NAZI PROPAGANDA

Manawatu Standard, Volume LX, Issue 141, 15 May 1940, Page 2

NAZI PROPAGANDA

WINDOW DISPLAYS. POWER OF PERSUASION. , That propaganda is being used to a great lengUiljy Germany is exemp.itied in a recent display journal received by a. business,-\ firm in PalmerstonNorth. “Propaganda is not limited to the Press'or broadcasting,” states the journal, “but it has a part wherever the power of persuasion can be exerted, and it claim:; the services of any medium which can be need to advantage. Nations have come to regard propaganda as a striking weapon, hut it is not far removed from advertising,” adds the journal which states that , one of the mediums to''capture public attention is by large displays. “When the Nazis came to power it was known by everyone,” continues the journal, “that Dr. Goebbcls, Minister of Propaganda, seized the newspapers, the radio, and the advertising, but it is not generally known that lie also seized the whole of the shop windows of Germany. This last act was accomplished by making every windowdresser and display man a member of a State display organisation, with a Nazi at the head . and Hie whole coming within the - propaganda department. Having set tip such an organisation, it became possible for the Nazis to order the shop windows of Germany as they wished. “Visitors to Germany recently have been amazed at the spontaneity of the shop windows in celebrating the birthday of Hitler and his rise to power. It was not a spontaneous expression; it was a co-ordinated effort by Dr. Goebbels. Again, on the occasion of the last election, photographs and the Word ‘Ja’ printed in large letters were repeated by the thousands in the windows of tlie .shops in every town in Germany. “During the plebiscite on the occasion of the Austrian Anschluss an enlarged man of German-Austrian territory was placed in a'window of a shop. It had the word ‘Ja’ printed all over it and in front of it was placed a bust of Hitler. Nazi flags completed the display. . “Another display shows a photograph of the Fuehrer and a sword cutting the Treaty of Versailles in tivo. “If the department wanted to boost a special article a design and a photograph are given to the shops selling the article,” continues the journal. i“The displays have to We made copying the design in every detail. There were penalties for those who deviated from the design in the slightest way. ■ 1 “So we see wliat the Germans are doing with display,” the writer proceeds, “but wliat are we doing? Very little. The Ministry of Information has yet to see its importance.”