"Freedom and Bread"

"Freedom and Bread"

1930 Reichstag Election Poster

Slogan on a political campaign poster, with a Nazi swastika representing the sun over a field of grain. The caption reads "Freiheit und Brot" ("Freedom and Bread") over the picture, while the bottom reads "Vote Nazis -- List 9"

NDSAP Reichstag Election Committee

https://www.bytwerk.com/gpa/posters1.htm

Randall Bytwerk, German Propaganda Archive

September 1930

Courtesy of Dr. Robert D. Brooks.

Creative Commons

Digital Image [.jpg]

German

Poster

This poster from the September 1930 Reichstag elections represents the heart of an ongoing propaganda campaign, one that would slowly garner the Nazi party a share in the German Federal Government of almost 20%. Hoping for a better turnout than the election prior, where they gained only 3%, and driven by a centralized and self-funding style of political messaging, Hitler and his party officials aggressively lobbied in the early 1930s for Nazi power. Increasing economic pressure across the country had painted the existing political structure as inefficient and weak. The idea of the “Freiheit und Brot” campaign (which we also saw on a 1928 poster in Lecture 5) highlights the deception that the Nazi party utilized to gain the trust of the public. Although ordinary citizens may have believed in socialism as extolled by the Nazis, distributing rights and food to the poor, what they were really supporting was a carefully constructed image of a party brutally seeking law, order, and racial purity. In understanding the dire situation in Germany around 1930, as well as the effectiveness of Nazi propaganda towards the German masses, we can see how posters like these represent how the start of the Nazi foothold was a legitimate political movement.

Throughout World War I the German forces united under an immense national pride: fighting for their country and families back home was part of upholding the honor of Germany (Hitler, Passage 2). Following the end of the war and the treaty of Versailles, the soldiers came back to a country deeply lacking in morale, suffering from growing unemployment, and having lost both land and wealth. Germans across the political spectrum rejected the terms of the treaty of Versailles, even if the alternative was forced occupation. In Mein Kampf Hitler wrote how his outrage was a shared one, shared with the soldiers and the families, with the German people, saying “The young regiments had not gone to their death in Flanders crying: ‘Long live universal suffrage and the secret ballot,’ but crying: ‘Deutschland über Alles in der Welt’” meaning” Germany over all” (Hitler, Passage 2). The message that people was not one of Democracy and the Republic, but rather one of German strength, a return to the greatness of some Germany prior, driven still by the trauma and loss of the war only a few years before.

Clearly then we can see how the German people were susceptible at this time to a strong wave of nationalism and populism. Unfortunately, the Nazis also came to understand this at the same time. As the introduction to the “Guidelines for Propaganda” outlines, in order for people to care about it, “It has to always speak only to the masses” and “limit itself to a few themes and repeat them incessantly” (Propaganda Archive, “Guide to Propaganda”). The public was aware that the state of politics was not improving but they were still fairly invested in democracy. Unfortunately, soon the economy would follow: first the Wall Street Crash in 1929 followed in March 1930 by the German government implementing austerity measures, and eventually the chancellor resorts to extensive use of presidential decree to implement policies. However, nothing stops the rise of inflation and unemployment, which reaches 24% in 1931 (Lecture 6). In the heart of this turmoil comes the election of 1930, and the Nazis, after years of failure by the ruling political parties as well as repeated promises for a better Germany, laid the groundwork for massive upswell of support by disillusioned citizens. This poster is one of the core tenants from that campaign: Freedom for everyone – every German, every Veteran and child –as well as food and security, brough to you by the Nazis.

The success of this slogan made it a central part of the Nazi ideology. It was adopted as part of the Horst Wessel song – the NSDAP anthem and the co-national anthem of German 1933-45 – and it was repeated during speeches by Hitler and other Nazi Party leaders throughout their political campaigns during the Reichstag years (Lecture 6). The entire narrative of the Nazi party was woven to tell the story of the Nazis as the story of this poster, where the Nazi sun shines over a fertile and successful Germany, where there is plenty for all. The poster plays on many of the traditional aspects that the Nazi party was known for, in this case reflecting upon the prosperous agricultural history of the area. In many ways this deep focus on traditionalism and separation from ineffective politicking made the Nazi seems unthreatening to the establishment but appealing to the public. It’s clear that everyone underestimated what Hitler and the Nazi propaganda machine was capable of, and here is a perfect example from 1930 of why that was.

Nick Sundberg