Propaganda weapons or souvenirs? Tourism publications for German servicemen in Europe, Africa and North America during World War II

Historians have long highlighted how Nazi Germany weaponised wartime tourism in occupied France for ideological purposes. Scholars often focus on the bimonthly German guide to the French capital Wohin in Paris: Der deutsche Wegleiter (1940-1944). This article broadens the scope by introducing a range of other tourism publications for German servicemen in France, North Africa, and the United States, including the Kleiner Führer durch Amerika produced as part of the U.S. re-education programme for German prisoners. The article argues that this peculiar genre of tourism literature was influenced by pre-war publications and therefore often inefficient in conveying ideological content in times of war. Instead, German servicemen valued these publications mainly as souvenirs and mementos of their long military journeys during and after the Second World War.