Enemy Leaders

Demonizing an enemy is easier if the enemy can be personified by one individual, typically the leader of the opposing force. The portrayal of a leader as demonic often leads to the people or country associated with the leader being perceived as equally demonic.

This Russian poster, “The Enemy of Humankind,” depicts Kaiser Wilhelm II, the last German Emperor and King of Prussia, who was largely blamed for World War I, as a devil with cloven hooves holding human skulls.