The article examines war propaganda, its purposes and functioning in different warring countries. The authors ar- gue that successful propaganda work depended on using effective methods and favorable conditions, and particularly, those stereotypes and prejudices that fed the enmity. While military victories certainly played a decisive role in propa- ganda campaigns, it was not the enemy as such but his inhuman and devastating action that often was actually impor- tant. The Soviet propaganda was more flexible and able to affect the mass consciousness than the German one. There was a distinct separation between the ‘fuhrers’ and the ‘tempted ordinary Germans’, and moreover, after 1943 the So- viet propaganda became focused on the expectations of Victory, and the enemy’s image was no more relevant.
|
