On the Propaganda Front in America
Soffner, Heinz
On the Propaganda Front in America American Firms Sponsor Goebbels' Propaganda Over 9 U. S. Radio Stations By Heinz Soffner LORD.HAW HAW'S utterances and Dr. Goeb-. pels' short-wave propaganda...
...This-year a Chaplin picture—one i* which we waited over five years—has eo»* This film, the "Great Dictator," is the W* perfect political picture ever made...
...No One can eseape politics...
...Let us have short-films which entertain and instruct and which deeply penetrate into our lives...
...For one thing, though Washington emphasized apartness (the word isolation does not appear in the passage quoted), what he was really driving at was independence...
...Meets May 9, at 7 E. 15th St...
...k;,7t¦ w' immediately after this that Washington says: "Against the invidious wiles of foreign influence, fellow rcttikens,'I conjure you to believe me, the jealousy of a free people onght to be constantly awake, since history and experience prove that foreign influence is one of the most baneful foes of republican Government...
...They, however, fail to see the difference between so-called "chauvinism" and patriotism...
...One of these is the motion picture industry...
...And so it appears in the Farewell Address...
...If we remain one people, under an efficient government...
...Unreeling the Propaganda FLSEWHERE on this page, devoted this week to an analysis of pro-Axis propaganda techniques in this country, is an *"** article exposing camouflaged Nazi broadcasts emanating from American radio stations...
...Aside from the great films with a cast of several hundred actors, aside from those gigantic pictures a special kind of short-films should be produced as a part of the National defense program...
...These programs, of course, are commercially sponsored, as usual...
...when we may choose peace or war, as our interest guided by our justice shall counsel...
...Particular attention is being given to newscasts, speeches, announcements, playlets and musical programs...
...These pictures are not merely newsreels, they are more: a mixture of military display and Nazi ideology...
...There are, perhaps, other effects...
...That democracy has built the wonders of the world...
...The accompanying article reveals that there are at least 9 stations broadcasting propaganda prepared at Berlin's orders...
...Through it we have the possi bility of dating up the sometimes sleeping mind of •* citizens...
...Goebbels' many-sided and ingenious propaganda, for instance in Austria and in France where I had the opportunity to oaken* it on the spot—I admit that the broadcast* here scarcely play any major part in Hitler's pUm for this country...
...This is the strength and the power of our democracy...
...We must utilize and adapt the propaganda techniques of our enemies for our ends...
...You will find, for instance, that one particular group of sponsors predominates, all , ower...
...Just as interesting as the film was the audience, these people who here in the dark of the movie theatre were courageous enough to applaud when troops or the party or military leaders were shown...
...Special listening posts have been established to maintain a 24-hour watch for propaganda from abroad...
...These various programs are being recorded in the field by secretly located monitors and then are sent into headquarters in Washington for translation and analysis...
...I was almost the only person in the theatre who dared to hiss when Hitler appeared on the screen...
...In these movies we find the of the "Bill of Rights" for which we stand and fight today...
...To be concluded next week...
...In the latter city the borders are not yet opened but the film is having devastating effect, as Herr Von Pap'en has informed his chief...
...There is a fourth reason for maintaining that Washington was talking about independence as the end and isolation as merely the means...
...I remember particularly One scene, depicting the negotiations with France concerning the Louisiana purchase...
...There are, at present, 9 American stations .broadcasting German-language programs, together not much less than 100 hours per week...
...Short films, realistic, propagandistic and full of the democratic spirit which is our way of lifei A flare of trumpets is not necessary...
...lightened and independent Patriot...
...1JOWEVER, not all the sponsors are travel * * agencies...
...It is a 'mistake not to have been as active in this respect as the dictatorships...
...Dictators would have us believe that only they can create these...
...There are several reasons for saying this...
...Despite that patriotic title and despite some patriotic motive in the dramas, these plays, consisting of talks with short scenes interwoven, seem to have a very definite purpose...
...The French Minister was represented as a car-'ricature of a traveling salesman, haggling about the price, and speaking with a rather "Jewish accent...
...Than was also an attemrft to discredit democratic institutions of this country: one scene described how the brave leader, Jackson, while away in his distant military headquarters, was "stabbed in the back" by parliamentary intrigues...
...As avenues to foreign influence in innumerable ways, such attachments are particularly alarming to the truly en...
...The" most outspoken propaganda is contained in the announcements of the German movie pictures, including all Nazi propaganda films, like "Lightning Victory in the West," "Our Heroes of the Luftwaffe," and the weekly Nazi news-reels...
...Even in the most harmless and beautiful pictures of German landscapes you see and hear the singing boys of the "Hitler youth" and always the waving flags with the Swastika which are every time cheered by the audience in Yorkville...
...These German-language broadcasts bearwateb-ing closely and continually...
...The other day I was sitting in such a German' picture theatre in Yorkville, New York...
...Through the relatively large amount of time they buy, they can obviously control whole programs...
...In these times the art of the film is vital I* enlightenment because this art stands unifl•, in its universal appeal to millions of pM^ The film speaks ati eloquent language, nnd*r-stood not merely by a few of the elect net fcf all...
...Such an attachment of a small bV weak,- toward a great and powerful nation dooms the -forme* to be the satellite of the latter...
...V*l 13, pagc 151...
...We have directors like Frank Capra, Fritz Lang, Julien Duvivier, John Ford, Alfred Hitchcock, William Dieterle, William Wyler, and many others...
...Carpenter to Speak For Yorkville Co-op Group Dr...
...There are German Import Houses, offering German records, musical instruments, Schwarzwald clocks, and the like...
...Great Dictator', 'Juarez', 'Ehrlich' Show Films Can Be Powerful Weapon for Democracy By Joe H. Gassner WE are living at a time when there is hardly single place on earth where one might escape the influence of political happenings...
...Washington, the nationalist, has been less recognized...
...Certain of them have manifestly nothing in mind save their business and do not intend to become involved in political complica...
...We should show the people how democracy is constantly at work for humanity and progress...
...Yet to take the most quoted passages from their context ! is ."to, distort their meaning, as the following passages make clear: * .^".ifpthing .is more, essential than that permanent, inveterate antipathies against particular nations and passionate attachments for others should be excluded...
...Some years ago there was the mom^Z picture "The Life of Emile Zola" direct!* % Willian Dieterle...
...In the dictatorships politics is forced upon the'individual...
...And do not forget that even the most innocuous communication can have a secret meaning, when released by a skilled Nazi and heard by other skilled Nazis...
...Here, the only Frenchman was a pirate, he, too, speaking with a ridiculous accent...
...Washington wrote: "For sure I an, if this country is preserved in tranquillity twenty yaaw longer, it may bid defiance in a just cause to any power whatever...
...It is our true policy to steer clear of permanent alliances with any portion of the foreign world—so far, I mean, as we are now at liberty to do it—for let me not be understood as capable of patronizing infidelity to existing engagements...
...How many opportunities jdo.thfy, afford to tamper with domestic factions, to practice the arts of seduction, to mislead public opinion, to influence or awe the public councils...
...Until recently, the government was doing little to keep watch on this form of infiltration and communication perfected by Berlin for the building of its invisible armies in nations like the United States...
...The great Vule of conduct for us, in regard to foreign nations, is, in extending our commercial relations, to have with them as little Political connection as possible.—So far as we have already formed engagements, let them be ful--frHed with perfect good faith...
...Perhaps it is important for somebody to acquaint certain listeners with certain addresses, where to get "information" in the event that Germany's diplomatic and consular offices here should be closed...
...IT is then that the oft-quoted passage appears: "Why forego * the advantages of so peculiar a situation...
...The urgent desire of Washington that the country If-main united was coupled with the vision that the rena*" would not be long in coming...
...There are producers of German-like hams, sausages, bread, and so on...
...such in that time will be its population, wealth, and resources...
...Everybody seems to be happy, not only the singing conquerers but the inhabitants who cheer and rejoice at the "deliverance of their freedom...
...it is a fighting 4"1 and proclaims one message: fight for dem*-racy, fight against dictatorship to the very ha< breath...
...you might ask, . if you are not sufficiently- acquainted with modern propaganda ' ttJchnKjueY "No German liner can touch any American shore, no American citizen is permitted to travel in belligerent countries...
...the support of your tranquillity at home...
...Third, Washington took the precaution specifically not to bind the country to neutrality in a European war...
...A woman in front of me turned around astonished: "What is the matter with you...
...You would not— but you can listen to its martial air, nevertheless, at your radio, during some German-language programs...
...Paul F. Lazarsfeld...
...VI-' Invasion by Ether RilANY foreign language broadcasts today come over the airways through the voices of commercial announcers but with *" the technique of Herr Goebbels...
...But if you listen regularly . to them, you will discover certain strange connections...
...Democracy has built them up without noise and gorgeous display...
...in Hamilton^ final draft, however, it was changed to "the period is not far off...
...That Hitler has learned the effectiveness of the motion picture as propaganda is evidenced by the many victories they have won merely by showing the film, "Victory in trie West" Whenever a diplomatic nut proves difficult to crack, whenever national leaders hesitate to turn over their nation without a fight, the Nazi propagandists roll out "Victory in the West" and generally the borders are opened and the Nazi caissons roll through...
...Their ¦ services give "information on all matters concerning Germany," sometimes also with regard to citizenship and similar affairs...
...Dollars, paid here for money orders or food parcels to Germany, provide the Third Reich with valuable assets in this country...
...They are pictures of social «lf|*\ icance and yet—or rather because «f ^? factor are entertainment too...
...U/HILE then every part of our country thus feeVaJ^ " immediate and particular interest in Union, aljh parts combined cannot fail to find in the united matfp means and efforts greater strength, greater resource, jjaV portionately greater security from internal danger, iM fequent interruption of their peace by foreign nations...
...It was quite an uncomfortable feeling...
...This has started in Buenos Aires, Rio de Janeiro—and last week in Yorkville, where "Victory in the West" is now being shown...
...Here in America where film technique has reached the highest rank, the beginning should be made of the production of...
...your peace abroad...
...There are German restaurants, advertising German food, German entertainment, German social events...
...They are capable of producing democratic short-films, powerful and propagandistic...
...It is important to establish unequivocally pro-American, pro-dem-ocratic, and anti-Hitler broadcasts in the Get-man language, in order to counteract any potit-ble propaganda and to tie the German-ip«ikii» population of this country more closely lb America's cause in the present world crista...
...The same tendency to degrade France was found in another play of the same series, dealing with Andrew Jackson's life...
...The first iT| preliminary for the success of other broadcast...
...Why quit, our own to stand upon foreign ground...
...Although there is no open propaganda, wording, selection of the news, and certain tricks of trua-lation fit them well into the general pattern of camouflaged propaganda...
...Political art as a political weapon...
...Besides the popular Viennese waltzes and a few light classical pieces they are mostly cheap, old-fashioned sentimental tunes...
...Deeds OJ*^ Town" or "Mr...
...Short-films about the every-day life in a free country contrasted with the depressed and enslaved life in the totalitarian countries...
...We have been invaded already, not by troops and armed forces but by propaganda...
...The Unity of Government which constitutes you OK people, is also now dear to you.—It is justly so—for it is a main pillar in the edifice of your real independent...
...We must and can create the counter-propaganda against the widespread propaganda of Nazism, Fascism and Communism...
...I mention the "Great Dictator" especially cause it is the clearest expression of the I* democratic spirit so necessary in these dan|W,, ous times...
...If you are afraid to be served political propaganda or education after a hard day's work let me remind you of a film artist who can claim from the very first instant of his creative activity to have grasped the importance and the nature of his task in the most artistic and personal manner:" his name is Charlie Chaplin...
...Perfectly • -ifht...
...We have the resources of the best French film actors now in this country: Charles Boyer, Jean Gabin, Victor Francen, the exiled German actors Albert Bassermann, Felix Bressart, the French actress Annabella, and others...
...Would yon expect to hear "The Watch on the, Rhine," Teutonic war song, famous since tie Prussian-French war of 1870, sung on Broadway or Fifth Avenue...
...Second, he was careful to include the possibility of temporary alliances, and when Hamilton left it out of his final revision, Washington put it back...
...In a letter to Gouverne* Morris...
...There are actresses like Bette Davis, Barbara Stanwyck, Carole Lombard, Margaret Sullavan, Mary Astor, Ingrid Bergman, Claudette Colbert, Loretta Young, Ginger Rogers, Katherine Hepburn, Olivia de Havil-land, Vivien Leigh, Jean Arthur, Luise Rainer, Joan Crawford, and others...
...We must admit that Without propaganda and political education there can be no guarantee for the life of democracy...
...XITHEN I consider these broadcasts as a whofe " and when I compare them with the achievements of Dr...
...These are some of the reasons impelling the creation of short-films as counter-propaganda...
...be unwise in us to implicate ourselves by artificial ties fnJthe ordinary vicissitudes of her policies, or the ordinary edrnbrBations and collisions of her friendships or enmities...
...Chaplin was the first film artist who created political films in an educational and yet amusing way...
...Democracy has to face this fact, but we must strike back, we have to change from the defensive to the offensive...
...Hence she must be engaged in frequent controversies, the causes of which are essentially foreign to our concerns.—Hence, therefore, it ^nttst...
...Why, by interweaving our destiny with that of any part of Europe, entangle our peace and prosperity in the toils of European ambition, rivalship, interest, humor or caprice...
...Debs Branch 665 W.C...
...On all German-language programs throughout the country, I found only one type of drama, an "American Presidents" series, sponsored everywhere by "Appreciate America, Inc...
...In the accompanying article the role which the motion picture can play in promoting democratic propaganda is analyzed by Joseph Gassner, novelist and scenic designer...
...they help to create a German-speakiaf radio audience and to maintain a tight Germaa national group in this country...
...I answered: "I have some objections...
...Although the government is beginning to watch these subversive activities, it still is doing little to counteract them, leaving much of this affirmative propaganda work to civilian institutions...
...However, these agencies advertise "travel ' f jici$tjes to Germany, despite the war" (on Spanish or Japanese ships), but principally they ( ajij&erHse "Money and food for your beloved in tj-e,t3td Country...
...One play of the series, for instance, featured the life of President Monroe...
...By that' we do not mean the art of propaganda as used by a government which merely wants to spread and enlarge its power...
...Others, on the contrary, help to foster nostalgia and steadily appeal by the very content of their announcements and by the musical selections to the national feelings of their German audience...
...For the affirmative: Hyman Waldman and Edward Spitzer...
...when we may take such an attitude as will cause the neutrality we may at any time resolve upon to be scrupulously respected...
...To one who reads these passages with even a slight understanding of their historical background, certain things become clear at once...
...birth, the speech drives home the point that Americal" must stand together or the parts would become the took of foreign interests...
...We must be aware' that in these times the greatest task of the art of the screen must be the clear and active fight for the preservation of democracy and liberty...
...of that very Liberty which you so highly prize...
...Movies have a universal appeal, and Nazi films are gauged to incite hatreds, create fear and set people against people...
...political-demo-eratic-short-films...
...The Debs Branch 665, Workmen's Circle, will meet Friday, May 9, at the Rand SchoHfc..7 East 15th St...
...Only one German-language broadcast carrie-news reports, no comments, only straight newt...
...These results will be made available to the Federal Communications Commission which has just set up a monitoring system of its own...
...For instance, in the film "Mr...
...J. Henry Carpenter will present a film and lecture on the "Cooperative Movement in Nova Scotia" Monday, May 12, at 8:15, in the auditorium of the Friendship House, 1010 Park Ave., near 84th Street...
...During its painful labors of reconstruction the German Republic made the mistake of neglecting this very important role of political propaganda—political art as a political weapon...
...Not much attention is paid, however, to the domestic German-language broadcasts over American sta-.tions...
...I mention "Mr...
...It is not only a great satire of our time iaj the most serious, bitter film in the disguiao • a satire...
...that the spirit of factionalism, whether of section or of class, would call in outsiders who would make the new nation their cat's-paw...
...On the Propaganda Front in America American Firms Sponsor Goebbels' Propaganda Over 9 U. S. Radio Stations By Heinz Soffner LORD.HAW HAW'S utterances and Dr...
...This figure of the "little man" has now become a symbol...
...Washing-toy Writings, Ford edition...
...ENERALLY speaking, German-language ^* broadcasts are poor...
...Paul Muni, Edward Robinson, Henry Fonda, Gary Cooper, James Stewart, Claude Rains, William Powell, Douglas Fairbanks, Jr., Lionel Barrymore, Edward Arnold, James Cagney, Spencer Tracy, Mickey Rooney, Cary Grant, Robert Montgomery, Lawrence Olivier, Robert Young and tens of others...
...Washington, the national hero and the national symbol, has been celebrated in extenso...
...Smith Goes to Washington" one sees the most terrible corruption among the party leaders of a great political party, but the result, the mental force of this picture is not an anti-democratic but a democratic spirit...
...At the time when success alone had any meaning to the public, Chaplin created the well-known, tragi-comic figure of the "little man" who gets it in the neck all the time, who is always poor and yet finds it possible to help the poor...
...They offer "Ruckwanderer-mlrk" (a special kind Of German currency created in order to prepare financially for an ex...
...The movies directed by Frank Capra ¦** the same spirit...
...pels' short-wave propaganda to this country occupy much newspaper space...
...These advertisements make it possible to speak constantly about "Greater Germany," to warn -that "foreign assets in this country can soon be frozen," and the like...
...This is the bulk of Washington's message on foreign affairs as given in his Farewell Address, with omissions made for the sake of brevity, but made, to the best of the writer's ability, in such a way as not to falsify or distort Washington's meaning...
...We in America have the opportunity • create democratic and fighting pictures, »»d*¦ already have some pictures which reach tW goal...
...paigns, namely the war against Britain...
...This play merttioned only one of Jackson's three major military can...
...Nazi propaganda is always the advance guard of Nazi tanks and troops...
...Taking care always to keep ourselves, by suitable establishments, on a respectably defensive posture, we may safely trust to temporary alliances for extraordinary emergencies...
...Besides the direct jay fiuence...
...Washington's Letters Reveal National Unity Not Isolation Was Intent of Farewell Address By Warrell Gainsborough in T3E part of Washington's Farewell Address that is held in veneration is that which deals with foreign affairs...
...don't understand the necessity of letting into our country Nazi pictures as long as there is a strict boycott against all products of the American movie pictures industry in the Reich...
...pected return to Germany after the War...
...And this is the "peculiar situation" the advantages of which his countrymen are not to forego...
...but this person he created does not call for our pity nor for our charity, but, by the laughter he provokes and by his wit, he arouses in us the desire to assist actively in the changing of an order of things which can hardly be considered a natural one...
...In Hamilton's Abstract of Points for the Farewtf Address, the number twenty appears again...
...A carefully picked force .of 350 technicians, translators, clerks, propaganda analysts and other experts work three shifts a day...
...We have to show how race hatred and intolerance are contrary to the free spirit of democracy...
...The new departure in monitoring was recommended by the board—a paper agency only—and broadcasters and private propaganda analysis organizations are cooperating in this effort to keep Uncle Sam fully informed of the situation on the ajr...
...These programs use minor stations, their level is unusually low, and therefore they reach no large percentage of the German-speaking population in this country.' ' Nevertheless, they perform an auxiliary task, even if some sponsors or performers ban no intention of doing so...
...In our democracy politics#has become a question of vital concern to the individual whose life may be endangered or changed by the draft or the various other impacts of national defense...
...We must use and preserve this freedom ,of speech and thinking to our goal...
...The author, Heinz Soffner, has just completed a survey of foreign language broadcasts in this country for the Princeton Radio Research Projects, under the direction of Dr...
...Here let us stop.— ¦' "Europe has a set of primary interests which to us have none, or a very remote relation...
...It is impossible to mention the many fine actors and directors in this country of ours...
...I state* **N<EW York," because I had the feeling of being in Nazi Germany...
...On /the screen there was a propaganda fi'm typical of Nazi propaganda...
...About four-fifths of the programs are music...
...The time is not far off, he says, "when tec may choose (italics mine) peace or war, as our interest guided by our justice shall counsel...
...Hamilton expressed the same attitude in his Hint* • Topics, written out at the (page 205) request of Washington: "For, while we are encircled in one band, we shall possess the strength of a giant, and there will be none wk» can make us afraid.—Divide, and we shall become weak, l prey to foreign intrigues and internal discord...
...Of foreign attachments, "How many opportunities do they offer to tamper with domestic factions...
...OEOPLE often say it is dangerous to put so * much patriotism into films...
...These pictur* **J clearly the democratic form of life our form...
...The lecture is sponsored by the Organizing Committee for a Cooperative in Yorkville...
...Main topic 6t tjje evening will be a debate:.^Jffe-solved that the Debs Branffl re-affiliate with the English-speaking division of the Workmen's Circle...
...Nazi-Germany's propaganda* films like "Blitzkrieg" or "War in Poland"-are to be seen in the German-language Cinemas in Yorkville, New York...
...It is important to show the achievements of the twentieth century through democracy: our highways, bridges, buildings, aeroplanes, ships and machines which are the marks of our time...
...This creation of Chaplin won the heart of humanity...
...Even German experts in massage, watch repairs, and permanent waves are advertised...
...That is why I say: Democracy must employ t?he means of propaganda or political enlightenment more energetically than in the past...
...and, what is of inestimable value, they must derive from sniec an exemption from those broils and wars between then-solves, which so frequently afflict neighboring go verruueiB, which their own rivalships alone would be sufficient'^ produce, but which opposite foreign alliances, attachnMb and intrigues would stimulate and embitter...
...1795...
...By these methods, they serve several ends at the same time...
...our films possess enough rich resources to create interesting films...
...for the negative: Morris Estrock and Morris Waldman...
...It i« W of the spirit wc all need...
...Of a piece with his extensive trips throughout the country, with his letters to the various religious societies and sects, counting them all in as Americans, with his insistence that it is a national and not I federal government, with his welcome extended in tk> Address itself to "citizens by choice" as well as citizens fc...
...First of all, he refrained carefully from rejecting the existing alliance with France—and this despite the strain on it at the time he wrote...
...When belligerent nations, under the impossibility of making acquisitions upon us, will not lightly hazard the giving us provocation...
...You would be surprised to see this powerful Nazi propaganda, with many women and men enthusiastic about these .films...
...Smith Goes to Wasbingtte* J* lately "Meet John Doe...
...Without democratic patriotism there can be no guarantee for the life of democracy...
...The latter forms the necessary "safety "lone" for the activities of the "fifth column" proper...
...Only in a democracy is it possible to criticize institutions, to fight for better conditions of life and through all this criticism to be a real and convinced democrat...
...They show the bloody conquest of a foreign country in peaceful pictures...
...Running throughout the passages quoted and through the speech as a whole is the fear that the separate new states would fail to be welded into a nation...
...the ..country: travel agencies, all more or leftr^p^ly'affihated with the HAPAG, the big, ^jgj^-govemmeht-controlled German shipping I -~*Why so much advertising for German travel ' agencies...
...Three are located in the New York area, two in Chicago, 111., one each in Philadelphia, Pa., Milwaukee, Wis., Gary, Ind., and Detroit, Mich...
...There are actors like Raymond Massey, Eric Strohheim...
...Later we had "Juaret" "Ehrlich...
...Today the Reich has launched a film campaign in South America—-and"in* the United States...
...r=t "Our detached and distant situation enables us to pursue a;'different course.—If we remain one people, under an effi-etent government, the period is not far off when we may ¦defy^material injury from external annoyance...
...This was done in Bucharest, Budapest, and Ankara...
...Let us have educational short-films which entertain and instruct...
...I/E constantly talk of the danger of invasion...
Vol. 24 • May 1941 • No. 19
