“Bloody jackals are German fascist dogs!’ The image of the enemy in Tula newspapers in 1941

Abstract

The article considers specifics in the formation of the image of the enemy – Nazi Germany and the Wehrmacht – by Tula newspapers in the first months of the Great Patriotic War.

Based on materials published in the newspapers “Kommunar” (Tula), “Stalin’s Banner” (Uzlovaya), “Stalinogorskaya Pravda” (Stalinogorsk), features in the description of the enemy are traced that influenced the creation and transformation of the image enemy in the minds of Soviet citizens.

From the first days of the war, journalists in their publications used vivid negative images to characterize Germany and Wehrmacht soldiers, borrowed from the practice of criminal law. The attribution of zoomorphic traits to Nazi leaders and German soldiers was also widely used.

It was especially emphasized that enemy soldiers and officers are war criminals who have stained their hands with the blood of innocent citizens, who have violated the norms of international law, the laws and customs of war, and all their military victories were achieved through overwhelming numerical superiority.

Thus, among Soviet citizens there created the image of a cruel enemy devoid of moral principles, of human appearance, who strives to enslave the Soviet people and is capable of winning only with the help of primitive, very resource-intensive tactics.