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M.A. Kertesz: 'The Enemy – British Images of the German People during the Second World War'

April 12, 2010 By drbexl Leave a Comment

Kertesz, M.A. ‘The Enemy – British Images of the German people during the Second World War’
D.Phil completed, 1992, Sussex University

Abstract: The thesis examines the creation and development of enemy imagery in writing about the German people during the Second World War, tracing the gradual redefinition of the enemy from the Nazi elite to a wider hostility which, for some people, embraced the entire German population. The German role of enemy was established by the development of an imagery of the `other’, which placed the enemy outside the realms of Christianity, of culture, of civilisation, even of humanity. The German character was defined in opposition to British qualities; thus, the issue in wartime was as much about defining the British character as the condemnation of the German character. An introductory chapter outlines the history of Anglo-German relations from the mid-nineteenth century, tracing the growing hostility between the two cultures, noting the importance of the 1914-18 war in destroying the older, more favourable images of Germany, and discussing the war’s legacy and the British response to the rise of Nazism in the 1930s. The main body of the thesis consists of `slices’ of narrative – each chapter deals with a short, significant period of the war. These `slices’ are: the first week of the war, the period from Dunkirk to the fall of France (May-June 1940), the week after the German invasion of Russia (June 1941), the allied victory at El Alamein, which is often cited as the turning point of the war (first half of November 1942), the week following the D-Day landings (June 1944) and the last week of the war against Germany in May 1945. Each of these significant periods is approached from three different points of view – a general overview of `public opinion’, the press, and personal diaries written for Mass-Observation. The expression of private opinion in the diaries enters into dialogue with the published opinion of the press, challenging the accepted and establishment views expressed in newspapers, while dealing with the pressure to conform to this establishment view of the German people.

Filed Under Other Theses Tagged With British, Enemy, German, M.A. Kertesz, second world war

I.R.C. Howling, '"Our Soviet Friends": The Presentation of the Soviet Union in the British Media 1941-45'

April 10, 2010 By drbexl Leave a Comment

Howling, I.R.C. ”Our Soviet Friends’: the presentation of the Soviet Union in the British Media 1941-45′
M.A. completed, 1988. Leeds University

Abstract: Presenting the Soviet Union to the British public – whether as an adversary during the period of the Nazi-Soviet Pact or as an ally in the Anglo-Soviet Alliance – posed great problems to British wartime propagandists. This thesis is an examination of the methods employed by the British government, armed as it was (theoretically) with the wartime power to control every film, newspaper or radio broadcast, to influence the portrayal of the Soviet Union in the British media between 1941 and 1945. The official propaganda campaign launched in the wake of Hitler’s invasion of the Soviet Union in June 1941 can best be understood in the light of the image of the Soviet Union to which the British had been exposed during the years of the Nazi-Soviet Pact and before. Chapter One therefore provides an analysis of propaganda about the Soviet Union during this period, together with a discussion of those problems encountered by the propagandists which were to persist in the period of the Anglo-Soviet Alliance. Chapter Two examines the propagandists’ response to their new Soviet Ally in the immediate aftermath of Operation Barbarossa. It provides a detailed analysis of policy-making at the Ministry of Information and Foreign Office during the summer of 1941 which led to the creation of the Soviet Relations Division at the Ministry of Information in October of that year. Once it became clear that the Soviet Union was not to be easily defeated, the greatest problem facing the propagandists was the fact that their new ally was a Communist state. Chapter Three therefore examines the measures taken throughout the war by the government to prevent the Soviet Union’s popularity being converted into votes for the Communist Party of Great Britain. Citing examples from broadcasts on the BBC Home Service, and from films and newsreels shown in British cinemas, the chapter analyses the effectiveness of the policies adopted to counter the Communist electoral `threat’. Chapter Four examines the presentation of the Soviet attitude to religion as a case study. This chapter aims to illustrate that, succumbing to the pressures of both domestic and foreign audiences, the British government abandoned its avowed intentions of maintaining an accurate and objective presentation of the Soviets. As War became Cold War, the way in which the Soviet Union was presented to the British people became even more important. Relations between the Allies were deteriorating; attitudes in government circles were changing. Yet, on paper at least, the Anglo-Soviet Pact remained and was scheduled to last until 1962. Chapter Five is an analysis of how far changing attitudes on the part of the government and its propagandists were reflected in the British media.

Filed Under Other Theses Tagged With British, I.R.C. Howling, PhD Theses, second world war, Soviet

Paul Grainge: 'Monochrome Memories: Nostalgia and Style in 1990s America'

April 8, 2010 By drbexl Leave a Comment

Grainge, P., ‘Monochrome Memories: Nostalgia and Style in 1990s America’
PhD thesis completed, [date]. Nottingham University.

The thesis has two main objectives: to theorize nostalgia as a mode, a cultural style that has become divorced from a necessary concept of loss or longing, and to consider (visual) modes of nostalgia in mass cultural production during the 1990s.

Publications

Filed Under Other Theses Tagged With Nostalgia, Paul Griange, PhD Theses

S.J.Fisher, 'The Blitz and the Bomber Offensive: A Case Study in British Home Propaganda, 1939-45'

April 7, 2010 By drbexl Leave a Comment

Fisher, S. J. ‘The Blitz and the Bomber Offensive: A Case Study in British Home Propaganda, 1939-45′
PhD thesis completed, 1993, Edinburgh University

The thesis is a case study of British Home Front propaganda in the period 1939-45, with particular reference to film propaganda; newsreels, official films, and feature films. It examines propaganda about German bombing raids against Britain during the Blitz and about RAF bombing raids against Germany in the Bomber Offensive.

Filed Under Other Theses Tagged With Blitz, Bomber Offensive, Brtish, propaganda

Anna Efstathiadou, 'Female Images: Visual Representation of Women in Green and British Propaganda Posters During the Second World War'

April 6, 2010 By drbexl 2 Comments

I’m sure this thesis has been finished now…

Efstathiadou, A., ‘Female Images: Visual Representation of Women in Greek and British Propaganda Posters During the Second World War’
PhD thesis registered, January, 2000. Cardiff University

Anna’s research, a comparative study between Greece and UK, aims to examine the way women were represented in propaganda posters during the years 1939-1945. Aspects of history, society and politics consist the backbone of the study, moving on to specific issues of gender, propaganda and the meaning and power of visual images.

The special interest of this research lies on the fact that it is the first Greek attempt to collect, comment and compare Greek posters of females. There are collections of Greek posters but mostly as illustrations for collectors.

Supervisor: Terry Threadgold

e-mail: EfstathiadouA@Cardiff.ac.uk
School of Journalism, Media and Cultural Studies, Cardiff University, Bute Building, King Edward VII Avenue, Cardiff, CF10 3NB

Filed Under Other Theses Tagged With Anna Efstathiadou, propaganda, Propaganda Posters, Visual

Sarah Davies: 'Propaganda and Popular Opinion in Soviet Russia, 1934-41'

April 5, 2010 By drbexl 1 Comment

Davies, S.R., ‘Propaganda and popular opinion in Soviet Russia, 1934-41′
D.Phil completed 1994. Oxford University

Abstract: This thesis brings to light hitherto highly classified material from Russian party and state archives, and addresses several of the many new questions this material raises. It is hoped that the result of this endeavour is an original perspective on Soviet society and on some of the workings of the Soviet system in this period. In particular, Soviet society is shown to be less passive and atomised than some earlier accounts have suggested. From the time of the XVII party congress in 1934, the Soviet regime devoted increasing attention to agitation and propaganda with the aim of moulding the opinions of ordinary people. All forms of public communication acquired a uniformity of both style and content. Although there were fluctuations in the methods, intensity and direction of the propaganda, the essential messages did not change. These messages revolved around the ideas of the cult of Stalin and other leaders and the unity and well-being of the people. It was claimed that the whole Soviet people were unanimous in their support for the vozhd’ and his policies, an image reinforced by mass meetings and parades. This representation of unity reached its apogee in November 1937, when Molotov spoke of the “unity of the Soviet people embodied in the vozhd’, comrade Stalin”. The central question addressed by the thesis was provoked by the apparent disparity between on the one side, this official imagery and, on the other, the everyday life of most ordinary people, one of poverty and, to a certain extent, of oppression.

Publications:

Filed Under Other Theses Tagged With PhD Theses, propaganda, Sarah Davies, Soviet

Susan Carruthers: 'Propaganda, Publicity and Political Violent: The Presentation of Terrorism in Britain, 1944-60'

April 4, 2010 By drbexl Leave a Comment

Carruthers, S.L., ‘Propaganda, publicity and political violence: the presentation of terrorism in Britain, 1944-60′
Ph.D completed 1994. Leeds University

Abstract: Through a series of case studies, this thesis examines British attitudes to `terrorism’ as practised during various post-war colonial insurgencies. What did British governments and colonial officials understand by this term, as applied to the Jewish insurgents in Palestine at the end of the Mandate, the Malayan Communists, Mau Mau, and EOKA in Cyprus? The thesis focuses particularly on the way in which propaganda has been seen as a crucial component of the terrorist strategy. Consequently, in the attempt to deny insurgents publicity, and to mediate the perception of politically motivated violence held by various domestic and international audiences, British governments have used a wide variety of propaganda and news-management techniques. The thesis thus assesses the role of government propaganda in counter-insurgency. While some attention is paid to the employment of propaganda within the affected colonies themselves (as part of the `hearts and minds’ strategy), the focus is largely on government attempts to influence wider international audiences and, especially, domestic public opinion in Britain. The need to maintain public support at home for campaigns fought against `terrorism’ in the colonies has been a neglected aspect of most writings on counter-insurgency. However, a detailed examination of the files of the Colonial Office and Foreign Office information departments reveals that in each of the selected case studies, particular attention was paid to keeping domestic opinion `on side’. Not only have various Whitehall departments and the Central Office of Information produced official publicity material on these insurgencies, but the Foreign Office’s anti-communist Information Research Department has disseminated more covert material through the Trade Union movement and other channels. In addition, successive governments have sought to influence the press, newsreel and television coverage of events in the disputed territories.

Published Works:

Filed Under Other Theses Tagged With PhD Theses, propaganda, Susan Carruthers

James Chapman ' Official British Film Propaganda during the Second World War

April 2, 2010 By drbexl Leave a Comment

Chapman, J., ‘Official British Film Propaganda during the Second World War’
PhD Thesis completed, 1995. Lancaster University

The Ministry of Information was set up at the outbreak of war in September 1939 to co-ordinate all aspects of propaganda and information for the British Government. Its Films Divison was responsible for the formulation of official film propaganda policy and the production of official films.

Both the M.O.I. and its films division were handicapped initially by the failure to make adequate plans for propaganda machinery before the war, by an often inappropriate choice of key personnel, and by a lack of co-ordination with other government departments. They were also beset by numerous administration reoganisations and changes of personnel during the first year of the war which caused a great amount of institutional instability.

Abstract: The Ministry of Information was set up at the outbreak of war in September 1939 to co-ordinate all aspects of propaganda and information for the British Government. Its Films Division was responsible for the formulation of official film propaganda policy and for the production of official films. Both the M.O.I. and its Films Division were handicapped initially by the failure to make adequate plans for the propaganda machinery before the war, by an often inappropriate choice of key personnel, and by a lack of co-ordination with other government departments. They were also beset by numerous administrative reorganisations and changes of personnel during the first year of the war which caused a great amount of institutional instability. The Films Division at first attached the most importance to the commercial film industry for propaganda purposes, though even so it struggled to find a role for feature films and at first it merely responded to the initiatives of commercial producers without laying down any policy guidelines itself. The Films Division was soon attracting much hostile criticism, both from the film trade press and also from members of the documentary movement who felt that they had been excluded from the film propaganda effort. The trade interests on the one hand and the documentarists on the other represented the opposite poles of the film industry with which the M.O.I. had to work. After the upheavals of 1940, both the M.O.I. and its Films Division became more settled and stable. A policy for film propaganda was developed which defined a role for both commercial feature films and documentary films. The feature film was used for general, indirect and long-term propaganda. After its experiment in partly financing the production of a feature film, 49th Parallel, the Films Division instead opted for a policy of informal co-operation with commercial producers through various channels to ensure that feature film propaganda worked within certain general guidelines.

Chapman now works for the Open University, and has converted his PhD thesis into a book.

Published Works:

Filed Under Other Theses Tagged With James Chapman, ministry of information

Timothy Boon: 'Film and Contestation of Public Health in Interwar Britain'

April 1, 2010 By drbexl Leave a Comment

Boon, T., ‘Film and contestation of public health in interwar Britain’
PhD Thesis completed, 1999. Wellcome Institute

Abstract: This is the first study to analyse and list the approximately 350 health films distributed in Britain in the interwar period. It provides a social-historical explanation for their existence, and grounds its account in the history of public health and the highly associative culture of the period. The first part establishes the context within which they were produced: Chapter one introduces the notion of the contestation of public health, first demonstrating the widespread agreement about the importance of public education in health. The main players are then introduced: the local authorities, the voluntary associations, and the Ministry of Health. Chapter two proposes that the health education policy established by the new Ministry of Health in 1920 was created and sustained in the context of a mixed public and private model of health care. Within this, first voluntary associations, and later organised Medical Officers of Health, contested the sanction of responsibility for health education in general (as opposed to that on single disease categories). Part two devotes a chapter each to the film making activities of voluntary associations, local authorities and documentarists. The style of films produced is, in each case, explored in the context of the cultures of the different organisations involved. Voluntary associations tended to prefer ‘moral tales’, fiction films with a health message, whilst local authorities mostly subscribed to a type of naive realism. Documentarists introduced a new type of realist cinematic literacy deriving from the Russian montage tradition. The final chapter returns to the policy issues introduced in part one, and explores changes in policy at the Ministry of Health which led to an increased concern with film making. The study concludes with a detailed discussion of the Ministry’s 1939 documentary film, Health for the Nation, the culmination of many long term trends.

Published Works:

Health Matters: Modern Medicine and the Search for Better Health, (London: Science Museum, 1994) (co-editor with Lawrence, G.)

Filed Under Other Theses Tagged With Health, PhD Theses, propaganda, Timothy Boon

Philip M. Taylor: 'The Projection of Britain: British Overseas Publicity and Propaganda, 1913-1939, with particular reference to the work of the news department of the Foreign Office'

January 5, 2010 By drbexl Leave a Comment

Taylor, P.M., ‘The projection of Britain: British overseas publicity and propaganda, 1914-1939, with particular reference to the work of the news department of the Foreign Office.’
PhD, completed 1978, Leeds University

No abstract

Published Works:

Filed Under Other Theses Tagged With British, Foreign Office, Overseas, P.M.Taylor, PhD Theses, propaganda, Publicity
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