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Social 20: Use of Propaganda and Indoctrination in the Nazi Totalitarian State
The Nazi Party used propaganda to glorify the accomplishments of Hitler and his government.
The education system was used to indoctrinate youth with the values and principles of the party.
A national security apparatus sought out and eliminated dissent among the population.
Propaganda
 Propaganda was highly effective in controlling people’s participation in the political
process and in enhancing the power of the Nazi Party and Hitler.
 1933 the Ministry of Propaganda established headed by Josef Goebbels. The Ministry
was responsible for initiating and administering propaganda campaigns for the purpose of
mobilizing support.
 Besides creating a positive image of the Fuehrer, Goebbel’s ministry promoted popular
culture, sports and social welfare.
Indoctrination
 Schools were important instruments for creating citizens who supported the policies of
the Nazi Party and Hitler’s leadership.
 Mein Kampf was studied extensively in the classroom.
 School textbooks were rewritten and new courses were offered that promoted the
teaching of the party leadership.
 Courses in history, biology and German were revised to include Nazi ideas about race,
heredity and the past.
 Exercises in math, physics and chemistry used questions about military operations and
bombs.
 Teachers were required to be ideologically loyal.
 Students were taught the values of loyalty, sacrifice, vigilance and duty.
 In 1936, Hitler Youth (Hitlerjugend) became a state agency to bring together all of
Germany’s young people between the ages of 10 and 18.
 Programs were divided between outdoor pursuits, military training, and political
indoctrination.
Agents of Political Control
 National security included the Storm Troops (SA), the Protection Service (SS), and the
Gestapo (secret police). These organizations together employed thousands of people
operated a network of concentration camps.
 SA is the paramilitary wing of the Nazi Party. They became responsible for protecting the
party leadership, distributing party literature, recruiting new party members, participating
in rallies and demonstrations, and using violence in the streets against political enemies.
 A purge of the SA occurred on June 30, 1934, in what became known as the Night of the
Long Knives.
 SS, led by Heinrich Himmler, was responsible for protecting Hitler and other top party
leaders, and for gathering confidential information about suspect party members.
 Under Himmler, the SS expanded to become the main agent of political control. It was
responsible for national security and the country’s concentration camp system.
 Gestapo was established by Hermann Goering as an instrument of state terror.
 They were to arrest and imprison all opponents of the Nazi Party and perceived enemies
of the state. The first camp was opened at Dachau in 1933 to confine and reeducate
political prisoners, however, confinement and reeducation so gave way to forced labour.
 By the end of 1933, several new camps were established to incarcerate trade union
leaders, writers, uni profs, publishers, lawyers etc
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