How propaganda flooded Switzerland during WWI

The gaping cultural divide between German-speaking Switzerland and the rest of the country during the First World War was exploited by internal and external propaganda on a level never seen before.  Greek dramatist Aeschylus noted that truth was the first casualty of war almost 2,500 years ago. Nevertheless, efforts to influence public opinion reached new dimensions in 1914, with little Switzerland, a neutral island among warring nations, turning into a media battlefield.  For example, in an effort to prevent the country from disintegrating, William Tell frequently appeared on posters, rising above the squabbling and symbolically evoking a sense of national unity.  “Maybe at first this interest in Switzerland can appear quite absurd,” admits Alexandre Elsig, co-curator of an exhibition “In the fire of propaganda: Switzerland and the First World War”, the first joint production between the Museum for Communication in Bern and the Swiss National Library.  “But we … Show more
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Culture
– SWI swissinfo.ch