Propaganda Poster Analysis

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Before World War II began, anti-semitic propaganda posters circulated throughout Europe. The Nazis tried to reunite the German people scattered about eastern Europe from World War I, but they only wanted to reunite a specific kind of German people. The purpose of the posters was to show who they were not trying to reunite with -- German Jews. “Сатана скинув маску!” displays an image of Joseph Stalin taking off his mask. It is then revealed that he is the devil with the Star of David on his forehead. The text roughly translates to “Satan is throwing off his mask!” The poster lacks any explanation about why the Nazis targeted Jews. By analyzing the content, form, overt and subtle messages, and the intended audience of the poster above, it is …show more content…
For the Germans who did not join the bandwagon of using Jews as scapegoats, this poster was supposed to convince them that Jews were evil and they should condone the violence Jews faced as well-reasoned and deserved. For the Jews who did nothing to deserve this hate, this poster was supposed to degrade them, make them feel weak and inferior. For the Europeans who did not know of the senseless dislike of Jewish heritage in Germany, this poster was supposed to tell them that this is what Jews represent: the devil and communism. A confusing aspect of this poster is the writing on it. The message is clear, “Satan is throwing off his mask!” but why is it not in German? Were the Nazis trying to convince east Europeans, specifically, that their atrocities towards Jewish people were justified? Perhaps the Nazis thought that eastern Europe and Russia were the only ones who would believe in their cause, so they wrote it in a well known slavic language. This does not seem likely, since the poster also mocks Stalin. Perhaps it is simpler than that and the poster was distributed everywhere, with different languages stating that “Satan is throwing off his

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