Zoot Suiters And Jitterbugs

A neglected aspect of WW II would have to be the image that the Germans had of themselves, as well as the image that they wanted to project to the rest of the world. As the caption on the magazine cover at left makes clear, one role that the Germans cast themselves in was as the defender of European civilization against the Bolshevik hordes.

The Magazine Signal was a product of the propaganda arm of the German Army (Wehrmacht), and it was published from 1940 to 1945 in some 30 different languages. Signal was almost exclusively for distribution in other countries; it was never distributed in Germany proper. It was even available in the United States right up until December of 1941, at which point, for rather obvious reasons, it's circulation run came to an end.

I became aware of the existence of Signal when I came across a book titled Hitler's Wartime Picture Magazine Signal. An subsequent internet search provided me with a fuller understanding of exactly what Signal was, and more importantly, what it represented. Because with a circulation that reached a peak of 2,500,000, one has to assume that this magazine had a powerful impact on it's readers, particularly in the countries of German-Occupied Europe. A recurring theme in the pages of Signal was the vision of a New Order, one that obviously had some appeal, as evidenced by the fact that significant numbers of men from occupied countries fought alongside the Germans over the course of the war, particularly under the banner of the infamous SS.

So, while my research into Signal has provided me with an invaluable window into the image that Germany, or at least the German leaders, wished to project, I still am at a loss when it comes to explaining the other half of the query that I posed in my opening paragraph. The propaganda in the pages of Signal was not, as I already pointed out, for domestic consumption. Did the average German citizen of the Third Reich really view himself as an Aryan Superman with a divine mandate to rule the world? I tend to doubt it. We are then left with the question of what, exactly, gave the Germans strength enough to withstand a long war, one with ultimately catastrophic consequences for their nation.

I don't have an answer for that, at least not one that will neatly wrap up this post. And while I would like to explore this topic further, I find myself unable to expand any further on it at this point in time. The title that I selected for this post comes from an article I came across in the pages of Signal. The subtitle of the article informs the reader that "Two new American slang terms will be explained by Signal". The writer then introduces us to the "Zoot Suiter" who turns out to be a young man of Mexican descent who finds himself the target of roving mobs of sailors. The sailors are apparently angered by the outlandish attire sported by these Mexicans, and they proceed to beat and even strip them of the offending outfits. Signal offers this as an example of rampant American racism. The dance craze called the "Jitterbug" is presented as a kind of mass hysteria that climaxes into "indecency and degeneracy". I would link to the article, but can't find it online. It does however appear in the book about Signal.