Propaganda

The amount of influence and power art has in a time of war is crucial in developing a means to control the populace’s perception that war is just by caricaturizing the enemy as evil. This is clearly seen in World War II, where the Axes and Allies were both using the power of propaganda imagery to win the support of their people. Because of propaganda’s ability to both contort and warp an individual’s perception of what they would normally see as wrong, it can be an extremely dangerous weapon that could be abused in order to justify an evil or immoral act.  

The example above is a piece of German Propaganda art from World War II. Looking at the image alone we can see a German soldier striking down a dragon with bolts of lightning. If we are to look closer, we see that the dragon has a star (and/or pentagram) on its forehead. The soldier’s pose of standing over the dragon seems to signify the final blow, but his hands are reaching not for a gun but upward, as if the finale act of killing the dragon is graced by divine favor.

The symbol of the dragon is prevalent in the book of Revelations in which it states "And there appeared another wonder in heaven; and behold a great red dragon, having seven heads and ten horns, and seven crowns upon his heads" (Revelation 12:3). It appears that the artist is trying to connect the Biblical metaphor of the Red Dragon, also known by other names such as Beast, Apollyon, Abaddon, Accuser, Adversary, Satan exc., to that of their enemy.

During World War II the United States used a five pointed star insignia for their military aircrafts and vehicles. In the poster above this same insignia is seen on the vanquished dragon’s head. Because of this, the artist’s insinuation of America as the great evil is clearly defined. Furthermore, if we look into any mythology, whether it is Greek, Maya, Norse or even Native American we can clearly see lightning as a divine weapon used to carry out a god’s wraith.

Moving on to the text, it translates to “Germany’s Victory, Europe's Freedom”. These four words put on a nice view of Germany’s attack on other European countries as a defensive battle that must be won to insure the freedom of all. This twisted view of the war casts Hitler’s Nazi Germany not as the tyrannical foreign oppressors they were, but as defenders of Europe’s liberty.    

The final thing to look into is the grenade in the soldier’s hand. This seems to translate into self-sacrifice, for why else would a man that close to his enemy choose to use a grenade if there was not enough time to escape the blast? The message in the end is that Germany must be willing to sacrifice all in order to achieve victory over America, a country controlled by the powers the Red Dragon, in order to insure the freedom of Europe.