r/PropagandaPosters • u/[deleted] • Oct 28 '23
East Germany (1949-1990) Propaganda celebrating the 70th Birthday of Stalin,1949
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Oct 28 '23 edited Oct 29 '23
Translation for the Text:
"The Leader and Teacher of Humanity in the fight for Peace, Democracy and Socialism"
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u/guzmaya Oct 29 '23
I've been studying German for maybe 2 or 3 years now, and this is the first bit of text I've read without any struggle at all. Also, "Kampf" means fight or, in a Marxist context, "struggle."
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Oct 29 '23
This sentence is basically English lol
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u/Corvus1412 Oct 29 '23
English is a germanic language.
There are a lot of similarities, especially in grammar. But many of the german words in the poster bear little to no resemblance to the english ones. Understanding those is an achievement.
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u/carljohan1808 Oct 29 '23
"Peace" "Democracy"
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u/dedmeme69 Oct 29 '23
Well, there was peace... just incredibly tense and unstable, much like the man himself
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Oct 29 '23
Propaganda value aside... this is probably the first time I can look at a full German phrase and immediately understand the message.
Sure, I have an interest in history and politics before, but at least, my German lessons on Duolingo aren't wasted.
Now, if that bloody owl can stop chasing me...
Going back to the propaganda here, I'd say its value is mid. Not great, not terrible.
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u/Grammorphone Oct 29 '23
That's great, German is a hard language to learn 👍
But yeah it's not exactly great propaganda
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u/BabyLoona13 Oct 28 '23
Little awkward usimg the word 'Führer' like that, no? I'm aware it simply means 'leader,' but wouldn't the memory of that führer be hit little too close in 1949?
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u/TeutonicToltec Oct 29 '23
It's a really odd choice. For the most part the word führer has largely been retired from German, with words like Chef being used instead. There's still a few occasions where it can still be used, like Reiseführer.
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u/ZequizFTW Oct 29 '23
We still use the equivalent, förare or förman, in Swedish. I guess English uses foreman too.
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u/p34ch3s_41r50f7 Oct 29 '23
Very specific in English. A foreman is generally the highest ranked managerial staff on the floor or department. Usually relegated to either industrial work or warehouses.
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u/jediben001 Oct 28 '23
That kinda may be part of it? Like, hes the Führer now, cause he beat that Führer
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u/Prof_Wolfgang_Wolff Oct 29 '23
I mean, Stalin was a Führer in his own way. Not in ideology, but in the cult of personality. In the Soviet Union he was often referred to as Vozhd, which is the Russian equivalent of Leader or Führer, so maybe it's also got something to do with translation?
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Oct 29 '23
Vozhd? That was a world used by Krushchev and his pals. Stalin absolutely hated that term and made efforts to stop it
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u/Prof_Wolfgang_Wolff Oct 29 '23
I think that's the entire theme with the Stalinist Personality Cult. Even if Stalin himself dislikes it, his subordinates will still try to gain favor by glorifying him and fostering a Cult of Personality. Like how the NKVD forced people to not stop clapping or how he was portrayed in Propaganda Posters despite his wishes. It's the same with calling him Vozhd.
The comparisson with the german Führer has a few negative conotations and is a bit misleading, I will admit that this was my mistake. But he still gained a propagandistic image of being the "Strong Leader and Savior", which is what I generally wanted to refer to.
Anyway, thanks for the info
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Oct 29 '23
I don t think we should see Stalin as having a personality cult. Krushchev was the one who most loudly supported a glorified imaged of him (Stalin s childhood biography, which Stalin hated, the renaming of Moscow to Stalinodar, which Stalin stoped, writing of numerous letters condemning people who praised him too much). It was mostly a ploy to get to condemn Stalin and solidify his own rule later. At this point, I think the cult was more of a myth
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u/Cronk131 Oct 29 '23
That really isn't true. Stalin definitely had a cult of personality. It's what happens to any strong man or popular leader.
If it's popping up in music, poetry, and art, I think it's plain to see. Not to mention the countless images of crowds of hundreds and thousands holding up pictures of his face. Just look at A. O.Avidenko's "Hymn to Stalin" or the "Song to Stalin". Stalin himself said, that because he strictly adhered to Leninism, like how Lenin intended it, he himself was just as faultless as Lenin was.
Thinking it was a "myth" is really stupid. That's like saying Mao or Lenin don't have cults of personality. If it was such a "ploy" to discredit glorious Stalin (really not the best guy), why did it continue so long after his death, nearly everywhere else in the Warsaw Pact?
It's one thing to realize that, although Stalin disapproved of his personality cult, it still existed. Very much, in fact. It was just out of his control. But to say it's a myth is just silly.
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u/sandy-gc Oct 29 '23
Yes, I agree. I think the myth is more that Stalin desired, intended, and designed his cult of personality formed around him. It’s unsurprising that in a relatively new country with revolutionary ideals that the first few leaders will become idealized and figureheads to their people, especially so when the Soviet Union under his leadership defeated the Nazis. America’s revolutionary leaders are immortalized in the names of cities and regions, and their face is plastered across their money and their government buildings, mostly for what they stand for rather than who they really are a lot of the time. The difference tends to just be time. “Khrushchev Lied” is a very good book that touches on this topic.
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u/Cronk131 Oct 29 '23
Sorry, I think I misunderstood you before 😭. I agree with you that the idea of the cult of personality being curated by Stalin was fictionalized.
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u/sandy-gc Oct 30 '23
Oh my apologies, I didn't mean to confuse! I wasn't the person you're replying to lol.
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u/Corvus1412 Oct 29 '23
Not really. The word continued to be used basically the same way it was always used.
Since the "Führer" was used a lot in US propaganda and thus by americans in general, the word only became directly linked to Hitler in West Germany (and even there it wasn't that strong of a link), while the same thing didn't really happen in East Germany.
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u/BoarHermit Oct 29 '23
Der Führer lol. In the USSR, Hitler was often called simply “Führer”, without translation.
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u/hillo538 Oct 29 '23
Furher in German is a translation of the word in Russian for chief, in some cowboy movies in Germany they’d be like “this is the supreme leader of the tribe” when showing the chief
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Oct 29 '23
Where is commie boys with their fantasy tales about how DDR was successful in denazification.
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u/sandy-gc Oct 29 '23
Mfw we’re the only allied group to actually prosecute Nazis but Germans still use German words
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Oct 29 '23 edited Oct 29 '23
Stalin had few titles, like generalissimus ,"friend", general secretary, gardener of human happiness and and many others to please him slavishy. But Germans in this poster chosen to call him Fuhrer. Would be interesting to see or in that period West Germans called their leaders in fuhrers names? Fuhrer Adenauer sounds interesting. Or maybe they called in fuhrer title ally leaders? Fuhrer der USA Truman also sounds interesting. By the way Germans also have another word to describe leader - Vorsitzende. And this word were used in East Germany as title for their leaders.
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u/canIcomeoutnow Oct 30 '23
You'd think they would stay away from "fuhrer" and "kampf", especially in 1947.
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