GPS June 2020

built. Every building had to look clean and tidy. Livestock production
and farming were intensified. A very extensive educational program was
started, comprising lectures and speeches as well as theater and music
performances. Sloboda developed into a cultural center where farmers of
the neighborhood met, fairs were held and films shown. There was also
an education center for Red Army soldiers who had deserted or had been
captured and were encouraged to collaborate with the Germans as native
propagandists. Cars with loudspeakers on the top – a favorite propaganda
instrument of the Germans – frequently visited the “Musterhof”
(paragon farm) of Sloboda. Leaflets and posters were distributed and
propaganda lectures held. Sloboda was meant to become a shining example
of successful farming under German protection. To strengthen the
effectiveness of the propaganda, a mobile exhibition lorry with trailer
was built that had 14 showcases displaying little models of Russian
houses after German restoration (Images 7a &7b) (The lorry is important
because the original painting that was copied for the design of the
10 roubles stamp was shown in one of the showcases (Images 8a & 8b).
Images 7a & 7b. (7a).
The exhibition lorry
with seven showcases
jutting out on
both sides of the car
and trailer. The lorry
is inscribed on top
in German “Hilf mit
am Aufbau deiner
Heimat!” (Contribute
to the construction
of your homeland!).
The propagandists
didn’t care that
almost nobody of
the local population
would understand
the German wording.
(7b). The
interior of the exhibition
lorry. Note
the Hitler poster
at the rear wall.
These posters
inscribed “ГИТЛЕР
ОСВОБОДИТЕЛЬ”
(Hitler the Liberator)
or “ГІТЛЕР
ВИЗВОЛИТЕЛЬ”
(Hitler the Rescuer) in Russian or Ukrainian were used in propaganda campaigns all
over the occupied territories.
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German Postal Specialist