Propaganda in Nazi Germany

• 1. Ideological Foundations And Mein Kampf

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  Adolf Hitler wrote two chapters in his 1925 book Mein Kampf dedicated to the study and practice of propaganda. Chapter VI, titled War Propaganda, and Chapter XI, titled Propaganda and Organization, laid out a blueprint for future Nazi efforts. Hitler claimed he learned the value of propaganda as an infantryman during World War I while exposed to effective British campaigns and ineffective German ones. He argued that Germany lost the war largely because of British propaganda efforts, a claim that became official truth within Nazi Germany despite historical inaccuracies. The text states that propaganda must address itself to the broad masses of people rather than diplomats or professors. It must fix its intellectual level so it is not above the heads of the least intellectual among those targeted. The art of propaganda consists precisely in being able to awaken the imagination of the public through an appeal to their feelings. Hitler described the broad masses as a vacillating crowd of human children constantly wavering between one idea and another. He asserted that the great majority of a nation is so feminine in character that thought and conduct are ruled by sentiment rather than sober reasoning. This sentiment is simple and consistent with only negative and positive notions of love and hatred. Effective propaganda must be confined to a few bare essentials expressed as far as possible in stereotyped formulas. These slogans should be persistently repeated until every individual grasps the idea put forward. Every change made in a propagandist message must always emphasize the same conclusion.

• 2. Media Consolidation Under Goebbels

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  On the 13th of March 1933, a Ministry of Propaganda was established with Joseph Goebbels serving as its Minister. His goals were to establish enemies in the public mind including external enemies who had imposed the Treaty of Versailles on Germany. Internal enemies such as Jews, Romani, homosexuals, Bolsheviks, and cultural trends like degenerate art also faced vilification. Before Hitler came to power, he rarely used radio to connect with the public when non-party newspapers were allowed to publish his speeches. This changed soon after he took control in 1933. Hitler's speeches became widely broadcast all over Germany especially on the radio itself introduced by the Ministry of Propaganda. They were shown in weekly newsreels and reprinted in large editions in books and pamphlets across Germany. Restaurants and pubs were expected to have their radios on whenever he delivered one. In some cities public speakers were used so passersby could hear them. The Nazis sold cheap radios called People's Receivers for 76 marks while cheaper versions went for 35 marks. By the start of the Second World War over 70% of German households owned one of these radios deliberately limited in range to prevent citizens from considering other viewpoints. Radio broadcasts were played over loudspeakers in public places and workplaces. Goebbels approved a scheme where millions of cheap radio sets were subsidized by the government. He proclaimed that it would not have been possible for them to take power or use it without the radio reaching the entire nation regardless of class standing or religion.

• 3. Visual Culture And Artistic Control

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  Sculpture was used as an expression of Nazi racial theories with the most common image being the nude male expressing the ideal of the Aryan race. Nudes were required to be physically perfect according to Nazi standards. At the Paris Exposition of 1937 Josef Thorak's Comradeship stood outside the German pavilion depicting two enormous nude males clasping hands and standing defiantly side by side. Landscape painting featured heavily in the Greater German Art exhibition reflecting themes of blood and soil. Peasants were popular images showing a simple life in harmony with nature frequently with large families. Poster art became a mainstay of the Nazi propaganda effort aimed both at Germany itself and occupied territories. Imagery frequently drew on heroic realism with Nazi youth and the SS depicted monumentally using lighting posed to produce grandeur. Parole der Woche wall newspapers were published by the Reich Ministry of Public Enlightenment and Propaganda starting from the 16th of March 1936. Every week an estimated 125,000 posters were administered to the public from 1936 to 1943. The posters were placed in train cars buses platforms ticket windows anywhere there was dense traffic flow. Very few individuals owned a car so most biked walked or used public transportation daily. Exposure to Word of the Week posters was high in German cities as messages stared out at the mass public for a week at a time in tens of thousands of places pedestrians passed. Hitler personally appointed artist Hans Schweitzer known as Mjölnir with the task of translating Nazi ideology into images for the wall newspaper.

• 4. Radio Warfare And Psychological Operations

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  One of the main targets for external broadcasts was the United Kingdom where William Joyce broadcast regularly gaining the nickname Lord Haw-Haw. Joyce first appeared on German radio on the 6th of September 1939 reading news in English but soon became noted for his often mischievous propaganda broadcasts. He was executed for treason in 1946. Other broadcasters included Norman Baillie-Stewart Jersey-born teacher Pearl Vardon British Union of Fascists members Leonard Banning and Susan Hilton Barry Payne Jones of The Link and Alexander Fraser Grant whose show targeted Scotland specifically. Broadcasts were also made to the United States notably by Robert Henry Best and Axis Sally Mildred Gillars. Best attacked the influence of Jews in the U.S. and the leadership of Franklin D. Roosevelt who succeeded Winston Churchill in Nazi propaganda as World-Enemy Number One. Best was later sentenced to life imprisonment and died in prison in 1952. Gillars mostly broadcast similar themes peppering her speech with allegations of infidelity against wives of servicemen. Her most notorious broadcast was the Vision of Invasion radio play broadcast immediately prior to D-Day from the perspective of an American mother dreaming that her soldier son died violently in Normandy. France received broadcasts from Radio-Stuttgart where Paul Ferdonnet an antisemitic journalist was the main voice during the Phoney War. Following occupation Radio Paris and Radio-Vichy became main organs of propaganda with leading far-right figures such as Jacques Doriot Philippe Henriot and Jean Hérold-Paquis regularly speaking in support of Nazis.

• 5. The Holocaust And Deceptive Narratives

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  On the 23rd of June 1944 the Nazis permitted the Red Cross to visit the concentration camp Theresienstadt to dispel rumors about the Final Solution intended to kill all Jews. In reality Theresienstadt was a transit camp for Jews en route to extermination camps. A sophisticated propaganda effort involved fake shops and cafés erected to imply that Jews lived in relative comfort. Guests enjoyed the performance of a children's opera Brundibár written by inmate Hans Krása. The hoax proved so successful for the Nazis that they went on to make a propaganda film titled Theresienstadt. Shooting of the film began on the 26th of February 1944 directed by Kurt Gerron meant to show how well Jews lived under benevolent protection of Nazi Germany. After shooting most of the cast and even the filmmaker himself were deported to Auschwitz where they were murdered. Antisemitic wartime propaganda served multiple purposes hoping people in Allied countries would be persuaded that Jews should be blamed for the war. Nazis also wished to ensure German people were aware of extreme measures being carried out against Jews on their behalf to incriminate them and guarantee continued loyalty through fear. From 1941 to 1943 about twenty-five percent of Word of the Week posters included an attack on Jews depicting them as enemies because of supposed economic war capitalism and connection to Bolshevik revolution in Russia.

• 6. Historiography And Post-War Analysis

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  Nazi propaganda is a relatively recent topic of close study with historians of all persuasions agreeing about its remarkable effectiveness. Their assessment of significance whether it shaped or merely directed public opinion depends on approach to wider questions raised by studying Nazi Germany such as whether state was fully totalitarian dictatorship as argued by Hannah Arendt or depended on societal consensus. In addition to media archives important primary sources include reports on civilian morale and public opinion compiled from 1939 by Sicherheitsdienst and later RMVP. Another source are Deutschland-Berichte reports gathered by underground agents of Sopade dealing particularly with German popular opinion. After Germany's surrender on the 7th of May 1945 Allied governments banned all forms of Nazi propaganda and organizations which produced materials during years of denazification. Hans Fritzsche head of Radio Chamber was tried and acquitted by Nuremberg war crimes tribunal. Research finds Nazis use of radio propaganda helped consolidate power and enroll more party members while factors increased obedience of German soldiers regarding following orders given about Jews. Omer Bartov professor on subjects like German studies mentioned how German soldiers were told information influencing actions toward Jews claiming they wanted peace calm order to land. German leaders made soldiers believe Jews were threat to society thus soldiers followed orders participating in demonization and mass murders.