The Allied Powers – Their Portrayal of Hitler in the Media and Their Use of Propaganda

By Eva Kratochvil

Coverage of Hitler and his regime was incredibly sparse prior to 1933. Before Hitler became chancellor, very little coverage was devoted to him. When he was finally elected to the position and his party gained a majority in the Reichstag, media coverage of Hitler increased greatly. It was not overly critical of him at first and US media did not devote a great many resources to his coverage, however the media in Europe highlighted the anxiety felt in those countries that bad things were to come. They feared that Hitler was up to no good.

The US media rarely criticized Hitler at first and when they did, it was never front page news. However he was constantly violating constitutional rights in Germany and murdering large numbers of people and the Europeans sensed that he posed a great threat to them. The sense that he posed a real threat was greatly reflected in European media coverage at the time.

The lack of domestic interest in the US on what was going on in Germany can be to blame for the lack of thorough coverage and investigative journalism on the Nazis. Because of this lack of interest, there were no real efforts made to deploy resources for coverage until Hitlers aims were made public.

After Hitler's election, the New York Times reported that what was going on in Germany was becoming increasingly important to America. This shows a trend in which US media coverage of Hitler and the Nazis increased because he had won a majority in the Reichstag where previously his party had only been a minority. The interesting thing is that the US media actually underestimated Hitler, while the European media remained weary and watchful of him.

Once Britain and France declared war on Germany, not only was the British media criticizing Hitler and the Nazis, but a slew of propaganda was used to promote the war effort and demonize the Nazis in the form of posters, news reels, films and much more. This is a Soviet newsreel showing how Hitler plans to take over the mother land:

The US media remained slightly uncritical of Hitler until they were forced to join the war following the bombing of Pearl Harbour. After they joined the war, the US used the media to criticize Hitler and they used propaganda to portray him as the “terrible Hun” coming to invade the western powers. They also called on a sense of patriotism through propaganda in order to encourage men to enlist and women to help the war effort at home.

Like propaganda in Europe, US propaganda came in the form of movies, posters, radio broadcasts and even children's cartoons such as the Looney Toons. One episode show Daffy Duck, fighting on the American side, as he hits a very exaggerated cartoon Hitler over the head with a hammer. In this way, it can be seen how the US even wanted to encourage children to hate and ridicule Hitler and the Nazis.

When Hitler died, his death was announced through German media and BBC radio was the first of the Allied media to broadcast the news to the rest of the world. When he died, Many US newspapers were reporting that congress was not entirely convinced that he was actually dead. Since Hitler's death the media has covered the alleged conspiracy surrounding his death. In some cases it was believed that he had never killed himself at all. The media still covers his mysterious death today trying to figure out what really happened to the infamous dictator.