All is fair in faith and war…
Imagine someone threatening to take your most prized possession away, something that you hold dear, something that defines you, or something apart of your own identity. Now imagine this item being your faith or belief practice. Would you not try your best to protect this privilege?
During World War II, propaganda posters were designed to encourage American citizens to contribute to the war effort. During the 1930s and 1940s, there were no emails, text messages, chat rooms, Instagrams, or Twitters. Therefore, the American government had used basic media to creatively reach the everyday people who may not have been able to serve in the military to contribute to the war effort. The American government commissioned artists to influence public support with posters that spoke to specific topics such as food rationing, war bonds, freedom, and religion.
The topic of religion was seen and used by the government in two ways. One way was by raising concern that the people’s freedom to practice religion was threatened. Another way was to use faith as a means to justify war.
We see the first method used in the lithograph poster designed by Barbara Marks titled This is the Enemy. While there is little information found about the designer who created the illustration, we do know that the poster was created for the Office of War Information or OWI. The purpose of the OWI was to share wartime information with the public. This office thus implemented propaganda campaigns using not only posters but any and all media available (film, radio, press, etc). This is the Enemy contains an illustration of a Nazi soldier’s hand holding a knife that is piercing a bible. What catches the eye initially is the aggressive bright orange-red color of the background. The color supports the striking image of a knife going through a bible in that it is intense draws much attention to the illustration. The subject matter is emphasized by the use of dramatic light and dark colors seen in the hand and bible. This application of lights and darks creates dark ominous shadows. Beyond the subject matter, the colors used in the design have a strong contrasting relationship. For example, the artist used the red for the Nazi symbol and green for the phrase This is the Enemy. The dimensions of the poster are measured to be 28” by 20”, larger than most posters we see today. The content of this design is justified by Hitler’s hatred for Christianity.
An article in the Washington Post says, “in Hitler’s eyes Christianity was a religion fit only for slaves.” And continues, “Its teaching, he (Hitler) declared, was a rebellion against the natural law of selection by struggle of the fittest.” Information in the St. John’s Digital Archive Collection suggests that this poster was most likely mailed to St. John’s University during the war and displayed around the campus. Such a strong image would have impacted the students to develop a strong animosity to the “enemy” Nazi, especially because St. John’s is a catholic university. It must have been a very deliberate decision to share this specific poster with the university community. Mark’s poster can be seen as an example of how faith was used to shape public opinion and also justify war. This idea goes back to the question originally posed. If someone threatened to take away something that is a part of your identity, would you not try your best to protect that? Seeing the threat shown in This is the Enemy would provoke viewers to support the war effort, which was the mission of the OWI’s propaganda.
This use of faith for the purpose of propaganda is important to examine especially during a time when information wasn’t as readily accessible as it is today. Using an important part of one’s identity for these posters in some ways personalizes war for the everyday person who was not on the front lines, who may not have been fully informed, or who might have lacked a sense of “nationalism” or “patriotism”. If someone’s core beliefs are attacked and that is communicated to them directly they are more likely to be moved to support the war effort and oppose the “enemy”. The piece by Barbara Marks personified an actual issue during an important period in our history and communicated directly to a specific group of people. Thus, through art, faith became a means to connect people to war.
In the St. John’s Digital Archive Collection you can find this work and more posters that touch on not only religion but on many other topics.
WORKS CITED
“Office of War Information.” Office of War Information, www.u-s-history.com/pages/h3959.html
“Poster, This Is the Enemy, 1943.” Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum, collection.cooperhewitt.org/objects/18622269/.
Rosenwald, Michael. “Hitler Hated Judaism. But He Loathed Christianity, Too.” The Washington Post, WP Company, 23 Apr. 2019, www.washingtonpost.com/history/2019/04/20/hitler-hated-judaism-he-loathed-christianity-too/.
“This Is The Enemy.” CONTENTdm, digitalmemory.stjohns.edu/digital/collection/WWIIposters/id/70.
