The Jewish Puppetmaster
Introduction
In 1943, this poster was created by Bruno Hanich to persuade the German public that
Jewish people were manipulating the Allies in World War II. Hanich’s poster is used to persuade the German people to be antisemitic towards the Jewish people. (“An Antisemitic Poster Entitled, ‘Behind the Enemy Powers: the Jew.").
Context
During World War II, the anti-semitic Nazi party persecuted the Jewish people. The Nazis established a number of laws that were against the Jewish people. In 1934, any student that was Jewish was excluded from taking exams in medicine, dentistry, pharmacy, and law. Also in 1934, The Jewish people were excluded from serving in the military. (“Anti-Jewish Decrees.”). In 1935, the Nuremberg Laws were introduced. The Nuremberg Laws denied the Jewish people of their basic civil rights (“Anti-Jewish Decrees.”). Hitler claimed that the Nuremberg Laws were for “the protection of German blood and honor” and would “regulate the problems of marriage between ‘Aryans’ and ‘non-Aryans.” (“The Nuremberg Laws: Background & Overview.”). The Nuremberg Laws deprived the Jewish people of German citizenship and prohibited any non-Jewish German from marrying a Jew. The Nuremberg laws further ostracized and discriminated against the Jewish people in Germany. (“The Nuremberg Laws: Background & Overview.”). According to “An Antisemitic Poster Entitled, ‘Behind the Enemy Powers: the Jew,”, Nazi propagandists often depicted the Jewish people as consiprators that were plotting world domination. (“An Antisemitic Poster Entitled, ‘Behind the Enemy Powers: the Jew.") Nazi propagandists would depict the Jewish people pulling the strings of nations at war with Germany. According to “An Antisemitic Poster Entitled, ‘Behind the Enemy Powers: the Jew," this poster represents a character called the “Jewish financier” that is manipulating the Allies. (“An Antisemitic Poster Entitled, ‘Behind the Enemy Powers: the Jew."). The propaganda poster, “Behind the Enemy Powers: the Jew,” is targeted towards non-Jewish Germans to persuade them that the Jewish people were manipulative and were plotting with the Allied powers.
Text
In the “Behind the Enemy Powers: the Jew” poster, there is a man standing behind three
flags. This man is dressed in all black and he has a Star of David hanging from his suit. The man has a large nose, bushy eyebrows, and he appears to be frowning. The man is also wearing a black, bowler hat. Overall, the man’s appearance is not very friendly. The man, assumed to be Jewish because of the Star of David, looks mean and mischievous. The Jewish man is hiding behind three flags in the poster. The British flag, the American flag, and the Soviet flag appear to be hanging up in the poster, and the Jewish man is standing behind them.
Analysis
In the “Behind the Enemy Powers: the Jew” poster, the Jewish man is made to appear as
a mischievous and manipulating puppetmaster. The Jewish man is depicted as standing behind the Allied flags with this look on his face that appears like he is plotting something. The poster is coinsiding with the anti-semitic views being pushed by the Nazi party in Germany during World War II. (“The Nuremberg Laws: Background & Overview.”). In Jay Heinrichs’s “Thank You For Arguing,” he says that when crafting a message, do not focus on what could persuade you, but what could persuade your audience. Heinrichs’s also says to show the emotion that you want to stir in the audience. While I don’t think the Jewish man is showing the emotion being stirred, I do think he is stirring emotions in the audience. The Jewish man is portrayed as evil and manipulating. He is portrayed as colluding with the Allies against Germany. The Jewish man, and his face in the poster, is supposed to stir fear and hatred in the audience. I think the audience is supposed to be afraid that the Jewish man is working behind the scenes with the Allies against Germany, but also feel hatred towards the Jewish man and his people. If the poster stirs up feelings of hatred towards the Jewish people, then the peopel of Germany will begin supporting Hitler and the Nazi party’s anti-semitic views more, thus allowing the views to be pushed more severely as the war goes on. Furthermore, this use of emotion also goes back to the tactic of using what could persuade the audience rather than yourself. If the audience, the German people, are motivated by fear and hatred, they are more perceptible to being persuaded that all Jewish people are evil. The poster will more effectively persuade those affected by the evoking of fear and hatred than those who do not feel those emotions. Heinrichs’s book also says that if you are going to use fear or anger, clearly identify your enemy. I think this tactic is used rather effectively in the poster “Behind the Enemy Powers: the Jew.” The poster identifies the Jewish man as the enemy, and it also includes the flags of the Allied powers who are also their enemy during World War II. However, based on the Jewish man’s appearance and his placement in the poster, I feel like he is easily identifiable as the main enemy in the poster. Overall, I think that Bruno Hanich’s poster “Behind the Enemy Powers: the Jew” was a very successful tool of persuasion for Hitler and the Nazi party in Germany.
Works Cited:
“Anti-Jewish Decrees.” The British Library - The British
Library, Http://Www.bl.uk/Copyrightstatement.html,
3 Apr. 2006, www.bl.uk/learning/histcitizen/voices/info/decrees/decrees.html.
“An Antisemitic Poster Entitled, ‘Behind the Enemy Powers: the Jew." - Bruno Hanich
- Google Arts & Culture.” Google, Google, artsandculture.google.com/asset/
an-antisemitic-poster-entitled-behind-the-enemy-powers-t he-jew-bruno-hanich
/-AHouFMhTtW_Vw?hl=en.
HEINRICHS, JAY. THANK YOU FOR ARGUING: What Aristotle, Lincoln, and Homer Simpson
Can Teach Us about the Art of... Persuasion. BROADWAY BOOKS, 2020.
“The Nuremberg Laws: Background & Overview.”
Background & Overview of the Nuremberg Laws, www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/
background-and-overview-of-the-nuremberg-laws.
United States Holocaust Memorial Museum, United States Holocaust Memorial
Museum, www.ushmm.org/propaganda/archive/poster-behind-enemy-powers/.
Copy of “Behind the Enemy Powers: the Jew”
United States Holocaust Memorial Museum, United States Holocaust Memorial Museum, www.ushmm.org/propaganda/archive/poster-behind-enemy-powers/.
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