Damaging the Gentle Nature of Nazism: German anti-British Propaganda. 1940

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Virtue itself scapes not calumnious strokes. Hamlet Prince of Denmark (Laertes at I, III)

A man calumniated is doubly injured - first by him who utters the calumny, and then by him who believes it.
Herodotus

 

This small pamphlet, written by the German Information Office (“Deutschen Informationsstelle”)  in 1940, wraps the good name of Nazi Germany in a double cloth of virtue, protecting itself against  the maligning and shriveling propaganda of the British Ruling Class.  At least that’s what Josef Goebbels & Co. would have you think.  The pamphlet was printed in English by Wilhelm Greve in Berlin, and in its 28 pages outlined the history of British “terror” propaganda in general, and of the recent “total defamations” against Germany in particular.

Erdmann and etc. write:  “It is no mere chance that the British, who lag rather far behind the older artistic peoples such as the Italians, Germans and French in regard to the fine arts, nevertheless are conceded to excel them all in one form of portrayal—namely malicious political caricature. Presently the pamphlet was concerned with the general attack against the Nazi government overall, but took great offense in the British attack on the “Hausfrau”, a “shameless attack on the reputation of the women in the enemy camp…”

The pamphlet does make its way around to “the atrocity lie”, which “so thoroughly ruins the good name of the enemy that all possibilities of companionship with him are paralyzed”.  The German propaganda office takes a very high and imaginary high road on this one,. Claiming that it is impossible for Germany to commit acts of violence and cruelty against innocent and defenseless people.  By the time this pamphlet was being distributed in 1940, the systemic extermination of the Jews had begun.  As had the war. 

But the Nazis were concerned with the capacity for friendship after the war—or at least that is what Erdmann wrote—but that was now being made impossible by members of the “campaign of total defamation” which was mainly comprised of the members of the British ruling class, not the least of which was Winston Churchill. 

“It is impossible” Erdmann writes of the imaginary damage done to the good name of the Nazis, “here to form an even approximate estimate of the extent to which all the European peoples have been poisoned by British propagandas…”

Its hard to say for whom this pamphlet was intended--perhaps everyone.  The main intention was to separate the British ruling class ("caste") from the rest of the British government--there is no mention whatsoever of the British people.  Now there were pro-fascist groups alive and well in Britain (the British Union of Fascists, The Link*,  and the Anglo-German Fellowship to name just a few).  Of course America was far from immune to pro-Nazi feelings and political parties. (I've written earlier here about Henry Ford and his Nazism, and there was also no end to American-Nazi business arrangements through 1944...but that's a different story for another time.) But the main need of the Nazis in this pamphlet was to deny all of the calumny toosed its way by the rest of the world.  They just said, simply, "no".

The pamphlet ends with a plea for decency for teh world at large following the end of the present war:  "In the interest of political decency in Europe, it is hoped that the end of the present war will bring with it the possibility of such measures as will induce the ruling class in Britain to abandon once and for all their tradition of calumny.  That is an essential condition for the peace and the for the political and spiritual health of Europe".

The Nazis intended that this business of peace would be easier once the war was over, what with their elimination of the Jewish people, and tearing apart and murder of millions of Russians and Poles, and the subjugation of everyone else.  At that point they would write the history, and the British calumny would simply disappear.

* "The Link boasted two dukes, the 11th Duke of Bedford, and the 2nd Duke of Westminster. Members of the Anglo-German Fellowship included 16 peers of the realm and the Governor of the Bank of England, Frank C. Tiarks. Many members were also former MPs. Lord Stamp was a director of the Bank of England. Another Fellowship member, Lord McGowan, was chairman of ICI, Britain’s trading partner with IG Farben. Lord Nuffield, chairman of Morris Motors Ltd, was a member of both the Link and the Anglo-German Fellowship. Perhaps the most disturbing name among the fellowship’s members was that of Sir William Strang, Chief Political Adviser to the Foreign Office."