Love, Protection, and Censorship

• Lauren B
• 0
• on Oct 03, 2022

During times of great turmoil, there’s an increased fervor to protect your loved ones which results in various forms of censorship. This leads to a forced attitude that portrays a false sense of security to the public. This concept, along with the forms of censorship, is shown to be universal even between warring countries like the United States and Germany during World War II. Nonetheless, censorship helped soldiers and concentration camp prisoners protect their families’ peace of mind. 

Throughout World War II in the US, censorship was prevalent in news and letters. Oftentimes people got information from radio broadcasts, newspapers, and newsreels. The government had control over what information was released to the public since all information had to pass through the Office of War Information. Additionally, a Code of Wartime Practices for the American Press was released in 1942 detailing how the news would function and what they could report on. Due to these restrictions, most reports of the war focused on the soldiers’ patriotism. Eventually, due to the government’s concern about public complacency, true information about the war began to circulate. (News & Censorship). This wasn’t dissimilar to how censorship worked in Germany. After the Nazi party rose to power they went through similar measures, though more extreme. They controlled what information was on newspapers, radio broadcasts, and newsreels. Only allowing information that furthered their agenda. (Nazi Propaganda & Censorship).

In letters soldiers sent home, they chose to omit details that would be gut-wrenching to their family. These details centered around how the soldiers were feeling, their experience fighting, and anything that was deemed too traumatic to mention. This was done entirely voluntarily by the soldiers since during this time letters were a lifeline to those fighting. Why waste space on the letter with information you know will hurt your loved ones when instead you could be reassuring them? In one letter written by Paul Fusselel in March 1942, a second lieutenant in charge of the second platoon of Company F (Paul Fussel Biography), wrote to his family after being injured, “I am now sewed up, no bones were broken, and I feel OK. They were really very slight wounds, and nothing at all to worry about.” (Letters & Diaries). But his wound wasn’t as simple as Paul made his family believe, as he spent three months recovering from a shrapnel hit. Ultimately, Paul complied with government censorship easily, choosing his family over himself even though they weren’t in any danger. It’s intriguing because growing up, it’s your parent’s job to protect you and suddenly this narrative has reversed. Hence, Paul hides the true extent of his injuries. He cares too much about his family for them to spend a moment in agony. 

The format of letters from concentration camp prisoners in Germany followed a similar pattern: always reassuring that you were okay and never speaking of your struggles. To disobey this rule meant danger not only to you but your family. Thus, prisoners also semi-voluntarily followed censorship rules. Though under a harsher threat than US soldiers. In one letter by Tadeusz Korczowski, who was incarcerated in Auschwitz due to illicit activities in late 1940, he reminded his wife, “Always hope for the best and don’t worry about me. Don’t worry about our future my dearest Halusia–everything will be fine soon.” (Tadeusz Korczowski Information & Letters). This stress from being in a concentration camp alone would be enough for anyone to be sent into a downward spiral. Not to mention even though the conditions were horrible and Tadeusz wasn’t being treated well he knew better than to risk his own situation and further cause his wife more stress. His letter was bare bones, he didn’t talk about himself, instead focusing on something that would give him comfort, hearing from her. Letters were his only form of communication with Halusia, and he didn’t want to waste them by telling her something that would break her heart. Instead, he chose to break his own, keeping his experiences to himself and protecting Halusia from greater fear. 

Interestingly, both soldiers and prisoners followed the same censorship rules in their letters out of the same desire to shield their families from further heartbreak. Though they were in contrasting situations they both complied with censorship, albeit prisoners were more forced than soldiers. Regardless of that, both groups also obeyed to reassure their families that one day they would be reunited. This hope can be true or false but the purpose behind it is the same; to protect and comfort your family. Deep down that was a core value of censorship, to protect people from information others thought was inappropriate for them to know. Yet love was the driving force behind it all. The invisible gear that kept everything in motion, without it censorship wouldn’t have been as effective. 

Though soldiers and prisoners had a strong adherence to censorship to protect their families, sometimes they would break this rule if they felt emotionally overloaded or hopeless. Quentin Aanenson, a pilot in the 366th Fighter Group, 391st Fighter Squadron (Quentin Aanenson Biography), was one of the soldiers who partially disregarded censorship in a letter written to his girlfriend Jacqueline Greer in December 1944, “I have purposely not told you much about my world over here, because I thought it might upset you. . . I live in a world of death.” (Letters & Diaries). Ultimately, Quentin didn’t send the letter, worried about Jacqueline’s reaction. Though his letter was uncensored he willingly censored himself by not sending it. He was at the end of his rope, begging to be understood by someone outside the army, and yet he found the strength to not frighten Jacqueline with his experiences. He didn’t want to make their separation and her existing fear harder by sharing the complete truth. He wanted to keep her life as untouched as possible by the war, not willing to let anything spread to her. In her letter to her brother and sister, Fanya Barbakow directly stated what would happen to her, “I am writing this letter before my death, but I don’t know the exact day that I and all my relatives will be killed … In the concentration camp, before we will all be shot to death.” (Fanya Barbakow Biography & Letter). Unlike Quentin, her letter was sent and ended up being Fanya’s last letter to her family. There’s a desperation in her letter that speaks of unadulterated fear. She yearns to hear her family’s words and see them again but knows she’ll never get this chance. This pushes her to tell them the truth about what’s going on. But in a way, she’s keeping her family’s best interest in mind. Who knows how quickly they would receive news of her death? Who knows how long they would sit anxiously awaiting any news of Fanya? She told her family her fate out of love for them, to protect their peace of mind. This way they knew what happened to her. Even believing that she would die soon, completely hopeless, her family was Fanya’s first concern. It’s only as a last resort when there is nothing left to hope that people somewhat disregard censorship. Even then it takes great strength for people to do it, still fearing for their loved ones reactions. Showing how, even when in extreme danger their family is never far from their mind

It can be argued whether this level of censorship and protection was needed but you need to consider the audience the protection was for and the intent of the country’s government. The US relied on censorship and deemed it necessary to lessen widespread panic and ensure that society would function normally. But it also meant that the government was deceiving the public, planting false ideas into peoples’ heads about the war. Soldiers’ censored letters contributed to this too, making the war seem less severe. Even Germany followed this ideal, using censorship to make people more compliant to their goals. Manipulating information about the war, making sure its citizens only knew what they were telling them. While censorship did ultimately protect soldiers’ loved ones while maintaining a general sense of peace, it stood as an information barrier that both governments used to control the public. 

While the two country’s actions may appear different, at their core they both hold a firm belief in using censorship to further their own ideals. Unintentionally bringing forth the extreme love people had for their loved ones and their ever-constant need to shield them from the horrors of war. While censorship did many things it gave soldiers and prisoners the ability to protect their families even when they weren’t there.