SECRET .
Policy Committee .
Thursday, January 23rd, 1941 .
[H/20]

IT’S THE SAME OLD HUN

At a recent meeting of the Home Planning Committee the discussion turned on our attitude to the German people. This matter had come up before the Committee as a result of certain projected pamphlets, feature articles and Speakers’ Notes, which the Committee had been asked to approve. Some of these had taken the line that the Germans had always been barbarians, that we were fighting the same old Huns we fought in the last war, etc. The Committee felt that this attitude, whether or not it is justified by history, is disastrous from the point of view of propaganda. They realised that the effect of such propaganda overseas was in no way their concern, but they asked me to raise the question in its bearing on Home propaganda at the Policy Committee.

The thesis that the German people are incurable and have always been so, and that this war is like the last, cannot be propounded in order to make a favourable impression in Germany. If, therefore, those who express it have any clear purpose in mind, they presumably believe that it will have a heartening effect at home. The Planning Committee believe that this is not the case for several reasons: first, if the Germans really are incorrigible, what can be the outcome of the war? Are we hoping to exterminate 80 million people or to keep them in continual subjection? This question is often in the mind of the average thoughtful man, and creates a feeling of hopelessness. Secondly, the comparison of this war to the last must have a depressing and disillusioning effect on any one old enough to remember the postwar period. It would seem in our interests to stress the very great difference between the Germany of 1914-18 and to-day, by pointing out how in the last war all the best elements of German culture and science were still in Germany and were supporting the German cause, whereas now they are outside Germany and are supporting us.

A directive on this subject would be welcomed by those responsible for Home Publicity.

K.C.

22nd January, 1941.