Vicious Pictures? How National Socialist Propaganda Glorifying Adolf Hitler Affects Contemporary Viewers' Emotions

Abstract

The atrocities committed during the Nazi era still affect Germany's image in the world and Germans' feelings about their country's past. Herein, we investigate how historical propaganda images glorifying Adolf Hitler influence these feelings. Prior scholars have raised concerns that such materials might communicate distorted images of the past to future generations. Four studies (two preliminary, two confirmatory; N_total = 429) imply that these critics might be rightfully worried: Germans expressed weaker guilt when pictorial reminders of the atrocities committed during the Nazis' reign were mixed with glorifying propaganda images. A fifth study (N = 642) does not replicate this effect. An integrative analysis broadening the scope of considered emotions, however, implies that glorifying propaganda images may be doubly vicious: they reduce negative and enhance positive emotions experienced after reminders of atrocities. Surprisingly, snapshots from everyday life of that time likewise amplified happiness, but were less effective antidotes to negative emotions.