Underground media in German-occupied Europe

Various kinds of clandestine media emerged under German occupation during World War II. By 1942, Nazi Germany occupied much of continental Europe. The widespread German occupation saw the fall of public media systems in France, Belgium, Poland, Norway, Czechoslovakia, Northern Greece, and the Netherlands. All press systems were put under the ultimate control of Joseph Goebbels, the German Minister of Propaganda.^[1]

Without control of the media, occupied populations began to create and publish their own uncensored newspapers, books and political pamphlets.^[2] The underground press played a "crucial role" in informing and motivating resistance across the continent and building solidarity.^[3] They also created an "intellectual battlefield" in which ideas like post-war reconstruction could be discussed.^[4] Underground forms of media allowed for information sharing among the oppressed, helping them build solidarity, strengthen morale and, in some cases, stage uprisings.