When Paul gets separated from his company, he finds himself behind an abandoned trench and hides until all of the shooting is over. When an enemy soldier stumbles into the trench, he follows his instincts and stabs him. Paul says to himself, “forgive me comrade, how could you be my enemy?” (Document B). Paul now realizes that this soldier is just like him and is not actually his enemy. He does not understand why they are fighting, because his victim seems vulnerable and less evil than he has previously thought. He too has a family, friends, as well as a job, just like Paul. Paul reflects to himself that, “if we threw away these rifles and this uniform you could be my brother just like Kat and Albert” (Document B). Paul realizes that his “enemy” and himself are not that different and believes that if he “threw away … this uniform”, and fought with the Germans like Paul, they would have likely been friends, even “brothers”. Similarly, in the propaganda poster of a man with a newspaper on the ground which is titled, “Huns kill women and children” (Document E), the enemy is portrayed as inhumane. This propaganda is simply a lie in order to make the enemies appear fiendish while the home country and its defenders are shown as heroic. Propaganda is often used in order to persuade the population of the idea that certain other countries or people are their enemy. The newspaper itself is also an example of propaganda, because it exemplifies demonization through the name calling that is used to make people view the Germans as evil and as a result of this be willing to risk their life fighting them. In both these documents, the other countries were first perceived as the enemy, which can be seen in propaganda all over the world. Paul has experienced this propaganda and has been taught that these
When Paul gets separated from his company, he finds himself behind an abandoned trench and hides until all of the shooting is over. When an enemy soldier stumbles into the trench, he follows his instincts and stabs him. Paul says to himself, “forgive me comrade, how could you be my enemy?” (Document B). Paul now realizes that this soldier is just like him and is not actually his enemy. He does not understand why they are fighting, because his victim seems vulnerable and less evil than he has previously thought. He too has a family, friends, as well as a job, just like Paul. Paul reflects to himself that, “if we threw away these rifles and this uniform you could be my brother just like Kat and Albert” (Document B). Paul realizes that his “enemy” and himself are not that different and believes that if he “threw away … this uniform”, and fought with the Germans like Paul, they would have likely been friends, even “brothers”. Similarly, in the propaganda poster of a man with a newspaper on the ground which is titled, “Huns kill women and children” (Document E), the enemy is portrayed as inhumane. This propaganda is simply a lie in order to make the enemies appear fiendish while the home country and its defenders are shown as heroic. Propaganda is often used in order to persuade the population of the idea that certain other countries or people are their enemy. The newspaper itself is also an example of propaganda, because it exemplifies demonization through the name calling that is used to make people view the Germans as evil and as a result of this be willing to risk their life fighting them. In both these documents, the other countries were first perceived as the enemy, which can be seen in propaganda all over the world. Paul has experienced this propaganda and has been taught that these