Download Where did power lie in the Third Reich?

Nazi propaganda and
mass indoctrination
Where did power lie in
the Third Reich?
Despite the power of the Nazi police apparatus, it would be too simple to
suggest that the regime maintained itself in power simply by the use of terror
and repression. From the very start both Hitler and Goebbels recognised how
vital propaganda could be as a cog in the Nazi state.
As a result, considerable resources were directed towards the development of
the propaganda machine in order to achieve the following aims:
1.To glorify the regime
2.To spread the Nazi ideology and values (and by implication to censor the
unacceptable)
3.To win over the people and to integrate the nation’s diverse elements
Under the Nazis all means of public communication were brought under state
control. The Hitler myth was a powerful cult of personality that Goebbels
nurtured through propaganda
Key terms
• Culture
• Propaganda
• Indoctrination
• Censorship
• A policy or programme of censoring
• Development or improvement of the
mind by education or training
• Organised spreading of information to
promote the views of the government
or movement with the intention of
persuading people to think or behave
in a certain way
• The act of teaching a doctrine,
principle, or ideology, especially one
with a specific point of view
Why did Hitler and Goebbels prefer
to talk about ‘Nazi culture’ as
opposed to ‘Nazi propaganda’?
Think about the connotations
What is the Influence of
the media today?
Propaganda
• ‘organised spreading of
information to promote
the views of the
government or
movement with the
intention of persuading
people to think or
behave in a certain way.’
• Why was it so important
to Hitler and the Nazis?
March 1933
• 13th March 1933 – New
ministry for Public
Enlightenment and
Propaganda.
• Dr Joseph Goebbels in
charge – ‘master of
propaganda’. Since 1927
was party propaganda
chief, was well educated
and fiercely anti-Semitic.
• What were his aims?
• ‘It is the task of state propaganda to simplify
complicated ways of thinking that even the smallest
man in the street may understand.’
Summarise his aims in
4 bullet points
• ‘The finest kind of propaganda does not reveal itself,
the best propaganda is that which works invisibly.’
• ‘The Nazi gained 52% of the vote in the March 1933
election. This government will not be content with
52% behind it and with terrorising the remaining 48%,
but will see its most immediate task as winning over
that remaining 48%.’
• ‘The propagandist must understand how to speak not
only to the people in their totality, but also to
individual sections…to the worker, the peasant, the
middle class.’
The propaganda
machine – THE MEANS
• ‘The Reich Ministry
of Popular
Enlightenment is
responsible for the
entire area of
spiritually influencing
the nation…’
What does this diagram
suggest about how the Nazi
regime viewed propaganda?
Presentations!
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You are going to work in
groups of 2 or 3
Pick a topic out of the hat
5 minute presentation (use
clips, PPT slides, handouts)
One side of A4 lecture notes
for the class
Include:
What were the features of your
area of propaganda?
What was the purpose of this
type of propaganda?
How effective was it – merits
and deficiencies?
Presentations on 21/10
topics
You will be presenting on one of the following:
• Parades and public spectacles e.g. The Day of Potsdam,
meetings and rallies (Nuremburg), the Berlin Olympics
• Press – newspapers/posters/photographs/radio
• Popular culture – music, literature, theatre and film (The
Triumph of Will)
• Fine Arts – painting and sculpture, architecture
• Education and youth movements
• Social policies – include Nazi rituals such as the Heil
Hitler greeting and folk culture (Volksgemeinschaft)