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Building Domestic Support for West Germany’s Integration into NATO, 1953–1955
- Journal of Cold War Studies
- The MIT Press
- Volume 22, Number 2, Spring 2020
- pp. 133-162
- Article
- Additional Information
Abstract:
Konrad Adenauer’s government in the Federal Republic of Germany (FRG) engaged in a large-scale media campaign to create political consent for the FRG’s integration into the West, a policy that rested to a large extent on rear-mament and entry into the North Atlantic Treaty Organization. To counter public criticism of rearmament, the West German authorities used Mobil-werbung, a company that maintained a fleet of mobile film screening vans. Clandestinely financed by the government, Mobilwerbung brought government-commissioned films and political speakers into the FRG’s remotest areas. Based on archival records on deployments in Lower Saxony and North Rhine-Westphalia, this article traces Mobilwerbung’s role as a government unit that reacted dynamically to competing events. Through highly detailed reporting on audience reactions, Mobilwerbung served both as a public relations vehicle to foster consent and as an analytical tool that allowed the mapping of public sentiment regarding rearmament.