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 By Grace Davis
Lincoln College Preparatory Academy
Mr. Henderson
Nazi Anti-Jewish Propaganda
It is the night November 9th, 1938. Across Germany, fires consume synagogues, Jewishowned properties are ransacked and destroyed, and Jewish businesses are laid to waste. By the
time the sun rises on November 10th, ninety-one Jews have been killed, and roughly 30,000
deported to concentration camps (PBS). This violence was propagated not only by Nazi soldiers,
but by citizens of Germany. How were these ordinary people made to believe that Jews were
worthy of being treated this way? Nazi propaganda used and exploited pre-existing stereotypes
by taking control of the media to exclude certain groups, notably Jews, from society.
Propaganda is biased information designed to shape public opinion. The goal of Nazi
propaganda was to dehumanize and exclude certain groups, mainly Jews, from society
(“Defining the Enemy”). The first step to cultivating this hate towards Jews was to take control
of the media and eliminate freedom of the press. Journalists against Nazi ideals were driven from
their jobs, exiled, or arrested. Altogether, about two thousand journalists lost their jobs (Herf,
18). Then, on October 4, 1933, the government passed the Editorial Control Law, which placed
all newspapers under government control. This law banned Jewish people from holding any
position as a journalist, and effectively destroyed free press in Germany. It also ensured that Nazi
propaganda reached nearly everyone (“Defining the Enemy”). The organization in charge of this
takeover was the Ministry of Propaganda, which controlled much more than just newspapers.
There were departments for radio, film, books, theater, fine arts, music, pop culture, and the
domestic, foreign, and periodical press (Herf, 20). Everyone would come into contact with Nazi
propaganda at some point, probably quite often. Thanks to Word of the Week, anyone who
simply took a walk in the street would be exposed to Nazi ideals. Word of the Week was a wall
newspaper that was posted all over Germany in public places (Herf, 20). It featured colorful,
easy to read graphics that described current events in an antisemitic light. Often, Jewish people
were portrayed as a fat man in formal wear, holding a whip and a cane. This is called transfer, a
commonly used propaganda technique where certain qualities are associated with a person or
object. In this case, Word of the Week suggests that Jewish people rich, and have gained all their
wealth from the work of others, hence the whip. Many other common propaganda techniques
were used by the Third Reich. In Mein Kampf, Hitler wrote that to influence the masses, the
message must be intellectually simple, with a few key points repeated (2). It should focus on one
subjective view, and ignore all others. Finally, it should appeal to the emotions of the masses,
and present the message in terms of good and evil, with a big contrast and no gray area between
the two. All of these techniques are commonly used today. Focusing on one subjective view and
ignoring others is called card stacking, and is used by advertisers and politicians everywhere.
To fully examine the methods of Nazi propaganda, it is necessary to analyze individual
messages propagated by propaganda. Nazi propaganda claimed that the Jews controlled
Germany’s economy, currency, and railroads. This is blatant misinformation, and appeals to the
public’s pre-existing stereotypes and fear. It claimed that the Jews dominated professional life,
but German statistics from 1933 show otherwise (Herf, 36). Another claim made by the Nazi
regime was that the Jews were “against the German blood and race” (qtd. in Herf, 36). This
ignited feelings of nationalism, or pride for one’s country, which has contributed to the rise and
fall of many nations throughout history. In addition, this statement is an example of a glittering
generality, where the message appeals to general ideals, like love of country. The Nazis also used
Jews as a scapegoat. A pamphlet released in 1941 blames the Jews for World War One, and uses
this as a reason to discriminate against them (Bytwerk). Speeches were also a potent form of
propaganda. In a speech, Joseph Goebbels attacked New York mayor LaGardia by claiming that
he was Jewish and a “businessman of death” (qtd. in Herf, 40), because LaGardia denounced the
Nazi regime. In fact, LaGardia was Catholic, not Jewish, so in addition to being a personal
attack, Goebbels’s statement was completely false. Hitler often attempted to transfer negative
feelings for the Soviets to the Jews. In a speech, he claimed that most Bolsheviks, the dominant
political power in Soviet Russia, were Jews. In addition, he repeatedly claimed that 98% of
Soviet leaders were Jewish, which is not true, and is a misuse of statistics.
Countless Jewish people and families were affected by this propaganda. Among them is
Annette Hochfeld. When she was five, her mother took her downtown and would essentially put
blinders on her to prevent her from seeing the propaganda that depicted Jews as ugly, rich, and
evil (IWitness). Hochfeld recalls that people threw mud and feces at her house because she and
her family were Jewish.
Based on this research, I firmly believe that propaganda does deceive people, and that
Eric Hoffer’s statement was incorrect. The goal of Nazi propaganda was to exclude people,
mainly Jews, from society. To do this, it dehumanized Jews. The only reason that anyone would
believe the claims made by said propaganda was if they didn’t personally know any Jewish
people. This is actually quite likely. In 1933, there were approximately 505,000 Jews in
Germany, out of a total population of 67 million. Jews made up just 0.75% of the German
population ("Germany: Jewish Population in 1933."), so it’s very possible – even likely – that the
majority of non-Jewish Germans didn’t personally know any Jews. This alone doesn’t seem like
enough reason for the majority of Germany to go along with genocide. However, the lack of
contact with Jews and the constant propaganda would easily be enough to deceive the majority
of people. Hitler wrote in Mein Kampf that propaganda must appeal to the less educated masses,
the target of Nazi propaganda. The less educated masses can truly be deceived by propaganda
because they have little to no prior knowledge of the subject of the propaganda. An argument can
be made that the masses should have thought more critically and questioned whether what they
were seeing was really true. How would these people get answers for their questions? They
certainly wouldn’t get them from the newspapers. The Editorial Control Law put the press under
government control, and there were eighty four anti-Jewish lead stories in a single newspaper
between 1939 and 1945 (Herf, 183). In addition, the propaganda wasn’t just in newspapers. It
was on the radio, in films and museums, and plastered onto walls inside and outside, so that
everyone was exposed to it at all times, all of it with the goal of dehumanizing Jews and
glorifying the Nazi regime.
In conclusion, the Nazi regime used and exploited stereotypes to exclude Jews from
society. They used a variety of propaganda techniques that are still commonly used today, and
inserted themselves into every possible medium to convince the German people that Jews
deserved the atrocities committed against them. Based on this research, I have concluded that in
this case propaganda truly deceived people, rather than helping them to deceive themselves.
Since people can be deceived, it’s necessary to closely examine and analyze everything, so as not
to fall victim to propaganda.
Works Cited
Referenced from MCHE website
Bytwerk, Randall. "When You See This Symbol..." Calvin College, 2004. Web. 10 Mar. 2016.
"Defining the Enemy." United States Holocaust Memorial Museum. United States Holocaust
Memorial Council, n.d. Web. 25 Feb. 2016.
Hitler, Adolf. "Extracts From Mein Kampf By Hitler." Mein Kampf (1981): 22-26. Midwest
Center for Holocaust Education. Web. 23 Feb. 2016.
Outside Sources
Annette Hochfeld, Interview Code: 48350
Visual History Archive, USC Shoah Foundation.
Accessed online at IWitness on March 13, 2016.
Herf, Jeffery. The Jewish Enemy: Nazi Propaganda during World War II and the Holocaust.
Cambridge, MA: Belknap of Harvard UP, 2006. Print.
PBS. "Kristallnacht" PBS. PBS, n.d. Web. 28 Feb. 2016.
United States Holocaust Memorial Museum. "Germany: Jewish Population in 1933." United
States Holocaust Memorial Museum. United States Holocaust Memorial Council, 29 Jan.
2016. Web. 23 Feb. 2016.
<http://www.ushmm.org/wlc/en/article.php?ModuleId=10005276>.