From Anti-Versailles to War Propaganda: The Aufklärungsausschuß Hamburg(-Bremen) and Propaganda in Swedish Newspapers from the Interwar Period to 1941

Abstract

This article deals with the Aufklärungsausschuß der Handelskammer Hamburg from 1932 renamed Aufklärungsausschuß Hamburg-Bremen and its work in Sweden. The Aufklärungsausschuß der Handelskammer Hamburg was founded as a reaction to the Treaty of Versailles and the French–Belgian occupation of the Ruhr in 1923, and its mission was to influence foreign opinion through planting articles in foreign press. Using the propaganda definition and approach suggested by Garth Jowett and Victoria O’Donnell, this article analyses the network established and the propaganda method used by the Aufklärungsausschuß Hamburg-Bremen from the interwar period, over the establishment in Sweden in 1932/1933, and a few years during World War II. It also contains an examination of the content in distributed news material, both articles and photos, placed in Swedish outlets from 1933 to 1941.