This article explores the quest for legitimacy and popular consent during the British occupation of north-western Germany between 1945 and 1949. It does so through an analysis of two major propaganda campaigns that sought to publicly legitimise the British occupation at home and in Germany: ‘Germany under Control’, a large-scale exhibition put on display in London in 1946; and ‘Operation Stress’, the largest propaganda campaign in the British Zone, run in 1948 to legitimise food policies. Through an investigation of the internal rationale amongst British policymakers, the objectives behind the campaigns, the popular reception, and the broader outcomes, the article shows that both campaigns ended in failure and did not succeed in convincing the population of the need to maintain British rule in Germany. Propaganda was an ineffective tool to generate popular legitimacy at a time of austerity at home and severe material suffering in the British zone of occupation. As such, the British authorities encountered populations whose ‘moral economy’ and expectations from government were fundamentally opposed to the maintenance of the occupation. Both campaigns, therefore, epitomise the pitfalls of propaganda campaigns when facing bitter social realities and demonstrate the intricacies of the quest for legitimacy during military occupations.

中文翻译：

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占领合法化：1945-1949 年英国占领德国期间寻求民众同意


本文探讨了 1945 年至 1949 年间英国占领德国西北部期间对合法性和民众同意的追求。本文通过分析旨在公开使英国在国内和德国的占领合法化的两次主要宣传活动来实现这一目标： 1946年在伦敦举办的大型展览《控制下的德国》； “压力行动”是 1948 年英属占领区最大的宣传活动，旨在使粮食政策合法化。通过对英国政策制定者的内部理由、运动背后的目标、民众的接受程度以及更广泛的结果的调查，文章表明，两次运动都以失败告终，并没有成功说服民众有必要维持英国的统治在德国。在国内紧缩和英国占领区物质遭受严重苦难的时期，宣传是一种无效的工具，无法产生民众的合法性。因此，英国当局遇到了“道德经济”和政府期望从根本上反对维持占领的民众。因此，这两次运动都集中体现了面对严酷的社会现实时宣传运动的陷阱，并展示了军事占领期间寻求合法性的复杂性。