Adolf Hitler's Use Of Propaganda During World War One

How did propaganda help Hitler rise to power? This is a question I found myself asking when I read about his power and manipulation over the Germans. I started to wonder how he got into power in the first place. One thing he did was convince the Germans that there were threats against them. Whether that be with the Jewish people or surrounding countries. He took the fear that he put into them and used it to get the people to trust him. That is in a way a form of propaganda, or what the point of propaganda is. He convinced people that Jews, communist

Propaganda is hard to define as most definitions do not cover the full meaning of the word. The Webster's Illustrated Encyclopedic Dictionary defines propaganda as " the systematic propagation or discrediting of a given doctrine or cause by circulation of polemical material, such as posters and leaflets" (1353). However, this definition does not cover the full scope of the of the word. Terence Qualter also feels the definition for propaganda needs to be more refined for its new usage. The definition that he gives is "the deliberate attempt...(to) form, control, or alter the attitudes of other groups...(with) the use of the instruments of communication" (27-28). He goes on to say that the propaganda must be aimed at the group in general because that is the basic nature of the word, in that the most effective propaganda is the propaganda which has a large audience. Qualter does mention, however, that there need be no difference in the propaganda to persuade one and the propaganda to persuade the many (28). Germany did this by controlling the flow of information into the country.

Propaganda is the use of techniques to easily sway or mislead individuals. It is campaigning and convincing people with what is trying to be advertised. The word propaganda came into use in 1914 during the end of WWl but the use of propaganda actually started a very long time ago, but the term propaganda wasn’t used, there was no name for it. Propaganda is a language of power by spreading false information, shaping society’s opinion, and being able to control people.

Propaganda is information of a biased or misleading nature, used to promote a political cause or point of view. Hitler was able to use propaganda successfully throughout his reign as leader to shine light on his views, the biggest one being anti-Semitism. The Nazi party spread their propaganda through art, music, theatre, films, books, radio, educational materials and the press. Hitler used propaganda as a way of persuading German people into prejudice. Propaganda was used

In the Nazis favor the use of propaganda was just another way of domination. A brilliant man named Joseph Goebbels influeneced the poropaganda game greatly and made Hitler look like a hero and used the fear of the people as stability. Joseph Goebbels was the mastermind behind all of the porpagnada. Because Joseph was the head of the Nazis propaganda his offical title was Minister of Propaganda and National Enlightenment. The holocaust

As Adolf Hitler began to gain power in Germany, propaganda was a key component of his political plan. Hitler believed that propaganda was the best way to unite the masses. He used propaganda in a different manner than Charles Foster Kane did in the film, but it had the same goal; to formulate the opinions of the people of Germany in his favor. Hitler believed that the best use of propaganda was through simple slogans that specifically targeted the emotions of the middle and lower classes. The main emotion that was targeted by Hitler and the Nazi party was terror. “Many Germans, seduced by Nazi propaganda, accepted terror as a legitimate weapon against subversives and racial defilers who threatened the new Germany” (Perry 445). As seen with the people of Germany during the 1930’s and 1940’s, propaganda can easily sway the beliefs of the people. While Hitler believed that propaganda was the key to uniting the masses, it was not through written sources that he believed the key lied to reach unity, it was through speeches. This is also seen in Citizen Kane.

For the United States, it had particularly started back in the revolutionary war when the United States was fighting for its freedom from Great Britain, however it can be traced from as far back as the early eighteenth century. Because of this, its presence has been widely known and used in the wars today. For example, towards the beginning of World War 1 the US army needed soldiers so not only did the United States government institute a draft to get soldiers to fight but also campaigned for the war by the use of propaganda. Propaganda in its true definition is information, especially of a biased or misleading nature, is used to promote or publicize a particular political cause or point of view. So basically, it is used to persuade people a certain way to conform to the point of view of the people giving out propaganda to the media, whatever that may be, newspapers, advertisements, or the internet. These forms of propaganda are effective due to the fact that consumers base most of the decisions off of what they see in the media. For example, during the holocaust in World War 2 Adolph Hitler used propaganda to install fear in the Germans, which eventually lead up to the mass murder of about six million Jewish people. We as a society now know that that was wrong and essentially psychotic however, this

70 Million. 3%. 6 Years. All these numbers have one thing in common, World War 2. It is horrendous to think that 70 million people’s lives can end in 6 years. Still, this number could be far more drastic had it not been for a number of things. Propaganda was one such thing. It was used to: implementing rations, swaying moods, or even in some cases controlling opinions. This was utilized by both the axis and allied powers throughout the war.

Propaganda today is not really used in today's society. However in the book “1984” written by George Orwell and in Nazi Germany, propaganda was used in every opportunity that was given. The propaganda used was to serve two simple purposes. One purpose is to brainwash the people into believing that whatever the government is doing is right and the second purpose is to get the people to hate a certain group of people or ideology. In “1984” and in Nazi Germany they used propaganda to the fullest extent. Propaganda can be used in multiple forms: posters, radio broadcasting, t.v. broadcasting and a bunch of other ways.

Namely, a strong Germany of national community, racial purity and the idea of a single leader with complete power rather than democracy. The re-education process via propaganda had a three-fold focus: the deification of Hitler, defining the enemy and justifying their treatment and rallying the masses. The deification of Hitler was one the earliest themes of the Nazi Party, which helped in depicting Hitler as an authoritarian leader. In many forms of propaganda, Hitler was portrayed as a messianic figure with the use of halo effect demonstrating power and authority. In depicting Hitler as an authoritative figure, he was able to gain respect and authority as a person that people looked up to. The second theme of propaganda employed was in the portrayal of the Jews. Often Jews in Nazi propaganda were portrayed as seedy, degenerate ugly masses who sided with the enemy. A Harvard University lecture defined Hitler's objective of propaganda in portraying the

Wild civilians cheering, an emotional fuhrer giving speech after speech, children with cheerful smiles and company after company of infantry walk past. There was constant celebration of triumph of National socialism. All these performances are from the 1935 film Triumph des Willens which was one of the most greatest pieces of propaganda created during the third Reich. This powerful film was just one piece of thousands of propaganda created by the Nazi Propaganda Ministry. There were various types of control and manipulation each one effective in it’s own way. The propaganda was also carried out by many people which effected the behaviour of the German Public. The way Hitler controlled and manipulated the German public was the core reason of Hitlers rise to power and was essential to gaining support from the German people.

Hitler used propaganda as a big part I his campaign and to say the masses to think what he wanted and to achieve the goals that he set out to achieve. Using propaganda and his political tactics on how to manipulate the masses by using tactics to show that the Nazi party has more strength through public showings. To begin with, one of his huge points on propaganda was to aim propaganda to the biggest group of people that he could and that meant to aim it at the less educated masses as stated here “To whom should propaganda be addressed? To the scientifically trained intelligentsia or to the less educated masses? It must be addressed always and exclusively to the masses” (344), With this idea, the masses can be easily persuaded as long as they see the proof that Hitler is saying the truth.

The propaganda of which Hitler used conveyed various points which convinced the audience into having the same opinion that Hitler wanted people to have. Josef Goebbels was a minister of propaganda for Hitler regarding the public information and he also controlled public media. Goebbels’ goal was to “Nazify” the art and culture of Germany and to convince the German citizens that Hitler was their last hope of being the leader to make Germany the greatest country possible, Nazi propaganda also persuaded the German masses to believe that the Jews were to blame for the country not being great. Goebbels orchestrated large political rallies to build support for the German Army, this convinced many people to fight for Germany throughout large battles between countries. The rallies and Hitler’s speeches were broadcast on radio, bought quite cheaply as they were produced by the state.

If you were to walk down the street and survey people on the difference between propaganda and persuasion, most people would probably ask themselves, “Is there really a difference between the two? Aren’t they synonymous?” This response wouldn’t be unheard of because the two terms are similar in nature at first glance. Both terms describe a tactic in which people try to manipulate their audience into choosing their side of an issue. However, upon closer inspection, it is clear that the definitions of propaganda and persuasion have slight differences that set the two apart from one another.

Nazi propaganda can be dated back to 1926 when Hitler wrote his book “Mein Kampf” (ushmm, 2015) Hitler wrote two chapters about war propaganda, which he always expressed how the power and destruction that propaganda could cause in the right hands, and the importance of mass communication through different mediums. "The first duty of the propagandist is to win over people who can subsequently be taken into the organization. And the first duty of the organization is to select and train men who will be capable of carrying on the propaganda” Hitler continues by saying “ The second duty of the organization is to disrupt the existing order of things and thus make room for the penetration of the new teaching which it represents, while the duty of the organizer must be to fight for the purpose of securing power, so that the doctrine may finally triumph." (James Murphy, 2011)