WW2 Nazi and fascist Malta propaganda postcards

Abstract

In the Second World War (WW2) the Axis powers strove to conquer or subdue Malta by siege, starvation and intense bombardment, but then they also used Malta as a propaganda tool for internal consumption. Their publicity services promoted the publication of a number of morale-boosting postcards; both Germany and Italy being run as dictatorships, what the authorities allowed to be published had to conform to an agenda strictly at the service of a centralized authority. Publishers had greater freedom as to what to put on the market in the democratic Allied powers though, during wartime, censorship became quite as rigid in the Allied democracies as it was in the Nazi-Fascist totalitarian states. As postal services between belligerent countries are usually suspended for the duration of hostilities, these postcards were only meant to circulate inside the respective war zones or neutral states and could not reach enemy territory. The number of postcards featuring Malta published in Italy and Germany during WW2 never reached high levels, and I will here try to illustrate and review those I am aware of. Many are quite scarce, others extremely rare. [excerpt]