This artifact is a flyer dated back to WWII in Nazi Germany. In the German language the flyer reads “Schafft Waffen fur die Front,” which translated into English reads, “[He] creates weapons for the front.” When I first saw this piece, I immediately noted the huge contrast between this Nazi poster and typical American propaganda from this era. Hitler’s regime gave a direct message to the German people; weapons were the key to victory. Meanwhile, the message under Roosevelt was to tell the citizens to grow a nice garden to achieve victory. In actuality these gardens had no real impact on the war effort. Roosevelt knew as well as Hitler, that weapons and men were going to be the deciding factor in this war.
There is an irony in the fact that Americans fought for freedom and democracy, only to have a government less candid than the dictator in Europe. But more importantly than this idea is the lesson we learn about Rhetoric from this document.
Rhetoric is a tool, as well as a weapon. Words are powerful and can be used to move people to do may different things by inciting two emotions within us. Hope and Fear. In America, Victory Gardens were Hopeful. Like this poster and many others from this dark age of German, Nazi rhetoric had a sense of urgency and a militant aspect in many artifacts. These types of rhetoric reflect the American Patriotism vs. Nationalism in Germany. Our republic has a habit of allaying the American citizens, because as any political scientist will tell you, those who have power will do anything to stay in power. For us that means that those in power must maintain our support, and favor. For a dictator, the happiness of the citizens are only truly concerning during revolts, as we now see today.
Tags: 009rcl2
I am a bit of a WWII buff, so I am really looking forward to your speech! It is interesting that you discount the efforts of civilians who are not involved in arming the troops. While you are correct that Germany was HIGHLY focused on creating weapons, the Americans took a different approach that involved advocating “victory gardens”. This may be because there were more Americans funding a smaller war effort than the Germans had to, but I do not know this for sure. Contrasting the two approaches might prove interesting.
I also want to make you aware that Sylvia will be presenting the opposite argument about the victory garden poster… Check this out if you haven’t yet: http://sites.psu.edu/rclbiscoveanu/2013/09/04/rcl-2-topic-to-civic-life-speech/