Center for European Studies

European Studies Because… Speaker Series – Drawing on the Past: Superheroes, Comics, & Propaganda

Michael Scholz, Uppsala University

click here to register

Presenting spy comics from East Germany, the talk shows how the communist regime used comics as means of propaganda. From funny adventures in the 1950s the spy stories developed to serious and realistic adventure strips after the Berlin Wall was erected in 1961. From now on the stories mirrored the intelligence issues of The Ministry for State Security, better known as the Stasi, and were purporting to reveal true spy cases.  Not only the West German intelligence service was the enemy here, but even the CIA, accused of subversive activities against independence movements all over the world. In contrast, the East German security police and counterintelligence Stasi, was portrayed as having noble goals, helping people, and saving lives. By exploring propaganda techniques in comics, the article provides a wider understanding and awareness of the hidden and open ideological messages that reached and influenced young East Germans during the cold war.