Adolf Hitler's Use Of Propaganda Ideas During World War II

Propaganda in general is the idea of getting others to believe in one’s own beliefs. Propaganda is the “attempt to influence behavior…by affecting through the use of mass media of communications, the manner in which a mass audience perceives and ascribes meaning to the material world.”1 Propaganda was a major part of Germany’s way to brain wash people into following Hitler and his army. The theme of Hitler and Goebbels, (Paul Joseph Goebbels, was appointed Hitler’s Reichspropagandaleiter, the Nazis national director of propaganda), using propaganda, “was to merge the traditional German patriotism with Nazi ideological motifs”2, this was basically used from1919 to 1945.

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.

Hitler saw the people of Germany as impressionable and easily swayed. He used propaganda to

Edward Bernays, a pioneer in the fields of public relations and propaganda, wrote, “If we understand the mechanism and motives of the group mind, it is now possible to control and regiment the masses according to our will without them knowing it” (Bernays 71). In this way, the Nazi party used propaganda to convince

One way Hitler persuaded the German people was through propaganda. A specific example of how Hitler and the Nazis used propaganda to generate obedience was to create the ‘perfect race’. Hitler and the Nazis adopted the Darwinian evolutionary theory, expressing the statement of survival of the fittest. Hitler used pseudo-scientific (falsified) research to support claims that Germans were the master race that would lead mankind. Hitler said that one of the causes that Germany lost World War I was because the German race was weakened through Aryans marrying non-Aryans. In order to make Germany strong again, the Nazis had to ensure the absolute purity of the Aryan race (Pine). Through propaganda posters, Hitler encouraged this image by showing

This is achieved through propaganda and can be done in several ways, such as, Hitler and the Jews. In camps, the Jews participated in dehumanization in the acts of taking away their clothes, hair, names, and even going as far as possessing their thin bodies so they no longer looked human. Another example can be seen in almost every country country in the world when it comes to armies. In order to best inspire their soldiers to fight the enemy, high powers try to manipulate the faces of the enemy to evoke feelings of hatred using methods such as using stereotypes of their faces and only portraying one side of the story.

Adolf Hitler used betrayal and deception by putting people in concentration camps. People either disagreed with this or agreed with the idea of putting people in concentration camps. Hitler never became Chancellor of Germany immediately. The reason he became Chancellor of Germany was because of the President of Germany, Hindenburg appointed Von Papen as the Chancellor instead. In the election of 1932 the Nazi group became the largest single party in the Reichstag, the German Parliament. Von Papen was gradually losing power. So he made a deal with Hitler which made Hitler the Chancellor of Germany on the 30th of January 1933. Hitler wanted to destroy the German Republic (United States Historical Memorial Mueseum).

Hitler was very convincing his skill of speaking was what helped him control the way things worked, and kept the people interested in what he was saying. Hitler’s control of the masses kept others following simply because that was a crowd also there was many stereotypes about Jews which influenced the many deaths of the Jews. People were afraid to speak up of what they thought because of the criticism of the people who believed in Hitler and followed

    Hitler was also a master of using manipulation through a process of deception and propaganda to influence people. Manipulation is "tricking the other party into thinking or acting in the desired way." Often when the deceived have discovered that they have been manipulated, they will be completely turned

¨Make the lie big, make it simple, keep saying it, and eventually they will believe it.¨ (¨Adolf Hitler Quotes¨). These words, originally spoken by Adolf Hitler himself tell the world how he convinced a nation, in its entirety to elect him as president so he could carry out his master plan to take over Germany, and then the world. He also aspired to invent a ¨perfect race,¨ by murdering millions of unworthy lives. Adolf Hitler was sculpted into the man he was through a traumatizing childhood, he rose to power by overthrowing the German government, Hitler then proceeded to commit thousands of war crimes to society during World War II.

Nazi leader Adolf Hitler bewitched his audiences and promised them that his empire would reign for thousands of years in his persuasive speeches. Hitler was a charismatic speaker and his audience became enamored by his inordinate use of trigger words which helped him to maintain their support and attention. Hitler's words added tactics of persuasion by creating word association. For instance, when Hitler referred to Germany, he used words that conveyed strength and when he spoke about enemy nations or about Jews and Marxists, he used words that alluded to weakness. Not only was Adolf Hitler a good speaker, he was also very determined. Hitler was determined to create a generation of young Aryans who were totally obedient and would create a new Germany that would rule for thousands of years to come. He thought Germans should have enough ‘living space’ and that only people of German or Aryan blood should live in Germany. He believed that no non-Germans should have any say in Germany. In fact, Hitler believed that communism was a huge threat to Germany and a Jewish invention that should be destroyed. He also wanted to rid Germany of the mentally and physically disabled, because they were seen as imperfect and also a drain on the resources of the ‘master race.’ Lasty, a personality trait that Adolf Hitler possessed was that he was a visionary man. He had a vision of German

Adolf Hitler's main qualities as a leader were his self-certainty and charismatic personality. He knew how to appeal to people's instincts and made use of their fears and insecurities. He fought hard to make his ideas a reality. His means of convincing Germans of his ideas and his attempts to make them follow him down the path of destruction was with endless streams of propaganda. Hitler's early life in Vienna introduced him to the idea of propaganda to influence and persuade the masses towards his viewpoint. He fully recognised the fact that the overwhelming majority of the people wanted to be led and that they were ready and willing to submit if their leader could win their respect and confidence. Adolf Hitler also had the ability to reach out to the people; he was able to arouse sympathy, concern and patriotism in his followers by the way that he expressed himself. This enabled Hitler to make full use of terror and mobilize the fears of the

Hitler understood that the “receptivity of the great masses is very limited, their intelligence is small, but their power of forgetting is enormous. In consequence of these facts, all effective propaganda must be limited to a very few points and must harp on these in slogans until the last member of the public understands what you want him to understand by your slogan.”

Hitler, former dictator of Germany once said, "Make the lie big, make it simple, keep saying it and eventually they will believe it." With this concept, Hitler reveals his tactics to gain support throughout Germany. Post World War I, Germany was at rock bottom and desperate for a new leader to save them, so they crawled to Hitler with hopes of redemption. In order to have support behind his cruel dictatorship, Hitler enforced fear over his country and used his unique ideas to get people to follow him. If Hitler could tell the people what they wanted to hear, then he could make them subconsciously support him. The manipulative dictator gained popular support due to the failure of the German economy, through his censorship of thought, and also through the enforced fear he established over his followers.

As a result of Hitler’s beliefs, those under the NAZI regime in Germany, who did not fit the Aryan ideal, experienced many forms of injustice which had drastic effects on both the physical and mental state of the population, in addition to the social aspects of the country. During this time period, Hitler’s main beliefs were centered towards achieving racial ‘purity’ and the superiority of the Aryan race. In order to fulfil this goal Hitler spread his beliefs to his army and the public through the use of posters, the media, publicity