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Using particular examples from the first half of the 20th century discuss the ways that imagery and design has been used to construct and represent national and politicalidentity.

(How was imagery anddesign used to construct and represent national and politicalidentity in Nazi Germany?)

In his book Nationalism and InternationalismJeremy Aynsley points out that the terms national andinternational are not fixed but fluid; (Aynsley, 1993, p5) that is that theyare historically and culturally constructed. As such notions of nationalismreflect the era of their origin, but are simultaneously infused with tradition.Ideologies of nationality have often been appropriated through design bypolitical parties to disparage the efforts of rival parties. A famous examplewould be the Labour still isn't working campaign on behalf of theconservative party during the 1979 general election. It was an issue thathelped swing the election in the Tories favour.

Poster design has also been used to sway publicopinion over difficult policies; for example American foreign policy withregards to war has often been reinforced with a staunch patriotism that datesback to JamesMontgomery Flagg's I Want You poster of 1917. Political advertising hasbeen around since the birth of lithography.

This essay will look at how nationalism and graphic designhas been used by political parties not only to disparage rivals and swayopinion but also to exercise a significant amount of thought control over anation through propaganda. The example highlighted will be that of NaziGermany.

As John Berger notes in his book Ways of Seeing;Imageswere first made to conjure up the appearance something that was absent.(Berger, 1978, 10) For the dejected post WW1 Germans who had been humiliated bythe treaty of Versailles, and suffering from hyper-inflation and mass poverty;the 'something that was absent' was a powerful strong Germany that the workingman could be proud of. What was vital to Hitler's campaign was to get people tosee an image of German they way they remembered it and believe in that Germanyonce again.

After Hitler's ascent to power in 1933, he immediatelyinstated Goebbels as the Reichsministerium für Volksaufklärung undPropaganda (State Minister for Public enlightenment and propaganda) His role was to over see all forms of media, ensuring thatNazi ideology was promoted across the arts and across the world whilstsimultaneously diverting attention away from Nazi atrocities. This was achievedthrough radio and print media as well as organisations such as the Hitler youthand organised events such as the Nuremberg rallies. This essay will concentrateon the posters that were produced and displayed throughout the streets ofGermany.

According to Ansyley, official political design under Nazi Germanywas characterised by a 'return to Volkisch values' and a rejection of themodern. The Volkisch was the evocation of an image of traditional Germany thathad visibly absent since before the first world war. Modernist design andthought was associated with the Frankfurt school; post-Marxist intellectualssuch as Theodor Adorno and Walter Benjamin who promoted socialist theorythrough study of the arts; as such modernism was rejected vehemently by theNazi's.

Therejection of the modern was no more noticeable then in the design anddevelopment of the Volksschrift, an official Nazi Typeface. Atit's most straight forward, graphic design under National socialism could meanworking on official commissions for Party events, where political content andgraphic style where expected to be consistent. For this, Fraktur broken-lettertype should be used as the 'Volksschrift' or nationalscript with the necessary claims made for its origins in German tradition.(Aynsley, 2000, p189)

The inherent irony in this rejection of the themes ofmodernity is that lithography and the birth of the political cartoons were bothmodernist developments. Also whilst a return to traditional German values wasindeed a welcoming prospect for a humiliated nation, technological developmentsover the turn of the century such as wireless communications had turned theworld into a new and exciting place. The need to be at the forefront of newtechnology was vital to the success of a nation.

Aynsley pointsto a contradiction between the official Nazi line of a rejection of modernismand the response that the German people had to design; in particular theconsumer response to advertising campaigns favoured modern design. On onehand, official design polices allotted a central role to a controlled form of-neo-classicism for specifically nationalistic purposes on the other hand, inorder to maintain a satisfactory level of consumption in the home marketotherGerman design of this period devised its identity from the moderne.(Aynsley, 2000, p 180)

This distinctionin design styles is visible not only between official propaganda and consumerdesign, but also within propaganda itself; as will now be explained between adirect comparison of two posters.

The SchaffendesLandvolk (an agricultural man at work) poster of 1937 depicts a hand-drawnhandsome muscular Aryan man wearing a pure white shirt, in a large cornfield.The sky in the background is yellow to match the corm, but it also serves toconjure an image or a rich autumnal harvest. The man is sharpening a scythewith a hand tool holding the blade in his left hand as he sharpens with hisright using traditional hand tools. In the far background is an industriallooking building; but that is another world. The poster is an image oftraditional self-sufficient German man who represents a self-sufficient German people;this was absolutely vital for the national pride of a people who had sufferedterrible economic failure.

The Volksschrifttypeface is used for the slogans on the poster to reinforce the sense oftimelessness; indeed Nazi emblem of the eagle and the swastika is surprisinglysmall on the page as what is being shown is a world that existed before therise of national socialism but has been reinstated by the Nazis. It is areinforcement of the Nazi ideal of Autarky and the image of a powerful and selfsufficient Volkisch Germany.

In contrast the Studentenan's Werk poster (Students to work) which is from the same year depicts astrikingly different German people and stresses entirely different values.First of all the quality of the illustration is much more lifelike andphotorealistic The top half of the portrait is taken up by two young men inNazi uniform staring into the distance next to a large swastika flag. Thebackground is red to match the Nazi flag but the men are surrounded by a slightwhite aura to give a sense of radiance. These are proud powerful Nazi men.

The bottom halfof the page is a montage of various young beautiful people hard at work onvarious industrial pursuits. A man without a jacket is animatedly designing abuilding. A beautiful Aryan woman in a lab coat sits hunched over some notes.In the background we see a bridge being constructed and a train carrying coal.This Germany is a vital and young Germany which is at the forefront of moderndesign and technology

Althoughthere is a clear discrepancy between the official rejection of the modern andthe two sets of values in promoted here it is also fair to say that the twoposters were designed to appeal to two different target audiences. The man inthe field was an idyllic depiction of the average working man and an n affirmationof how everyone could work towards the Nazi cause. The poster for students wasdesigned for the brightest of the bright. To inspire young people to excel forthe good of the country. Also the two images are not necessarily mutuallyexclusive. The overall image being proposed to the German people is of a strongunified country that will take its tradition with it into a new era.

Therewas a precarious balance in promoting the idea a vital vibrant Germany againstthe realities of an impoverished starving nation. The Jewish people were madescapegoats for all of Germany's problems. By doing this Hitler was able topoint the finger at a recognisable cause of failure and enemy of German success.Anti-Semitism was also promoted through poster art and design.

Der EwigeJude (The eternal Jew) by Horst Schluter is an anti-Semitic propagandaposter from the same year as Studenten an's Werk and Schaffendes Landvolk.On a bright yellow background stands a huge man. He is marked as Jewish by hisunkempt facial hair and his nose. In one hand he holds a whip and the other heholds outwards with some gold coins in his hand. His head is bowed to one sideand his eyes closed to suggest that he his begging. His size ins emphasised in bothhis frame and his hands to show that this man could work for himself if hewanted to. He is also illustrated in monochrome which makes him appear unwell.Tucked into his left arm is the outline of Germany with a communist hammer andsickle printed upon it. The suggestion is that the Jews are in league with the communiststhat they are hoping to sell Germany to her enemies.

The Volksschrifttypeface has been replaced with one that echoes the Hebrew alphabet, andthe red lettering clashes horribly with the yellow of the background and theblack and monochrome of the Jewish man making the poster unpleasant to look at.This poster and posters like it were none the less effective as the events of Kristallnachton November 9^th 1938 illustrated when over 1500 synagogues and 7000Jewish businesses were destroyed and 30 000 Jewish men were taken toconcentration camps.

In his book 'Ad worlds: Brand,media, and audiences.' Greg Myers defines branding as the attachment ofmeanings to a labelled product. (Myers, 1998, p33) That is to say thatsemiotic associations are appropriated by a given brand through the way it isproduced, placed, promoted and priced. The label of the 'product' can take theform of a character, a typeface or a symbol in the case of the Nazi party itwas the swastika. The swastika was the brand identity of the Nazi Partyand it appeared on all propaganda posters from promoting agricultural orindustrial work to inciting racial hatred towards the Jews. It unified all Naziideology from its ubiquitous position on posters, in newspapers, on flags andon uniforms. There can be no better example of the power of successfulpropaganda design; the price of the Nazi brand and the hollow promise of abetter Germany was world war two and the death of 3% of the world's population.Bibliography

• Aynsley J. (2001) A century of graphic design : graphic design pioneers of the 20th century, London: Mitchell Beazley
• Aynsley J. (2000) Graphic Design in Germany 1890-1945, Berkley: University of California Press.
• Aynsley J. (1993) Nationalism and Internationalism, London: Victoria and albert museum.
• Berger J, (1978) Ways of seeing, London: Penguin
• Myers, G, (1998) Ad Worlds: Brands, Media, Audiences, London: Arnold.
• Timmers.M (ed)(1988) The power of the poster, London: V&A Publications.
• Sparke, P. (1986) Introduction to design and culture in the 20th century, London: Allen & Unwin.

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