Nazi propaganda and the United Kingdom
However, as Anglo-German relations deteriorated, and the Second World War broke out, Nazi propaganda vilified the British as oppressive German-hating plutocrats.
[3] An example of that sort of coverage was a long article in the Berliner Illustrierte Zeitung newspaper in 1936 that extolling the British for "brutally" resolving the Fashoda Incident of 1898 with France in their favour with no regard for diplomatic niceties.
[3] Another example of Nazi anglophilia included a series of widely promoted biographies and historical novels commemorating various prominent "Aryan" figures from British history such as Cromwell, Marlborough, Nelson, Rhodes, Wellington and Raleigh.
[4] A particular theme of praise was offered for British “ruthlessness” and "lack of moral scruples" in building and defending their empire, which was held as a model for the Germans to follow.
[9] Goebbels denounced Britain as having a few hundred families rule the world without any moral justification, a phrase that had been taken directly from the communist-supported French Popular Front despite Nazi opposition to communism.
[11] The instant and unauthorised rejection of the peace terms of Hitler's 19 July 1940 speech by Sefton Delmer on the BBC produced a great impact on Germany.
[12] One of the major themes of the anti-British propaganda campaign launched in late 1938 was alleged British human rights abuses in India and then in dealing with the Arab uprising in the Palestine Mandate.
[14] The Parole der Woche's weekly wall newspaper jeered at Franklin D. Roosevelt's description of the British as defenders of freedom by showing the torture of Indians and describing other atrocities.
[15] A cigarette book titled Robber State England displayed instances such as the British executions of mutinous sepoys after the Indian Rebellion of 1857.
[16] In such films as Der Fuchs von Glenarvon and My Life for Ireland, the British are depicted as brutal oppressors of the Irish.
[22] German propaganda asserted that the Second World War had been started by Britain to prevent Germany's social revolution from inspiring its own people to discontent.
[24] The British declaration of war on Germany in 1939 was represented as an attempt to put an end to German Nazism, which maintained a generous modern welfare state that cared for the poorest Germans, because British workers living under Manchestertum had started to demand the same sort of welfare state for themselves.
[30] The Parole der Woche' weekly wall newspaper declared that America and Britain had agreed to let Stalin take Europe.
[37] Claims were made both that France and Britain had started the war, wanted to make a blockade rather than one that would actually hurt them, and also had actually invaded Belgium and the Netherlands and forced the Germans to forestall them.
[41] Goebbels took advantage of a 1943 memorial service for the victims of bombing raids to proclaim Allied guilt and German innocence.
