Anti-Soviet Propaganda in the Press of the Military Administration Zone during the German Occupation of Ukraine (1941–1943)

The article is devoted to a comprehensive analysis of anti-Soviet and anti-Russian propaganda in the occupation press within the Military Administration Zone of Ukraine during 1941—1943. It characterizes the goals, methods, and regional specifics of the Nazi informational manipulation of the local population. The study highlights the core narratives, historical precedents, myths, and ideologemes deployed by the occupiers to shape Ukrainian mass consciousness. Nazi ideological indoctrination through the local press was intense and utilized a wide variety of genres. Readers were constantly reminded of the crimes of the Soviet regime and emphasized that human life had no value for the Bolshevik regime. The notion was reinforced in the public consciousness that communist ideologues and leaders regarded the population under their control solely as raw material for a grandiose, mad experiment concocted by Jews. Such anti-Bolshevik ideological processing was supposed to encourage local residents to cooperate with the Germans in the fight against the communists and the USSR. Anti-Soviet narratives were combined with anti-Russian propaganda. Past injustices by the Russian state were persistently recalled. The national feelings of the people and their post-colonial complexes — formed during their life within a multinational empire, with the USSR proclaimed as its new incarnation — were exploited. A crucial role was played by the thesis of the civilized Europeanness of Ukrainians and their foreignness to a wild, Asian Russia. In this context, the Third Reich's war with the Soviet Union was framed as a “civilization vs. barbarism” type of conflict. The purpose of this propaganda was to leverage the patriotism of the local population, induce them into collaboration, and provoke a Ukrainian-Russian confrontation. The ultimate goal of this information warfare can be seen as undermining the great-power ideology of Moscow.

Source: Korol, Vitaliy M.; Shut, Tetiana I. (2026). Anti-Soviet Propaganda in the Press of the Military Administration Zone during the German Occupation of Ukraine (1941–1943). Propaganda in the World and Local Conflicts. 13(1): 25-39.

Source web-site: https://pwlc.cherkasgu.press/journals_n/1784107012.pdf