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THE ROLE OF PROPAGANDA IN THE NAZI REGIME
Propaganda is the art of persuasion - persuading others that your 'side of the story' is correct.
Propaganda might take the form of persuading others that your military might is too great to be
challenged; that your political might within a nation is too great or popular to challenge etc. The story of
the Nazi rise to power in the Germany of the 1930s is often seen as a classic example of how to achieve
political ends through propaganda. The Nazis themselves were certainly convinced of its effectiveness,
and Adolf Hitler devoted two chapters in his book Mein Kampf ('My Struggle', 1925), to an analysis of
its use - “Propaganda attempts to force a doctrine on the whole people. Propaganda works on the general
public from the standpoint of an idea and makes them ripe for the victory of this idea”. He was
impressed by the power of Allied propaganda during WWI and believed that it had been a primary cause
of the collapse of morale and revolts in the German home front and Navy in 1918. He saw propaganda
as a vehicle of political salesmanship in a mass market, and argued that it was a way of conveying a
message to the bulk of the German people, not to intellectuals.
Propaganda for the masses had to be simple, and appeal to the emotions. To maintain its simplicity, it
had to put over just a few main points, which then had to be repeated many times. Once in power, after
1933, the Nazis took control of the means of communication by establishing the Reichministerium für
Volksaufklärung und Propaganda ('Ministry for Popular Enlightenment and Propaganda') - or RMVP,
under Dr Joseph Goebbels. Propaganda within Nazi Germany was taken to a new and frequently
perverse level. The Ministry’s aim was to ensure that the Nazi message, the ideals of National Socialism
- among them racism, anti-semitism and anti-Bolshevism, was successfully communicated through art,
music, theatre, films, books, radio, educational materials, and the press. All journalists, writers, and
artists were required to register with one of the Ministry's subordinate chambers for the press, fine arts,
music, theatre, film, literature, or radio.
As Minister of Enlightenment, Goebbels had two main tasks:
1. To ensure nobody in Germany could read or see anything that was hostile or damaging
to the Nazi Party.
2. To ensure that the views of the Nazis were put across in the most persuasive manner
possible.
To ensure success, Goebbels had to work with the SS, the Gestapo and Albert Speer. The former hunted
out those who might produce articles defamatory to the Nazis and Hitler, while Speer helped Goebbels
with public displays of propaganda. To be certain that everybody thought in the correct manner,
Goebbels set up the Reich Chamber of Commerce in 1933. This organisation dealt with literature, art,
music, radio, film, newspapers etc. To produce anything that was in these groups, you had to be a
member of the Reich Chamber. The Nazi Party decided if you had the right credentials to be a member.
Any person who was not admitted was not allowed to have any work published or performed.
Disobedience brought with it severe punishments. As a result of this policy, Nazi Germany introduced a
system of censorship. You could only read, see and hear what the Nazis wanted you to read, see and
hear. In this way, if you believed what you were told, the Nazi leaders logically assumed that opposition
to their rule would be very small and practiced only by those on the very extreme who would be easy to
catch.
Hitler would meet nearly every day with Goebbels to discuss the news and Goebbels would obtain
Hitler's thoughts on the subject; Goebbels would then meet with senior Ministry officials and pass down
the official Party line on world events. Broadcasters and journalists required prior approval before their
works were disseminated. In addition Adolf Hitler and some other powerful high-ranking Nazis like
Reinhard Heydrich had no moral qualms about spreading propaganda that they themselves knew to be
false, and indeed spreading deliberately false information was part of a doctrine known as the Big Lie.
By May 1933, the Nazi Party felt sufficiently strong to publicly demonstrate where their beliefs were
going when Goebbels organised the first of the infamous book burning episodes. Books that did not
match the Nazi ideal was burnt in public - loyal Nazis ransacked libraries to remove the 'offending'
books. "Where one burns books, one eventually burns people" commented the author Brecht.
The same approach was used in films. Films in particular played an important role in disseminating
racial anti-semitism, portraying Jews as "subhuman" creatures infiltrating Aryan society. Some films,
such as "The Triumph of the Will" by Leni Riefenstahl, glorified Hitler and the National Socialist
movement. Her "Festival of the Nations" and "Festival of Beauty," both depicting the 1936 Berlin
Olympic Games, fostered a sense of national pride in the successes of the Nazi regime. The Nazis
controlled film production. Films released to the public concentrated on certain issues : the Jews; the
greatness of Hitler; the way of life for a true Nazi especially children, and as World War Two
approached, how badly Germans who lived in countries in Eastern Europe were treated. What was seen
in the cinemas was controlled. "Hitlerjunge Quex" was made in 1933. This film told the story of a boy
brought up in a communist family in Germany who broke away from this background, joined the Hitler
Youth and was murdered by the Communists in Germany for doing so. "The Eternal Jew" was a film
that vilified the Jews - comparing the Jews in Europe to a hoard of rats, spreading disease etc. "Tarzan"
films were banned because the Nazis frowned on so little clothing being worn especially by women.
One film that celebrated the might of the German Navy was not screened as it showed a drunken
German sailor. However, the cinemas were not full of serious films with a political message. Goebbels
ordered that many comedies should be made to give Germany a 'lighter' look.
Newspapers in Germany, above all Der Stuermer (The Attacker), printed cartoons that used anti-semitic
caricatures to depict Jews. After the Germans sparked off World War II with the invasion of Poland in
September 1939, the Nazis employed propaganda to impress upon German citizens that the Jews were
subhuman and that German lands must be cleared of Jews. Later, as word of Nazi genocide spread to
Allied nations, the Nazis used propaganda for a very different reason: to cover up atrocities. The Nazis
forced concentration camp prisoners to send postcards home, stating that they were treated well and
living in good conditions.
In order that everybody could hear Hitler speak, Goebbels organised the sale of cheap radios. These
were called the "People's Receiver" and they cost only 76 marks. A smaller version cost just 35 marks.
Goebbels believed that if Hitler was to give speeches, the people should be able to him. Loud speakers
were put up in streets so that people could not avoid any speeches by the Fuhrer. Cafes and other such
properties were ordered to play in public speeches by Hitler. Goebbels and his skill at masterminding
propaganda is best remembered for his night time displays at Nuremberg. Here, he and Speer, organised
rallies that were designed to show to the world the might of the Nazi nation. In August of each year,
huge rallies were held at Nuremberg. Arenas to hold 400,000 people were built. In the famous night
time displays, 150 searchlights surrounded the main arena and were lit up vertically into the night sky.
Their light could be seen over 100 kilometres away in what a British politician, Sir Neville Henderson,
called a "cathedral of light".
Why was so much effort put into propaganda? At no time up to 1933, did the Nazi Party win a majority
of votes at elections. They may have been the largest political party in 1933, but they did not have a
majority of support among the people. Therefore, those who had supported the Nazis needed to be
informed on how correct their choice was with an emphasis on the strength of the party and the
leadership. Those who opposed the Nazi Party had to be convinced that it was pointless continuing with
their opposition. The fact that Goebbels had so much power is indicative of how important Hitler
thought it was to ensure that the people were won over or intimidated into accepting Nazi rule.
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Nazi propaganda before the start of World War II had several distinct audiences:
German audiences were continually reminded of the struggle of the Nazi Party and Germany against
foreign enemies and internal enemies, especially Jews.
Ethnic Germans in countries such as Czechoslovakia, Poland, the Soviet Union, and the Baltic states
were told that blood ties to Germany were stronger than their allegiance to their new countries.
Potential enemies, such as France and Britain, were told that Germany had no quarrel with the people of
the country, but that their governments were trying to start a war with Germany.
All audiences were reminded of the greatness of German cultural, scientific, and military achievements.
Until the conclusion of the Battle of Stalingrad, on 4th February 1943, German propaganda emphasised
the prowess of German arms and the supposed "humanity" German soldiers had shown to the peoples of
occupied territories (the existence of the Holocaust was virtually unknown at this point). In contrast,
British and Allied fliers were depicted as cowardly murderers, and Americans in particular as gangsters
in the style of Al Capone. At the same time, German propaganda sought to alienate Americans and
British from each other, and both these Western belligerents from the Soviets. After Stalingrad, the main
theme changed to Germany as the sole defender of what they called "Western European Culture" against
the "Bolshevist hordes". The introduction of the V-1 and V-2 "vengeance weapons" was emphasised to
convince Britons of the hopelessness of defeating Germany.
On June 23, 1944, the Nazis permitted the Red Cross to visit concentration camp Theresienstadt in order
to dispel rumours about the Final Solution to the Jewish question. In reality, Theresienstadt was a transit
camp for Jews en route to extermination camps, but in a sophisticated propaganda effort, fake shops and
cafés were erected to imply that the Jews lived in relative comfort. The guests enjoyed the performance
of a children's opera, Brundibar, written by inmate Hans Krása. The hoax was so successful for the
Nazis that they went on to make a propaganda film at Theresienstadt. Shooting of the film began on
February 26, 1944. Directed by Kurt Gerron, it was meant to show how well the Jews lived under the
"benevolent" protection of the Third Reich. After the shooting, most of the cast, and even the filmmaker
himself, were deported to the concentration camp of Auschwitz. Goebbels committed suicide shortly
after Hitler on April 30, 1945. In his stead, Hans Fritzsche, who had been head of the Radio Chamber,
was tried and acquitted by the Nuremberg war crimes tribunal. Regarding Leni Riefenstahl, Gary Morris
says: "a case can be made for Riefenstahl as an artist so obsessed with the need to create something
perfect and transcendent that she allowed herself to ignore, if not become complicit with, cataclysmic
historical forces".
"The essence of propaganda consists in winning people over to an idea so sincerely, so vitally, that in
the end they succumb to it utterly and can never escape from it. Propaganda is not an end in itself, but a
means to an end. If the means achieves the end then the means is good.... the new Ministry has no other
aim than to unite the nation behind the ideal of the national revolution" Goebbels.