Known in Russia as the “Great Patriotic War,” World War II propaganda played a central role in rallying the Soviet population to resist the Nazi invasion. The German attack on the Soviet Union (Operation Barbarossa) found the regime of Joseph Stalin (1897-1953) ill prepared for battle. The Nazi forces nearly succeeded in breaking the Soviet Union in the months that followed. By November the German army had seized the Ukrainian Republic, besieged Leningrad (present-day Saint Petersburg, the USSR’s second-largest city), and threatened Moscow itself. By the end of 1941, however, the German forces had lost their momentum. German movements were increasingly hampered by harsh winter weather, attacks by partisans, and difficulties in maintaining overextended supply lines. At the same time, the Red Army had recovered from the initial blow and began to strike back.
After the initial shock, including a rumored escape from the capital by Stalin himself, the formidable Soviet propaganda machine hit its stride almost immediately. Within two days of the invasion Vyacheslav Molotov (1890-1986), the commissar for foreign affairs, addressed the nation by radio in an angry and defiant tone. Newsreels captured the grim-faced determination of Soviet citizens while listening to his speech, images that were on Soviet screens within a week. Stalin was able to launch his call to arms at the start of July. He addressed his audience as “brothers and sisters” (not comrades) and called for a defense of the rodina (motherland).
One famous poster reminded viewers: “Higher vigilance in every unit—always remember the treachery and baseness of the enemy!” Another warned: “When on lookout duty, check the branches, too. Do not sleep—you are responsible for everyone.” Finally, one poster showing fighters escorting bombers in formation over Red Square proclaimed “Long Live the Mighty Aviation of the Country of Socialism!” at a time when there was no Soviet airforce to speak of.
In the spring of 1942 the German army renewed its offensive, including an attempt to crush the city of Stalingrad (present-day Volgograd). Here, as elsewhere, Soviet forces put up fierce resistance even after the Germans had reduced the city to rubble. In such desperate moments the Soviet government had to rely on the support of the people. To increase popular enthusiasm for the war, Stalin reshaped his domestic policies to heighten the patriotic spirit. Nationalistic slogans replaced much of the Communist rhetoric in official pronouncements and the mass media.
Cinema—that “most important of all the arts,” according to Lenin—was called to arms. Esfir Shub (1894-1959) was able to make two full-length documentaries: Fascism Will Be Destroyed (1941) and Homeland (1942). Both films were able to make disastrous outcomes appear successful. The name of master filmmaker Dziga Vertov (1896— 1954) was attached to three films during the war years: Blood for Blood, Death for Death (1941), In the High Zone (1941), and the five-reel To You, Front! (1942).
The cities of Leningrad and Stalingrad became physical embodiments of—and thus propaganda gifts to—the Soviet Union’s moral right to victory. After several failed attempts to take Leningrad by storm, Nazi forces settled in for a 900-day siege (August 1941 to January 1944), which was publicized and eulogized as an example of unprecedented courage and heroism. With Leningrad straining for victory—with no electricity, heat, or running water, and very little food—how could a Soviet citizen falter in the struggle against Fascism? When news of the utter heroism and sacrifice displayed during the siege of Stalingrad filled the newspapers, death or victory became the only options. With the surrender of German commander Friedrich von Paulus (1890—1957) to the Soviet forces in January 1943, victory was a certainty.
After Stalingrad, the Soviet Union held the initiative for the rest of the war. By the end of 1943, the Red Army had broken through the German siege of Leningrad and recaptured much of the Ukrainian Republic. By the end of 1944, the front had moved beyond the 1939 Soviet frontiers into Eastern Europe. Filmmaker Aleksander Dovzhenko (1894— 1956) made The Battle for Our Soviet Ukraine (1943)—released in the United States as Ukraine in Flames (1944)—and Victory in the Eastern Ukraine (1945). The political message of these films was that irrespective of the events of the recent past, the Ukraine was part of the Soviet Union. If the liberated Ukraine was “eastern,” then parts of Poland would soon be part of the Ukraine too.
With a decisive superiority in troops and weaponry, Soviet forces drove into eastern Germany, capturing Berlin in May 1945. As victory seemed within reach, the need for a celebration became paramount. Yelizaveta Svilova (1900-1975) directed the film Berlin, representing a compilation of the work of army cameramen, which was released in June 1945 as part of the victory celebrations.
The end of World War II saw the Soviet Union emerge as one of the world’s two greatest military powers. Its battle-tested forces occupied most of Eastern Europe. These achievements came at a high cost, including the deaths of an estimated 20 million Soviet soldiers and civilians. The loss itself was fruitful propaganda material during the war and for decades thereafter. The dramatic events of the war years left a deep impact on Soviet literature, which was soon utilized in a propagandizing capacity. A genre of patriotic essays blossomed, including Volga-Stalingrad (1942) by Vassilii Grossman (1905-1964), who declared: “Here it is, the Russian character at large! A person might seem so ordinary, but as disaster strikes, no matter whether big or small, out comes a great strength—personal beauty.” In A Man’s Life Story (1942) Mikhail Sholokov (1905-1984) wrote: “I hope that this man, a Russian man of iron will, will survive and raise a son strong enough to cope with any difficulties, overcome all kinds of hardship.” Soviet literature of the period, like all popular culture, urged the population to take action and stressed their moral superiority. The horror stories unearthed by Soviet camera teams as the Red Army moved west only underscored this moral certainty. The victory celebrations in Red Square in the summer of 1945 ushered in a new period of conviction—repeated each year in the poignant celebrations on “Victory Day” (8 May).
