GERMANY THROUGH THE PRISM OF RUSSIAN PROPAGANDA POSTCARDS FROM WORLD WAR I

Abstract

Our perception of the world and current events is formed through diverse and often contradictory sources. It is always amended and augmented throughout the unceasing process of information consumption. Since the beginning of the XX century this process has been more and more governed by images. That is why the great powers drawn in the Great War were actively using visual materials for propaganda purposes: to steer their people towards confrontation and to create “the image of the enemy”. The issue “construction of an enemy” does not lose its relevance due to the fact that today’s media wars propaganda principles and techniques are still the same as they were one hundred years ago. The article describes the milestones of the enemy image creation and gives a thorough analysis of Russian propaganda postcards from the World War I in order to outline the key features of German enemy figure. The emphasis is made on the idea that the image of Germany is ambivalent: the country and its citizens were pictured differently. The postcards serve as sources of the current study since they were one of the main means of communication during the war time and one of the most effective propaganda tools: people used to distribute the postcards themselves, thus creating an emotional bond between the recipient and the image on the front side. The novelty of the research is attributable to the fact that this issue has not been considered through the prism of historical imagology.