United We Win](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/united-we-win-1943/) (1943 · Transfer, Glittering generalities) - [We Can Do It!](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/we-can-do-it-1943/) (1943 · Glittering generalities, Plain folks) - [Why We Fight: The Battle of Britain (film frame)](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/why-we-fight-battle-of-britain-1943/) (1943 · Sleeper effect) - [Catania, Sicily: reading Allied news under U.S. and British flags, 1943](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/catania-allied-news-display-1943/) (Sep 1943 · Transfer, Card stacking) - [Air-raid notice: 'This city is the next target' (US leaflet to Japanese civilians)](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/warning-next-target-japan-leaflet-1944/) (1944 · Fear appeal) - ['Yesterday's enemy is today's friend' (US leaflet 18-J-1 to Japanese troops)](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/yesterday-enemies-today-friends-leaflet-1944/) (1944 · Card stacking) - [This American Airman Drives the Jap from China's Skies: Give Him Your Help! (Chinese New Year poster)](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/american-airman-chinas-skies-1945/) (1945 · Transfer, Plain folks). Content note: Caricature of a Japanese soldier trampled underfoot, and a wartime slur ("Jap") in the object's title. - [Attention American Soldiers! I Cease Resistance (surrender pass, leaflet 17-J-1)](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/i-cease-resistance-leaflet-1945/) (1945 · Euphemism / doublespeak, Testimonial) ### Empire of Japan (17) - [銃後の總親和 第二回總選挙 (Total Harmony on the Home Front: Second General Election), Taiwan](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/jugo-no-soshinwa-taiwan-election-1939/) (Oct 1939 · Transfer, Glittering generalities) - [秘密戰ヲ防ゲ (Guard Against Secret Warfare), Japanese home-front counterintelligence poster](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/japan-counterintelligence-poster-1940/) (1940 · Fear appeal, Name-calling) - ['Zeitaku wa teki da!' (Luxury Is the Enemy!) street sign, Tokyo](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/luxury-is-the-enemy-sign-1940/) (Aug 1, 1940 · Semantic hijacking, Identity fusion) - ['Daitōa sensō ni kachinukō!!' (Let's win the Greater East Asia War!) fuel-saving poster, Aichi](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/lets-win-greater-east-asia-war-poster-1940s/) (1941 · Transfer) - ['Stop useless resistance' (Japanese leaflet to the Hong Kong garrison)](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/stop-useless-resistance-hong-kong-leaflet-1941/) (1941 · Fear appeal) - [Axis battledores (hagoita) and 'Axis young ladies': cover of Shashin Shūhō No. 151, Japan](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/axis-hagoita-shashin-shuho-1941/) (Jan 15, 1941 · Transfer) - [中日基本條約簽訂一週年來矣！ (The Sino-Japanese Basic Treaty's first anniversary has come!), four-panel leaflet for Hankou](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/hankou-basic-treaty-anniversary-leaflet-1941/) (Nov 1941 · Glittering generalities, Fear appeal) - [Belajarlah! Pakailah! Bahasa Nippon! (Learn! Use! The Japanese Language!)](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/belajarlah-pakailah-bahasa-nippon-1942/) (1942 · Bandwagon) - ['BUT if you continue to resist...' (Japanese leaflet to Australian troops)](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/but-leaflet-australian-troops-1942/) (1942 · Fear appeal). Content note: Japanese leaflet showing a dead, dismembered soldier, with a sexual appeal in its text. - ['Daitōa kizuku chikara da, kono ippyō' (This one vote is the power that builds Greater East Asia) election poster](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/this-ballot-greater-east-asia-election-poster-1942/) (1942 · Transfer) - [Matchbox label, Japanese wartime propaganda in Malay: "Tentoe dapat kemenangan" (Victory will surely be won), No. 3 (c. 1943)](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/japanese-java-propaganda-matchbox-1943/) (1943 · Name-calling) - [Japanese leaflet for India in Hindi and Bengali: Allied leaders pull an Indian (1943)](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/japanese-leaflet-india-tug-of-war-1943/) (1943 · Bandwagon, Name-calling) - [Sedari Menanam Hingga Memetik (From Planting to Harvest)](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/sedari-menanam-hingga-memetik-1943/) (1943 · Plain folks) - ['Dangan kitte' (Bullet Stamps) war-savings lottery advertisement, back cover of Shashin Shūhō](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/dangan-kitte-shashin-shuho-1943/) (Mar 31, 1943 · Transfer) - ['Denryoku wa senryoku!' (Electric Power Is Military Power!) home-front poster](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/electric-power-is-military-power-poster-1944/) (1944 · Card stacking) - [Still from "Japanse propaganda tentoonstelling", Japanese military propaganda film shot in Java (c. 1944)](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/japanese-propaganda-film-exhibition-java-1944/) (1944 · Plain folks) - ['Beware of the Triple Threat!!!' leaflet for American troops on Mindoro (1944-45)](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/beware-triple-threat-mindoro-leaflet-1944/) (Dec 1944 · Fear appeal, Plain folks) ### United Kingdom (14) - ['Askari wetu washinda Wajapani / Smash the Japs!' (British poster for East Africa)](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/askari-wetu-smash-the-japs-1939/) (1939 · Name-calling). Content note: Wartime racial slur ('Japs') in the slogan; depicts Japanese soldiers killed in combat. - ['My Struggle!' by Adolf Hitler, the sculptor (British poster in Arabic)](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/hitler-sculptor-swastika-arabic-1939/) (1939 · Transfer). Content note: Photographs of dead civilians, including children, arranged as a bleeding swastika. - [Keep Calm and Carry On](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/keep-calm-and-carry-on-1939/) (1939 · Transfer) - [Your Courage, Your Cheerfulness, Your Resolution Will Bring Us Victory](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/your-courage-your-cheerfulness-1939/) (1939 · Glittering generalities, Transfer) - [Careless Talk Costs Lives: "...strictly between these four walls!"](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/careless-talk-four-walls-fougasse-1940/) (1940 · Fear appeal) - ['Dig for Victory' banner across the Royal Exchange, London, used as a Ministry of Information poster site](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/dig-for-victory-royal-exchange-banner-1940/) (1940 · Glittering generalities, Transfer) - [Liberté (Belgian flag, 'Unity of Strength' design)](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/unity-of-strength-liberte-belgian-flag-1940/) (1940 · Glittering generalities, Transfer) - [Wolkiger Beobachter, Luftpost-Ausgabe, 1. Jahrgang Nr. 7 (Cloudy Observer, air-mail edition, front page)](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/wolkiger-beobachter-luftpost-1940/) (1940 · Glittering generalities, Card stacking) - [Ave Caesar! Morituri te salutant (British leaflet to Italy)](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/ave-caesar-morituri-te-salutant-pwe-leaflet-1942/) (1942 · Name-calling, Fear appeal) - ['A Grã-Bretanha, Defensora da Liberdade' (British poster in Portuguese)](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/britain-defender-of-liberty-portuguese-1942/) (1942 · Glittering generalities) - [Himmler-head forgery of the 6-pfennig Deutsches Reich stamp](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/himmler-stamp-forgery-1943/) (1943 · Transfer, Narrative laundering) - [Sepsis: Get First Aid](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/sepsis-get-first-aid-1943/) (1943 · Fear appeal) - ['Wer hatte recht?' ('Who was right?') (Allied leaflet to Germany)](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/wer-hatte-recht-raf-leaflet-1943/) (1943 · Card stacking) - [Nachrichten für die Truppe, No. 358, 9 April 1945](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/nachrichten-fuer-die-truppe-1945/) (Apr 9, 1945 · Transfer, Card stacking) ### Soviet Union (6) - [Suomen armeijan sotilaat! (Soldiers of the Finnish Army!): Soviet leaflet signed by named Finnish prisoners](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/soviet-leaflet-suomen-armeijan-sotilaat-1939/) (1939 · Testimonial, Scapegoating) - [Kõik NSV Liidu Ülemnõukogu valimistele! (Everyone to the USSR Supreme Soviet Elections!): Tallinn sweet wrapper](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/kompvekipaber-ulemnoukogu-valimised-1941/) (1941 · Bandwagon, Transfer) - [Muscovites at TASS Window No. 5, 'What Hitler Wants' (Chego Gitler khochet)](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/what-hitler-wants-tass-window-1941/) (Jul 1941 · Fear appeal). Content note: Caricature of Hitler with a swastika. - ['Kiitos tov. Stalinille onnellisesta lapsuudesta!' (Thanks to Comrade Stalin for a happy childhood): banner over a hut door, Vidlitsa](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/kiitos-tov-stalinille-vidlitsa-1941/) (Sep 12, 1941 · Glittering generalities, Transfer) - [Lietuvos darbo žmonės! Lietuviai! (Working People of Lithuania! Lithuanians!): Soviet May Day leaflet for German-occupied Lithuania](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/soviet-leaflet-lietuvos-darbo-zmones-1942/) (1942 · Name-calling, Bandwagon, Fear appeal) - [Suomalainen sotilas! (Finnish Soldier!): Soviet safe-conduct leaflet, Continuation War](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/soviet-leaflet-suomalainen-sotilas-1942/) (1942 · Fear appeal, Scapegoating) ### Australia (5) - ['He's coming south. It's fight, work or perish' (Australian Department of Information)](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/hes-coming-south-australia-1942/) (1942 · Fear appeal). Content note: Racialised caricature of a Japanese soldier stepping on Australia. - ['The Spearhead reaches SOUTH - ALWAYS SOUTH!' (Curtin leaflet)](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/spearhead-reaches-south-curtin-leaflet-1942/) (1942 · Fear appeal) - ['Join us in a victory job' (Australian Department of National Service)](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/join-us-in-a-victory-job-australia-1943/) (1943 · Bandwagon) - [Ringed with menace! Bar the gates with 'Beauforts' (Australian aircraft-production poster)](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/ringed-with-menace-beauforts-1943/) (1943 · Fear appeal) - [Work, Save, Fight and so Avenge the Nurses! (Centaur poster)](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/work-save-fight-avenge-the-nurses-1943/) (1943 · Transfer) ### China (5) - [打死汪精衛，打死漢奸們！ (Beat Wang Jingwei to death, beat the traitors to death!), Kangweijun Pictorial vol. 1 no. 3](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/kill-wang-jingwei-kangweijun-pictorial-1939/) (1939 · Name-calling, Transfer) - [我愈戰愈强，敵愈戰愈弱 (The more we fight, the stronger we grow; the more the enemy fights, the weaker he grows)](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/the-more-we-fight-the-stronger-china-1940/) (1940 · Name-calling) - [中國工人 (Chinese Worker) no. 4, May Day special: contents page and Yan'an colophon](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/chinese-worker-may-day-contents-yanan-1940/) (May 1, 1940 · Glittering generalities) - [鴉片戰爭史畫 (Pictorial History of the Opium War), cover](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/wang-regime-opium-war-pictorial-1942/) (Apr 1, 1942 · Transfer) - ['Let's go cherry-blossom viewing' (anti-war league leaflet to Japanese troops)](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/lets-go-cherry-blossom-viewing-jpal-leaflet-1943/) (1943 · Transfer) ### Nazi Germany (5) - [Schonen Sie Ihren Organismus (Spare Your Organism)](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/schonen-sie-ihren-organismus-1940/) (1940 · Fear appeal) - [Engelsche hongerblokkade (English hunger blockade)](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/engelsche-hongerblokkade-1941/) (1941 · Scapegoating, Name-calling) - [V = Duitschland wint voor Europa op alle fronten (V = Germany wins for Europe on all fronts)](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/v-duitschland-wint-voor-europa-1941/) (1941 · Semantic hijacking) - [Totaler Krieg – kürzester Krieg (Total War – Shortest War): the Sportpalast rally of 18 February 1943](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/sportpalast-total-war-speech-1943/) (Feb 18, 1943 · Bandwagon, Fear appeal) - [Staking brengt alleen ellende over uw eigen volk (Strike brings only misery upon your own people)](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/staking-brengt-alleen-ellende-1944/) (1944 · Fear appeal) ### Netherlands (3) - [Allen in de Nederlandsche Unie (All in the Netherlands Union)](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/allen-in-de-nederlandsche-unie-1940/) (1940 · Plain folks, Bandwagon) - [Vrijheid - Recht - Welvaart (NSB poster)](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/vrijheid-recht-welvaart-nsb-1940/) (1940 · Glittering generalities) - [Ik val aan... volgt mij (I attack... follow me)](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/ik-val-aan-volgt-mij-1945/) (1945 · Transfer) ### Canada (2) - ['Allons-y... Canadiens!' (Canadian Department of National War Services)](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/allons-y-canadiens-1941/) (1941 · Transfer) - [Eux aussi achètent des obligations de la Victoire (Canada Victory Loan, French-language poster)](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/eux-aussi-achetent-obligations-victoire-1943/) (1943 · Transfer) ### Finland (2) - [Varokaa! Vakoilija! (Beware! Spy!): Finnish Winter War poster](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/finland-varokaa-vakoilijaa-1939/) (1939 · Fear appeal) - [Они так веселы потому что вырвались к счастливой жизни (They Are So Cheerful Because They Broke Free to a Happy Life): Finnish leaflet for Red Army soldiers](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/finnish-leaflet-pows-content-1940/) (1940 · Card stacking, Scapegoating) ### Belgium (1) - [Groot Ruimte-Economie (VNV lecture poster, Ostend)](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/vnv-groot-ruimte-economie-oostende-1942/) (Nov 22, 1942 · Testimonial, Transfer) ### New Zealand (1) - [The "Spirit of Anzac" Calls You: Enlist Now for Overseas Service (Second N.Z. Expeditionary Force)](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/spirit-of-anzac-calls-you-nz-1939/) (1939 · Transfer) ### Portugal (1) - [Mulher portuguesa: a Salazar o deves! Votai por Salazar (Portuguese woman: you owe it to Salazar! Vote for Salazar)](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/mulher-portuguesa-votai-por-salazar-1945/) (1945 · Fear appeal, Card stacking) ### Provisional Government of Free India (1) - [Azad Hind, English edition, front page (Syonan/Singapore, 1 February 1945)](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/azad-hind-english-edition-1945/) (Feb 1, 1945 · Name-calling, Card stacking) ### Romania (1) - [Românii basarabeni, Bucovinenii și minoritarii pașnici (leaflet for Bessarabia and Northern Bukovina, Romanian and Russian sides)](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/romanian-german-leaflet-bessarabia-1941/) (1941 · Fear appeal, Identity fusion) ### Sweden (1) - [På post för Sverige (On Post for Sweden): preparedness postcard with hymn stanza](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/pa-post-for-sverige-postcard-1940/) (1940 · Transfer, Glittering generalities) ### Thailand (1) - [วัฒนธรรมของไทย (Thai Culture), dress-code poster of the Phibunsongkhram government](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/thai-culture-dress-poster-1940/) (1940 · Name-calling, Glittering generalities) ### Vichy France (1) - [Ils assassinent ! Enveloppés dans les plis de notre drapeau (They murder! Wrapped in the folds of our flag)](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/ils-assassinent-vichy-1941/) (1941 · Scapegoating, Fear appeal) ## How to spot it 1. **Who is speaking?** Open agency, blurred source or false voice? See [World War II rumor clinics and rumor control (1940 to 1947)](https://propagandaarchive.org/case-studies/wwii-rumor-clinics/) for how one government tracked its own public's rumours. 2. **What is offered instead of a claim?** A fear image or a virtue word can substitute for evidence. 3. **What is missing?** Compare communiqués and newsreels against later records. 4. **Could the public check it?** Where foreign listening was a crime, the answer was no. ## Sources 1. National Archives. "Records of the Office of War Information." https://www.archives.gov/research/guide-fed-records/groups/208.html ; Winkler, A. M. (1978). *The Politics of Propaganda: The Office of War Information, 1942-1945*. New Haven: Yale University Press. https://academic.oup.com/ahr/article-abstract/83/5/1360/229031 2. Dower, J. W. (1986). *War Without Mercy: Race and Power in the Pacific War*. New York: Pantheon. https://www.nationalbook.org/books/war-without-mercy-race-and-power-in-the-pacific-war/ 3. Imperial War Museums. "The truth behind 'Keep Calm and Carry On'." https://www.iwm.org.uk/history/second-world-war/home-front/truth-behind-keep-calm-and-carry-on 4. Garnett, D. (2002). *The Secret History of PWE: The Political Warfare Executive, 1939-1945*. London: St Ermin's Press. https://www.iwm.org.uk/collections/item/object/1500057615 5. UPI. "Soviets admit, apologize for Katyn massacre" (13 April 1990), reporting the TASS statement. https://www.upi.com/Archives/1990/04/13/Soviets-admit-apologize-for-Katyn-massacre/9889639979200/ 6. Art Institute of Chicago. "Windows on the War: Soviet TASS Posters at Home and Abroad, 1941-1945." https://archive.artic.edu/tass/ 7. Kushner, B. (2006). *The Thought War: Japanese Imperial Propaganda*. Honolulu: University of Hawai'i Press. https://uhpress.hawaii.edu/title/the-thought-war-japanese-imperial-propaganda/ 8. Cannistraro, P. V. (1975). *La fabbrica del consenso: Fascismo e mass media*. Bari: Laterza. https://academic.oup.com/ahr/article-abstract/82/2/388/132729 9. Welch, D. (2002). *The Third Reich: Politics and Propaganda* (2nd ed.). London: Routledge. https://www.routledge.com/The-Third-Reich-Politics-and-Propaganda/Welch-Welch/p/book/9780415275088 ; USHMM. "Nazi Propaganda." https://encyclopedia.ushmm.org/content/en/article/nazi-propaganda 10. German History in Documents and Images. "Decree on 'Extraordinary Radio Measures'" (1 September 1939). https://germanhistorydocs.org/en/nazi-germany-1933-1945/decree-by-the-ministerial-council-for-the-defense-of-the-reich-on-extraordinary-radio-measures-dated-september-1-1939-issued-september-7-1939 11. International Military Tribunal. Judgment: "The Accused Streicher." Avalon Project, Yale Law School. https://avalon.law.yale.edu/imt/judstrei.asp 12. Herf, J. (2006). *The Jewish Enemy: Nazi Propaganda during World War II and the Holocaust*. Cambridge, MA: Belknap Press of Harvard University Press. https://www.hup.harvard.edu/books/9780674027381 13. Protocol of the Wannsee Conference, 20 January 1942. Avalon Project. https://avalon.law.yale.edu/imt/wannsee.asp 14. USHMM. "Theresienstadt." https://encyclopedia.ushmm.org/content/en/article/theresienstadt ## Related - [What is propaganda? Definition, history and examples](https://propagandaarchive.org/learn/what-is-propaganda/) - [Propaganda, misinformation and disinformation: the differences](https://propagandaarchive.org/learn/propaganda-misinformation-disinformation/) - [Doctrine (working definition)](https://propagandaarchive.org/about/working-definition/) - [Hitler, Goebbels and the Reich Ministry for Public Enlightenment and Propaganda (1925-1945)](https://propagandaarchive.org/about/nazi-propaganda-ministry/) - [Lenin and the Communist Party of the Soviet Union, the agitprop model (1902-1991)](https://propagandaarchive.org/about/soviet-agitprop/) - [U.S. Army and Joint Staff, Psychological Operations doctrine (1987-2013)](https://propagandaarchive.org/about/us-psyop-doctrine/) - [The Reich Ministry of Public Enlightenment and Propaganda, 1933-1945](https://propagandaarchive.org/case-studies/reich-propaganda-ministry/) - [Nazi propaganda before and during the Holocaust, 1933-1945](https://propagandaarchive.org/case-studies/holocaust-propaganda/) - [Film under Goebbels: Triumph des Willens (1935) and Der ewige Jude (1940)](https://propagandaarchive.org/case-studies/nazi-film-triumph-and-eternal-jew/) - [The SS as its own propaganda institution: Das Schwarze Korps, the Ahnenerbe and the order myth, 1931-1945](https://propagandaarchive.org/case-studies/ss-mythology-das-schwarze-korps/) - [The Office of War Information's Domestic Branch, 1942-43](https://propagandaarchive.org/case-studies/owi-domestic-branch/) - [The U.S. Office of War Information and the Writers' War Board: a 'strategy of truth' meets the advertising men](https://propagandaarchive.org/case-studies/us-owi-writers-war-board/) - [Why We Fight: the U.S. Army's orientation films, 1942-1945](https://propagandaarchive.org/case-studies/why-we-fight-series/) - [Britain's Ministry of Information and Political Warfare Executive: posters at home, black radio abroad](https://propagandaarchive.org/case-studies/british-moi-pwe/) - [Britain's Ministry of Information films and London Can Take It! (1940-1942)](https://propagandaarchive.org/case-studies/british-ministry-of-information-films/) - [Wartime radio voices: open and hidden broadcasts aimed at the enemy, 1939-1945](https://propagandaarchive.org/case-studies/wartime-radio-voices/) - [Soviet wartime propaganda, 1939-1945: Sovinformburo, Agitprop and the Red Army press](https://propagandaarchive.org/case-studies/soviet-wartime-propaganda/) - [Pravda, Izvestia and TASS: the institutional structure of the Soviet press monopoly, 1912-1991](https://propagandaarchive.org/case-studies/pravda-tass-soviet-press-institution/) - [Imperial Japan's wartime propaganda at home: the Information Bureau, the neighbourhood associations and the war communiqués](https://propagandaarchive.org/case-studies/imperial-japan-home-front/) - [Fascist Italy's propaganda machine: from the Duce's Press Office to the Ministry of Popular Culture](https://propagandaarchive.org/case-studies/fascist-italy-minculpop/) - [World War II rumor clinics and rumor control (1940 to 1947)](https://propagandaarchive.org/case-studies/wwii-rumor-clinics/) - ['Instructions to All Persons of Japanese Ancestry' (exclusion order posted in San Francisco)](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/exclusion-order-japanese-ancestry-1942/) - [Fear appeal](https://propagandaarchive.org/techniques/fear-appeal/) - [Scapegoating](https://propagandaarchive.org/techniques/scapegoating/) - [Euphemism / doublespeak](https://propagandaarchive.org/techniques/euphemism/) - [Accusation in a mirror](https://propagandaarchive.org/techniques/accusation-in-a-mirror/) - [Card stacking](https://propagandaarchive.org/techniques/card-stacking/) - [Identity fusion](https://propagandaarchive.org/techniques/identity-fusion/) - [Transfer](https://propagandaarchive.org/techniques/transfer/) - [Name-calling](https://propagandaarchive.org/techniques/name-calling/)