A mother nursing her new born baby can be considered one of the most intimate moments a person can experience. The beauty behind nursing a child can capture people’s hearts as they can appreciate the innocence and love involved. This peaceful moment is the center of a poster that represents something far more complex than a mother connecting with her child. The poster filled with peaceful shades of light yellow of the background allows the deep blue of the women’s dress to pop, emphasizing the mother and child as the focal point. In the background lies a quaint, charming German farming town representing the elements of German pride throughout the poster. This poster depicts the ideal lifestyle of the German people, or rather an individual’s interpretation of the ideal Germany. Translated from German to English, the words in the poster read, “Join the Organization: Mother and Child”. The overall message of the poem is centered at the value of motherhood. However, the motives behind the poster were nothing but sinister. The poster is example of the manipulative propaganda that was displayed in Nazi Germany. The Nazi movement needed more than a ruthless leader, it needed the support and cooperation of the German people. In order to gain the cooperation of desperate Germans, Nazi leadership strategically placed propaganda posters around Germany to rally support. The posters were designed to gain the trust of the population. Although the center piece of the poster depicts an innocent moment between and mother and her child, the poster’s purpose was to convince the German people to join a Nazi organization by appealing to their emotions, logical reasoning, and sense of nationalism, representing the qualities of effective propaganda. 

The Mother and Child organization during Nazi Germany was created in order to promote pregnancies among young women. The Nazi Organization is trying convince German women that is it their greatest obligation to produce and rear children. A high birth rate would ensure that Hitler’s army would grow and replace the men before them. The poster romanticizes nursing a child, as an attempt to appeal to the emotional side of women. The poster suggests that having a child would create a perfect life for women. The Mother and Child Organization taught women that it was only logical to have a child, because the ideal German lifestyle would be assured once the child is born. With women as the target audience of the poster, there is a focus on an emotional appeal as women typically have a higher emotional intelligence than men. The illustrator of the poster depicts a young, beautiful, blonde German mother to glamorize motherhood. Effective propaganda targets a certain demographic within the population. Targeting young women would require more emotional and logical appeals. I believe persuasion is more likely to be achieved when there are emotions and logical reasoning involved. This poster effectively portrays motherhood as a way to serve your country for young girl. Serving one’s country is only logical, so having a child must be a reasonable decision to make. Usually serving one’s country involves a sense of nationalistic pride. The most effective element of this poster is the appeal to the nationalistic side of the German people.

The background of the poster is an attempt to invoke German National pride within the audience. The green, fertile hills and the romantic farming town represents the ideal German town. In reality the town represents the lifestyle or the Germany Hitler is trying to protect by fighting in war. The idealistic Germany town in the background was meant to remind the German people that this is what the country is fighting for in second world war. In reality during this time period much as Germany was not a perfect farming town. Much of Germany was impoverished in cities. However, a romantic depiction of the town is far more effective when attempting to create nationalism within the people. The Nazi Party made substantial efforts to promote nationalism throughout Germany as national pride often meant support for the German army. Most Nazi propaganda posters contained some elements of Hitler’s idea of perfect Germany in order to promote pride within in people. Promoting nationalism can be dangerous as the line between nationalism and exceptionalism is rather fine. The Nazi movement collectively shows the negative effects of exceptionalism. Hitler and the Nazi Party’s belief in Germany’s superiority to other countries caused Hitler’s disregard for the basic rules of humanity, believing that the extermination of millions of Jews was somehow justified. The lighting from the sunset makes the German town resemble a place similar to the concept of heaven. The concept of a beautiful, peaceful place is represented in the poster and was meant to relate Germany to heaven. The over exposure to nationalistic propaganda led to most of the German people to support a movement that caused so much destruction. 

It is rather appalling that this beautiful moment between a mother and child can be used to promote a cause created by the Nazi party. The purpose of the poster was to create more humans to participate Hitler’s movement, yet the poster seemed to be organization that was designed simply to promote health for new born children. The motives behind the poster were sinister, however, it is important to understand what makes propaganda widely effective. The authors of the poster were masterful in appealing to the audience’s pathos and logos. The Nazi Party persuaded millions of Germans by knowing how to manipulate the emotions and logical reasoning of the German people. The effective poster possessed to the power to pursued German women to follow the Hitler’s desire.  