July 1932 Reichstag Election Poster
Title
July 1932 Reichstag Election Poster
Subject
Propaganda poster from the July 1932 Reichstag Elections
Description
The text translates as: “Over 300 National Socialists died for you — murdered by Marxist sub humanity!!! For work and food vote Adolf Hitler List 2.” The reference is to Nazis killed during the political battles on the streets and in political meetings.
Creator
Dr. Robert D. Brooks
Source
https://www.bytwerk.com/gpa/posters1.htm
Publisher
Calvin College Nazi Propaganda Archive: pre-1933 posters
Date
July, 1932
Contributor
Alyvia Bruce
Format
JPEG
Language
German
Type
Propaganda
Analysis
This 1932 propaganda poster is from the July Reichstag election. This election followed the premature end of the Reichstag and the Nazi party made great gains in which, for the first time, they became the largest party in parliament, but didn’t win a majority. Adolf Hitler is appointed as chancellor of Germany, which inevitably leads to the rise of Hitler and the Nazi Party in the years to come. The poster reads, “Over 300 National Socialists died for you — murdered by Marxist sub humanity!!! For work and food vote Adolf Hitler List 2.” The main argument that this poster is making is anti-communist, and pro-NSDAP, in addition to underlying pro-Christianity aspects in the visual aspect of the poster.
In order to further analyze this piece of propaganda, the visual aspects of the poster must first be analyzed. The poster pushes for the election of Adolf Hitler in the 1932 election against Paul von Hindenburg. In the background of the poster is a cross with a swastika in the middle. The colors of the poster are red, black, and white. Each of these aspects present in the propaganda poster will be analyzed and compared to the 1927 NSDAP Propaganda Guidelines (Propaganda) and the later published Nuremberg Laws throughout this analysis.
This poster was created and circulated at the tail end of the Great Depression, which is noted in the mention of jobs and food being given if Adolf Hitler is elected. During the Great Depression (August 1929 - March 1933), unemployment rose from 8% to 30% and industrial production dropped 42%. After appointed chancellor, Hitler used the economic environment to push for policies that were extremely nationalist: buying German goods only, and mainly getting the current administration out of leadership. Hitler and the rest of the Nazi Party blamed the current political and economic demise on the Jews and Communists. It is especially clear in the poster’s writing that the Communists were blamed for the Nazis killed during the political battles on the streets and in political meetings. This poster is mainly directed at the communists and targets them as the reason people must vote for Hitler for food and jobs, because in a normal, modern society these items are a given.
The presence of a cross on the poster is a subtle target at religions other than Christianity in Germany. The Jehovah’s Witness and the Jews were not being outright violently targeted quite yet, but not even three years later, the Nuremberg Laws were published which legally “excluded Jews from German society” (Nuremberg). The Jehovah’s Witness members were despised by nationalists in Germany as the religious members sought to spread the Jehovah Witness religion by door-knocking and other such measures and with their ties to the United States. Apart from the communists, the Jehovah Witness were one of the first groups targeted by the Nazi Party (Bergen). This is in part due to the previously listed facts, but also due to it being against their religion to bear arms or swear loyalty to the state. In June of 1933, Prussia issued a ban on Jehovah Witness members stating that they were attracting and harboring former members of the Communist and Marxist parties. Evaluating the cross and swastika in regards to the rest of history, the cross also symbolizes anti-Semitism which primarily was because Nazis had convinced themselves that Jews were responsible for the traumatic collapse of the German home front and military moral in 1917 and 1918 (Moses). This piece of propaganda highlights the Nazi regime’s lack of tolerance for any type of semi-radical groups (religious, political etc.).
This piece of propaganda is going to look different and have different motives than later pieces of propaganda because when this poster was circulated, Adolf Hitler had not yet been appointed chancellor and WWII had not yet started, and many of the “standard Nazi policies” had not yet been implemented. However, the 1927 Propaganda Guidelines had been published and this poster reflects them to a tee. Propaganda, according to the guidelines, must “always speak to the masses”, “limit itself to a few themes and repeat them incessantly”, “preaching prosperity... and patriotism to our confused people” (Propaganda). This reflects the Reich Flag Law (which came after the poster was published - 1935) which states that the colors of the Reich are black, white, and red (Nazi Sourcebook 186). In many ways this poster is simply a political election poster, but analyzing this piece of propaganda as a stand-alone poster does not allow for the proper reflection and it must instead be juxtaposed with the rest of the NSDAP propaganda posters produced between the late 1920s and 1940s, and with that perspective it is clear that the intentions of this poster is much more than just supporting Adolf Hitler’s election and has many underlying themes as discussed. This poster does an exemplary job at predicting the course of the future for Germany and the war, reflecting ideas and opinions that become furthered exploited in the 1930s and 40s: anti-communism, anti-Semitism, anti-Jehovah Witness, pro-nationalism, and pro-NSDAP.
Works Cited:
Propaganda Abteilung, Propaganda (Munich: Reichs-Parteileitung der N.S.D.A.P., 1927).
Doris L. Bergen, War and Genocide: A Concise History of the Holocaust, 3rd ed. (Lanham, MD: Rowman & Littlefield, 2016). ISBN: 9781442242289.
Office of the US Chief of Counsel for Prosecution of Axis Criminality, Nazi Conspiracy and Aggression (Washington DC: US Government Printing Office, 1946), Vol. IV, pp. 7-10, 707, Vol. V pp. 916-17 [Docs. 2079-PS, 1416-PS, 1417-PS, 3179-PS]
A. Dirk Moses, “Colonialism,” in The Oxford Handbook of Holocaust Studies (2010)
In order to further analyze this piece of propaganda, the visual aspects of the poster must first be analyzed. The poster pushes for the election of Adolf Hitler in the 1932 election against Paul von Hindenburg. In the background of the poster is a cross with a swastika in the middle. The colors of the poster are red, black, and white. Each of these aspects present in the propaganda poster will be analyzed and compared to the 1927 NSDAP Propaganda Guidelines (Propaganda) and the later published Nuremberg Laws throughout this analysis.
This poster was created and circulated at the tail end of the Great Depression, which is noted in the mention of jobs and food being given if Adolf Hitler is elected. During the Great Depression (August 1929 - March 1933), unemployment rose from 8% to 30% and industrial production dropped 42%. After appointed chancellor, Hitler used the economic environment to push for policies that were extremely nationalist: buying German goods only, and mainly getting the current administration out of leadership. Hitler and the rest of the Nazi Party blamed the current political and economic demise on the Jews and Communists. It is especially clear in the poster’s writing that the Communists were blamed for the Nazis killed during the political battles on the streets and in political meetings. This poster is mainly directed at the communists and targets them as the reason people must vote for Hitler for food and jobs, because in a normal, modern society these items are a given.
The presence of a cross on the poster is a subtle target at religions other than Christianity in Germany. The Jehovah’s Witness and the Jews were not being outright violently targeted quite yet, but not even three years later, the Nuremberg Laws were published which legally “excluded Jews from German society” (Nuremberg). The Jehovah’s Witness members were despised by nationalists in Germany as the religious members sought to spread the Jehovah Witness religion by door-knocking and other such measures and with their ties to the United States. Apart from the communists, the Jehovah Witness were one of the first groups targeted by the Nazi Party (Bergen). This is in part due to the previously listed facts, but also due to it being against their religion to bear arms or swear loyalty to the state. In June of 1933, Prussia issued a ban on Jehovah Witness members stating that they were attracting and harboring former members of the Communist and Marxist parties. Evaluating the cross and swastika in regards to the rest of history, the cross also symbolizes anti-Semitism which primarily was because Nazis had convinced themselves that Jews were responsible for the traumatic collapse of the German home front and military moral in 1917 and 1918 (Moses). This piece of propaganda highlights the Nazi regime’s lack of tolerance for any type of semi-radical groups (religious, political etc.).
This piece of propaganda is going to look different and have different motives than later pieces of propaganda because when this poster was circulated, Adolf Hitler had not yet been appointed chancellor and WWII had not yet started, and many of the “standard Nazi policies” had not yet been implemented. However, the 1927 Propaganda Guidelines had been published and this poster reflects them to a tee. Propaganda, according to the guidelines, must “always speak to the masses”, “limit itself to a few themes and repeat them incessantly”, “preaching prosperity... and patriotism to our confused people” (Propaganda). This reflects the Reich Flag Law (which came after the poster was published - 1935) which states that the colors of the Reich are black, white, and red (Nazi Sourcebook 186). In many ways this poster is simply a political election poster, but analyzing this piece of propaganda as a stand-alone poster does not allow for the proper reflection and it must instead be juxtaposed with the rest of the NSDAP propaganda posters produced between the late 1920s and 1940s, and with that perspective it is clear that the intentions of this poster is much more than just supporting Adolf Hitler’s election and has many underlying themes as discussed. This poster does an exemplary job at predicting the course of the future for Germany and the war, reflecting ideas and opinions that become furthered exploited in the 1930s and 40s: anti-communism, anti-Semitism, anti-Jehovah Witness, pro-nationalism, and pro-NSDAP.
Works Cited:
Propaganda Abteilung, Propaganda (Munich: Reichs-Parteileitung der N.S.D.A.P., 1927).
Doris L. Bergen, War and Genocide: A Concise History of the Holocaust, 3rd ed. (Lanham, MD: Rowman & Littlefield, 2016). ISBN: 9781442242289.
Office of the US Chief of Counsel for Prosecution of Axis Criminality, Nazi Conspiracy and Aggression (Washington DC: US Government Printing Office, 1946), Vol. IV, pp. 7-10, 707, Vol. V pp. 916-17 [Docs. 2079-PS, 1416-PS, 1417-PS, 3179-PS]
A. Dirk Moses, “Colonialism,” in The Oxford Handbook of Holocaust Studies (2010)
Citation
Dr. Robert D. Brooks, “July 1932 Reichstag Election Poster,” HIST 1049, accessed May 5, 2024, https://hist1049-20.omeka.fas.harvard.edu/items/show/20.