Estonia and Estonians in German Propaganda Posters, 1941-1944

This article examines the visual representation of National Socialist rule in Estonia through the depiction of Estonia and Estonians in propaganda posters during the German occupation, 1941-1944. How and to what extent did the posters strive to address the local mentalities, myths and stereotypes, and how did the National Socialist ideological hegemony relate to that? I claim that, while during the first phase of the war poster propaganda concentrated predominantly on German colonial self-assertion, by the end of the war the regime granted Estonians far-reaching visual ethnic self-expression. The posters began to appeal to particular local identity constructions and aspirations during the war, and accordingly appropriated familiar iconographic markers and the style from the independence era, especially from the republic's authoritarian years of 1934-1940.