National minorities

The position of minorities, no matter how protected by law and authority, is always fragile. The minority, trying to preserve its group face, dissatisfaction, generated by the inevitable sense of fragility of the situation, is not as great as the minority, which seeks to dissolve and merge with the majority. A minority that preserves its face inevitably remains one, and this protects each individual member of the minority, gives him a sense of belonging to something, protects him from dissatisfaction.
In the case of a minority seeking assimilation, one person is opposed to the surrounding prejudice and discrimination. In addition, such a person is oppressed by the feeling of guilt of an apostate - the feeling is sometimes bright, sometimes vague. An Orthodox Jew is less dissatisfied than an emancipated Jew. Ebony the South atmospheric segregation feels less unsatisfied than nigra in the North, where there is no segregation.
And again, within the minority striving for assimilation, the most successful and the most unfortunate members of it (in economics or cultural activities) are usually no longer satisfied than other members of this minority.
The loser feels lonely, but when a member of a minority wants to merge with the majority, his failure reinforces the feeling that he is a stranger to everything and everyone. The same applies to members of a minority at the opposite end of an economic or cultural scale. These minority members (68 :) have fame and wealth, but it is often difficult for them to get into inaccessible circles that represent the majority. This is poisoning their minds because they are strangers. Moreover, having proof of their own uniqueness, they no longer wish to assimilate, for assimilation for them becomes like recognition of their own inferiority.
Thus, it is necessary to think that the most fortunate and the most unfortunate members of the minority who are striving for assimilation are the most susceptible to the temptations of the mass movement. Among Americans of Italian descent, the greatest successes and greatest losers were the most ardent admirers of the Mussolini revolution. The same circles among Irish Americans ardently responded to the call of De Valera; the same is true of Jews for Zionism; the most successful and unlucky African American in America are the most "racially conscious".

The objects of deepening and exacerbation of national-religious contradictions are usually national and religious minorities living in the territory of a hostile state and their representatives serving in its armed forces.
A great experience of such psychological influence was obtained by the bodies of psychological warfare on the eve and during the Second World War. Thus, in 1939, a significant number of Belarusians, Ukrainians, Lithuanians, Jews and other national minorities lived in Poland (39% of the total population of the country). With regard to their authorities, they pursued a policy of forced polonization, discrimination in economic, cultural and religious terms. Therefore, most of them were predisposed to the perception of Soviet propaganda, which emphasized the need to ensure social justice for all citizens, regardless of nationality or religion.
In the course of the Soviet invasion of Poland in 1939, the main task of the special propaganda authorities was the decomposition of the Polish army on a national basis. Thanks to the correct choice of the object of psychological influence, the inhabitants of Poland from among the minorities met the Soviet troops with flowers, and the soldiers of the Polish army of the Ukrainian and Belarusian nationality went over to the side of the Red Army. After the flight of the Polish government to Romania, the Polish army was completely demoralized. In practice, it ceased to resist the Red Army.
Psychologically influencing the national formations of the enemy forces, it is necessary to choose the target object correctly.
In 1939, during the Soviet-Japanese conflict around the Khalkhin-Gol river, this was not done. The organs of Soviet special propaganda focused mainly on Japanese soldiers, distinguished by high fighting spirit and strong discipline. At the same time, the national formations of the Manchus and the Barguts, who had much lower combat and moral-political qualities, were left without sufficient attention.
Meanwhile, they participated in battles only under the threat of reprisals against their families, and in the rear of the location of their national formations were Japanese punitive detachments. This fact was out of sight of the organs of special propaganda. As a result, the overall effectiveness of the impact of these bodies on the Japanese army in this conflict was extremely low.
During the Great Patriotic War, this experience was taken into account, due attention was paid to the impact on the national formations of the enemy. The influence of Soviet propaganda as a whole depended on the "human factor". The higher the level of morale and group cohesion of the enemy’s military personnel, the less they perceived the psychological impact from the Soviet side. In this regard, the most difficult targets of influence among the allies of fascist Germany were the Finns and Hungarians.