This paper explores the proliferation of apocalyptic images in representations ofwar on the Eastern Front in World War I by examining two different kinds ofsources:
official German propaganda and unofficial testimonials of natives in
German-occupied territories. The point at which the images of these sources intersect is a shared and growing apocalyptic imagination in a time of „total war“, as radical new policies became „thinkable“ in the East, both to military occupiers and subject civilians.
German propaganda first highlighted East Prussia‘s devastation by Russian armies to lend credence to claims of a defensive war. Once in control of enemy territory in the Baltic region after 1915, German sources depicted Russian scorched earth policies in those lost areas, contrasting them with orderly German military administration.
Ordinary German soldiers‘ accounts and the creations of
military artists complemented these themes, exemplifying their ubiquity.
Popular sources from Lithuanian natives reveal another perspective. This paper examines
particular rumors which circulated among natives concerning Russian scorched earth policy and, afterwards, the plans of the German military government: expected devastation, population transfers, and brutalities against civilians, including murder.
While it is often difficult to make out what
basis in fact
these rumors may have, their apocalyptic language and premonitions of violence and displacement make them instructive sources, as yet little exploited by historians,
revealing the state of popular psychology among occupied populations.
This inquiry outlines the contrasting political uses of such apocalyptic imagery, during the war and in its aftermath, while also showing how war expanded the mental horizons of the possible to include frightful new policies in Eastern Europe.
You need to read the entire thing. The Underlines are mine.