Much is still said and written about the Second World War, especially around 4 and 5 May. But how did the events during the war itself make the news?
Adolf Hitler came to power in Germany in 1933. An important part of his government became the new Ministry of Propaganda, which came under the leadership of the Minister of Propaganda Joseph Goebbels. The ministry aimed its propaganda at the whole of society to convince the people of the need for war. To this end, Goebbels used all possible media:press, radio, film, theatre, active propaganda and anti-propaganda campaigns. The media was under complete censorship from the ministry, so dissenting voices were barely heard. Mass rallies with military parades were supposed to stir up the population even further.
Dutch reporters at SS
Once the Second World War has broken out, the German propaganda mill is also active in occupied areas such as the Netherlands. During the 5 years of war, the occupying forces distributed an enormous number of posters, films, radio messages and newspapers. The pro-German media had to uphold the National Socialist ideology and recruit new troops. “Posters”:and movies were staged, but news-gathering required reporters.
In the summer of 1941, the Dutch Legion, a part of the Waffen-SS that consisted of Dutch volunteers, left for the Eastern Front. They had been recruited to fight against the threat of communism in Russia. In order to document military actions, a new military unit within the SS, the Propaganda Kompagnie or PK, was established.
The Dutch PK formed an independently operating group of 50 people, consisting of 8 journalists, 4 photographers, 2 film operators, a radio reporting team with 4 technicians and drivers, mechanics, a supply officer and a cook.
The Dutch who signed up for the PK came from all walks of life. A few had studied and the majority of these future SS reporters or 'Kriegsberichter' had (some) experience as a journalist, radio reporter, videographer or photographer. The PK members had different backgrounds, but the binding factor was the NSB. They had become convinced of the threat of Bolshevism. This Russian communism would overrun Europe and could only be repelled by National Socialism. In addition to the ideology, the urge for adventure must also have played a role in some young men.
Military training and censorship
Once under the Waffen-SS flag, the PK men received military training. Besides being war correspondents and propagandists, they were also soldiers. They wore SS uniforms and were subject to military discipline so as not to isolate them from the other soldiers. Their main job was war reporting although they would also draw up arms if needed.
Arriving at the front, the PK men wrote little realistic news. Their own opinion and a critical attitude were not appreciated in their reporting. Each message went through the German military censorship in Berlin and was modified if necessary to fit in the vein of propaganda and recruitment. After the first year of the war, photos of the dead were rarely posted because this hindered the recruitment of new soldiers. To positively dress the killings on the Eastern Front, the Kriegsberichter wrote about 'disarming' the Russians.
Erotic propaganda
The correspondents of the PK wrote and filmed their 'news' for the home front, the enemy and their own troops. Different media and messages were used for these different purposes.
For the home front, news bulletins full of victory stories and promotional texts were used to recruit new soldiers. The films made at the front mainly showed the life of the German soldiers as they ate together or received the new beer barrels. But unlike the German public, the Dutch were hostile to the SS journalists. Their news reports were barely picked up, not even in the NSB media. The victorious radio reports, films, photos, drawings and news reports became even more implausible after 1943 as the Germans suffered more and more defeats. Attention was therefore shifted more to the daily life of the soldier and the blackening of the enemy.
For example, the Germans tried to drive a wedge between the American and British military. They played on the fear of adulterous wives and distributed erotic posters of American soldiers making off with willing English women. The propaganda posters and pamphlets were strewn by airplanes, hung from balloons or fired by propaganda launchers. The grenades were filled with pamphlets.
News was also written for the Dutch SS men on the Eastern Front to keep their morale high. Propaganda newspapers such as De Vermolmde Bolshevik were often the only news about the front and homeland that the soldiers received. But the Kriegsberichter filled most of the papers while they themselves were also at the front. They often had no idea what was going on in the Netherlands or the rest of the front.
Mild prison sentences
For 4 years, the PK has spread colored news. Despite the lukewarm reactions from the Netherlands, it is inevitable that it has made young men think. About 23,000 Dutchmen served in the Waffen-SS and all the threatening reports about the Russians and the articles about glorious battles have undoubtedly convinced some of them to sign up.
After the war, most Dutch PK journalists were arrested and placed in prison camps for political criminals. From 1947 the first cases concerning war reporters were dealt with, but the judges were not sure what to do with these SS men. Were they journalists or soldiers? Service in the Waffen-SS was ultimately the big minus and the sentences that were given varied from 5 to 15 years.
The PK-ers were not the only ones with long sentences. After the war, many war criminals, but also many somewhat 'mis-smelling' Dutch, were sentenced to severe sentences. After several years of reflection, the feeling began to arise that many of them had been punished too severely. This also applies to the Kriegsberichter, because before 1950 almost all of them were pardoned. They were released but their citizenship was taken from them. Most of them never got involved in journalism again.
Sources:
- Arnold Karskens, Plasters on the eyes. Dutch war reporting from Heiligerlee to Kosovo (Amsterdam 2001)
- Gerard Groeneveld, Kriegsberichter. Dutch SS war reporters 1941/1945 (Haarlem 2004)
- Black Soldiers, Dutchmen in the Waffen-SS