The Political Cartoon Analysis

People who disseminate information through media are in possession of one of the most influential tools in society. Popular cartoonists fall under this category, as they can project their biased and personal perspectives on reality. “What political cartoonists portray may be an imaginary situation in allegory or a figure greatly distorted by caricature, but to the artists this is the essence of what is actually happening” (Charles Press, The Political Cartoon) Many cartoonists truly believe that their “distortion” of reality captures the reality everyone else is experiencing. Therefore, images circulated in society have the potential to convey opinions and stereotypes. Cartoonists have the ability to deliver messages about situations, groups of people, or historical events to influence society. Cartoons that “distort” reality are significant elements used in propaganda. The images distill messages and perspectives on the current social, cultural, and political situation, and aim to imprint “accepted judgments” on society. The dominant and controlling power-figures of each time period often formulate these “accepted judgments”. They target society in order to generate these accepted attitudes for their people that emulate their own beliefs. Nazi Germany exemplarily utilized propaganda to manipulate the masses. “Nearly all aspects of German culture were subject to the Propaganda Ministry's control, including films, theater, music, the press, and radio broadcasts” (Holocaust Encyclopedia). Through all these mediums, Nazis disseminated their views as well as their opposition to anyone who did not fit the mold of Adolf Hitler’s ideal Aryan Race. As the Holocaust Education & Archive Research Team shows, there were “so many means to which “the Jew” exploited in his conspiracy to undermine the German nation and the purity of the creative Aryan race” (HEART). Hitler viewed his racial group as the dominant race above all others and regarded the rest of the nation as insignificant. Hitler’s manipulation went to the extent of brainwashing the masses, as seen by his expectations in 1938: “These boys and girls enter our organizations [at] ten years of age, and often for the first time get a little fresh air; after four years of the Young Folk they go on to the Hitler Youth, where we have them for another four years . . . And even if they are still not complete National Socialists, they go to Labor Service and are smoothed out there for another six, seven months . . . And whatever class consciousness or social status might still be left . . . the Wehrmacht [German armed forces] will take care of that.” The statement above describes the strict policies regarding the Nazi youth in educational institutions, and how they were brainwashed to function as copies of Hitler’s ideologies. …show more content…
This group of Others with different views, backgrounds, and cultures, was largely comprised of the Jews. In his Reichstag Speech of 1939, Hitler promised the “annihilation of the Jewish race in Europe,” highlighting how, in his perspective, the Jewish Others were not only insignificant, but also a severe problem that needed to be eradicated. He expresses that his hopeful actions were for the sake of the “management and care of the German culture,” because the Jews to him were “apostles of culture”. The Nazi media was relentless in framing them as a dire threat to Hitler’s master race. In particular, cartoons played a large role in framing the Jews as …show more content…
Bytwerk analyzes the propaganda of Julius Streicher and the popularity of his publication in his book Juilius Streicher. As he explains, the initial venture of Der Sturmer’s first issue in 1923, grew to around 2,000,000 print runs in circulation by 1934 (Bytwerk, 58). The rapid growth of Der Sturmer, its “extensive national advertising,” and its easy accessibility highlight how much of an impact this newspaper had on the masses, even so much to the point that Hitler anticipated reading each issue (Bytwerk, 58). Bytwerk delineates Streicher’s main objectives in the newspaper as “making clear the danger of Jewry” and highlighting the “importance of a solution to the Jewish problem” (Bytwerk, 59). He shows how Streicher’s Der Sturmer cartoons focused on the separation of the Other based on “genetic makeup” and race (Bytwerk, 66). Streicher was responsible for distributing negative images of the Jews in the cartoons and even editing the pictures of the Jews to make them uglier and more unpleasant. The conspicuously exaggerated differences of the Jew in cartoons ingrained a quick identification of the