As an intern at the Royal Ontario Museum, one of my favourite jobs is researching objects to make information sheets. These information sheets function as “quick learning” guides for coordinators who are teaching classes to help them understand what an object is, its history, and why it’s important. As with all research, sometimes the most interesting, binge-worthy facts, are found falling down an enticing adjacent rabbit hole of information.
So far, the most interesting object I’ve researched is the World War 2 German gas mask. While it looks like a piece that came straight off the battlefield, it is actually an unused civilian gas mask. Despite civilians not having to use gas masks, the threat of nuclear war affected everyone, not only soldiers.
A picture I took of the Volk’s 40 gas mask in original packaging. Property of the ROM Learning Dept.
These masks, known as “Volksgasmaske” or “people’s gas mask”, were part of a larger Nazi propaganda operation to make affordable goods for the German people, known as the "people's products". Some of these goods included:
- Aircrafts (Volksflugzeug)
- Radios (Volksempfänger)
- Refrigerators (Volkskühlschrank)
The symbol of “volks” or “people” was integral to Hitler’s propaganda campaign headed by Joseph Goebbels. Hitler wanted to help the German people prosper by bolstering German made products made specifically for the German people. The idea of patriotism and being a “real German” was at the heart of Hitler’s propaganda which is why “volks” products became such an iconic symbol.
A propaganda poster which translates to “Everyone Acquires the VM [Volksgasmaske]”.
Henry Ford along with American consumer society inspired Hitler to create Volkswagen (König, 249). When American imports began to cease in 1937 due to the Allied blockade, German innovations such as the “people’s products” became increasingly popular; however, after the fall of the Nazi regime, many companies and products continued to survive by expanding globally or rebranding.
Volkswagen, arguably the most popular brand to emerge from Nazi innovations, is only one of many. When Coca-Cola products ceased in Germany, the German head of Coca-Cola Max Keith decided to create "Fanta" for the Third Reich.
A 2015 commercial for "Fanta" describing the original drink, quite different from the modern orange soda.
While Fanta and Volkswagen emerged from Nazi Germany, several companies benefited by promoting or demonizing the Nazis. One of the most famous examples is Walt Disney. With the company nearing bankruptcy in the late 1930s, the American government offered Disney a contract to make short propaganda films against the Nazis. These shorts, such as “Der Fuehrer’s Face”, depict the Nazis as brutish slave-drivers dually emphasizing American freedom and patriotism. Additionally, with the threat of nuclear war, the government used Disney's "Mickey Mouse" character in the creation of an American children's gas mask. 
Mickey Mouse Gas Mask at the 45th Infantry Museum in Oklahoma. © Alison Meier for Atlas Obscura.
While not all these intriguing facts and sources were able to make it into my information sheet, they highlight the immense impact the Third Reich had, specifically involving the American and German economy and their relations. The Volksgasmaske is merely one piece of propaganda in a network of companies, brands, and objects created by, and or rose to popularity, because of WW2.
Bibliography
Haswell, Julius. “How Fanta was Invented in Nazi Germany to Quench People's Thirst for Coke.” The Local DE. May 23, 2017. https://www.thelocal.de/20170523/fanta-how-the-nazi-era-drink-became-the....
König, Wolfgang. "Adolf Hitler vs. Henry Ford: The Volkswagen, the Role of America as a Model, and the Failure of a Nazi Consumer Society." German Studies Review 27, no. 2 (2004): 249-68.
Meier, Allison. “An Affordable Radio Brought Nazi Propaganda Home.” Jstor Daily. August 30, 2018. https://daily.jstor.org/an-affordable-radio-brought-nazi-propaganda-home...
Meier, Allison. “When Mickey Mouse Was Used to Get Children to Wear Gas Masks.” Atlas Obscura. June 20, 2013. https://www.atlasobscura.com/articles/object-of-intrigue-mickey-mouse-ga...