These 6 interesting looking postcards were found by relatives of a vet who served with my Dad. Can anyone who reads and writes German, give me a basic translation of what they are supposed to be about. I can e-mail a larger image if you PM me. Many thanks.
All are pre-war basically scare-mongering saying Germany is surrounded by enemies. The 'Luftbedrohung Deutschland' is interesting to me in that Britain would later produce very similar propaganda leaflets showing the range of Allied bombers flying from British and Italian bases with potential to hit any German city.
These are almost certainly prewar post cards, and some of them pre-date the occupation of the Sudetenland in 1938, and one the occupation of the Rhineland. I guess these were used to soften up the population for the remilitarisation of the Reich, so date them around 1935. Top left: 'Who needs security in the west - the distribution of forces on Germany's western border after the peace'. Predates occupation of demilitarised Rhineland. Shows military forces. Top right: 'Germany's neighbours have 3,800 mobile heavy guns. For Germany mobile heavy artillery is forbidden. Who then needs security?' Second row: 'The air threat to Germany' shows radius of bombers. Each plane symbol = 250 planes Third row: 'Who needs security through fortifications?' Shows fortress installations, classified by size, whether with guns or not, and whether armoured or not. Fourth row: 'Who needs security in the south-east?' Shows force comparison Germany, Poland, Czechoslovakia. Fifth row: 'Germany's demilitarisation and the forces of its neighbours'. Shows demilitarised zones, zones where no fortresses can be built (dark red), as well as force detail for the neighbours. For Germany states 'NO reserves, heavy guns, large battle ships, material supply depots, aircraft carriers, planes, submarines, tanks'. All the best Andreas
Imagine sending one of those postcards home from your holiday in the Reich "Having a lovely time, beaches are lovely" :smile: Just looking at the cards it seems almost the same sort of rhetoric that North Korea spews out, that everyone else is a threat and any action taken by our peaceful armies will merely be reactionary!
Schoolchildren did not escape the Reich's grip on society in the development of their education. Typical mathematical questions were set on a conflict basis....such as if it takes "x" German divisions of "m" men/division to invade a country and "y" days to defeat the enemy.How many days would it take to defeat the enemy, if "d" divisions were used, composed of "s" men/division. In the past I have seen examples retrieved of the teaching methods and problems set, that the Third Reich used to indoctrinate their young.
Apparently the East German communists continued this (probably employing the same teaching bureaucrats as the Nazis). How many mines do you need for a minefield that is X by X if the mines are laid with Y distance? etc. All the best Andreas
