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OCR
Soviet Prisoners of War in Finnish and German Propaganda Photography 1941-1944 unknown in German propaganda photography. Because of their racially-motivated propaganda, demonisation of the enemy was much more categorical in Germany than in Finland (for the role of humour in German war propaganda, see Alexander Kozintsev, this volume). Finland and Russia had a much longer common history as well—either as one state or as neighbours—which in turn makes it possible to notice such comical features (Kirves 2008: 38-42). Ihe photos showing comical features of the Russians were, however, only taken in fairly small numbers at the beginning of the war and were not published in the Finnish magazines analysed. In the spring of 1942, Finnish propaganda troops were given an order to stop describing the enemy as ridiculous or pathetic, because the heavy losses that the Finns had suffered by then would otherwise have been difficult to explain if the enemy was described as clearly inferior (Kleemola 2011: 86). Ihis instruction may have prohibited Finnish propaganda troops from taking further humorous photos. Visual Propaganda with Different Starting Points Studying the photos of both countries showing prisoners of war indicated that there were indeed common themes in the photographic propaganda materials of Finland and Germany: the photographs of surrender, as well as the photos of welltreated prisoners and large crowds of captives, can be found in the photo archives of both countries. The differences between the Finnish and German photographic materials were, as expected, to be found in the pictures concerning race. The Germans aggressively propagated their racial policies visually, while the Finns were more careful in this respect. The photos common to both countries, intended for foreign and enemy propaganda, were those of well-treated prisoners and surrendering enemies as well as crowds of captives, while the photos concerning the racial and humorous aspects of the enemy image were mainly intended for domestic propaganda, and thus more strongly reflected the different ideologies of each country. ‘The analysis of wartime illustrated magazines showed that the German propaganda machinery had clear strategies that were consistently realised: propaganda troops produced the pictures that were needed for the time being, and magazines supported the construction of the enemy image with their picture choices (Hamann 2003: 18-22). Meanwhile, Finnish propaganda troops often produced pictures that were neither published in illustrated magazines nor used in propaganda leaflets. This may be because, in contrast to the German Propagandakompanien, Finnish propaganda troops had been given no special training in producing propaganda. Common to both Finnish and German photo material is the fact that only quite small changes can be seen in the material. As mentioned previously, photos with humorous aspects disappeared from Finnish internal propaganda in the spring of 1942 as the propaganda troops were instructed to treat the enemy with more respect; and the visual counterparts typical of the German propaganda at the 169
