The enlightenment committee Hamburg-Bremen and covert Propaganda of Weimar Germany abroad, 1923-1932

Abstract

The subject of the study is the activity of the enlightenment committee Hamburg-Bremen, an organization created after the outbreak of the Ruhr crisis in 1923 by the Hamburg Chamber of Commerce to conduct export propaganda abroad. The article analyzes documents from the funds of the Russian State Military Archive and the German Federal Archives related to the functioning of this structure in 1923-1932. The purpose of the study is to determine how the Hamburg organization managed to deploy large—scale propaganda activity that spread to almost all countries of the world and acquired national significance in Weimar Germany. Special attention is paid to the characteristics of various areas of work, interaction with official departments and the impact of the world economic crisis of 1929-1933 on the activities of the enlightenment committee Hamburg-Bremen. Based on the study, it was revealed that the organization formed in Hamburg published various printed products, an information service was created abroad, and the key direction was covert penetration into the foreign press. The article shows that the reason for such activity lay in the interest of the economic circles of the region in improving the image of the country abroad in order to normalize foreign trade relations, and the possibility of its implementation — in the presence of the necessary connections for propaganda in foreign countries. One of the results of the study is the conclusion that the activities of the enlightenment committee Hamburg-Bremen affected not only export, but also cultural and political propaganda and was supported by the government interested in carrying out propaganda activities in a hidden form and through private structures. Over the years, the Hamburg-based organization has increasingly come under the influence of the state, whose assistance has become especially urgent after the global economic crisis of 1929-1933.