How Did Hitler's Use Of Propaganda

Many thought the statement was cryptic, portraying an artistic view of the German era at hand. Historians can ask whether the arts shaped German fascism, or whether fascism shaped the arts. Hitler and Propaganda Minister Joseph Goebbels both were film buffs who watched many movies every week. During the Third Reich era, more than 1,200 films were produced, most for entertainment and but many for propaganda. German film critic Anton Keas suggested that the Third Reich was a film, with Germany as the location, Hitler as the producer, Goebbels and his officers as directors and stars, war-production minister Albert Speer as set designer, and the rest of the population as extras.

The Film Academy made movies that appealed to the younger audience, as well. A movie about Hitler called “Hands Up” was about his childhood and teenage life, a movie meant to relate to the audience that was not yet old enough to participate in any sort of active military. Joseph Goebbels was the head of the film department and wrote the description for this movie: “This film created for the

Just like France, the United States, and Russia, Germany also began to make films, as a way to entertain the working class in an inexpensive way. By 1933 Adolf Hitler came to power, creating very harsh social condition that made several writers, actors, and directors flee Germany because they feared that if they stayed they would have gotten killed. Joseph Goebbels later came to run the UFA, as a government owned production company to make films that were shown to civilians and the military as propaganda on March 13 , 1933, and intended to censor German cinema to make the people believe that they were fascist. Numerous movies in that period of time tried to steer clear of talking about the Holocaust to distract people from what was really happening and to make Hitler seem almost godlike. One film in particular directed by Leni Riefenstahl called The Triumph of the Will became a well known example of propaganda in film history. Throughout the film, you really get to experience a sense of historical context that influenced thousands of people during the time of World War 2. Today, several people view The Triumph of the Will and have a difficult time distinguishing whether or not they can conclude if they view the film as propaganda or an actual piece of art.

Adolf Hitler was a brilliant man, in the sense that he could persuade the masses to conform to his ideologies so successfully. He was a master at the art of propaganda, which can be noted by reading his autobiography entitled ‘Mein Kampf’, specifically the section discussing propaganda and mass rallies. In this section, Hitler discusses how to produce good propaganda and explains why his version of propaganda is so effective. An example of Hitler’s propaganda would be his documentary film entitled ‘Triumph of the Will’, which thoroughly demonstrates the profound effectiveness of his propaganda, which still impresses people living in the modern day. The overall theme of the film is Germany’s return as one of the great powers of the world, with Hitler as the new leader who will bring glory back to Germany.

Since the end of World War 2 in 1945, Nazism has been used throughout films in order to showcase what life was like leading up to, during and momentarily after the second world war. The different perspectives and viewpoints provide the viewers with an idea as to how extreme propaganda, recruitment and control was in Nazi Germany and to what extent the Nazi’s went to in order to display their power and have jurisdiction over the citizens of Germany. In some cases, movies portray the rise of Hitler and Nazi Germany, such as The Lion King, Cabaret and Sophie Scholl, whereas others depict the collapse of Hitler and his Nazi’s, such as Schindler’s List and Downfall. While some movies show an obvious representation of Nazism through the plot line, others use symbolism to subtly express the idea of Nazism.

Joseph Goebbels was also in control of the film department.  Goebbels ordered Pro-Nazi films to be made.  Newsreels told what the Nazis wanted the people to believe and know.  The movie The Eternal Jew was a produced and promoted anti-Jewish film.

<br>For differing reasons, one fact was clear - cinema attendance figures were increasing - more people were seeing the Nazi influenced films. In 1933 the number of moviegoers was 250 million, in 1942 was 1,000 million. This was a lot to do with Goebbels addressing of the divide between propaganda and entertainment. This is a key factor to the success of cinema as a medium. Films such as Leni Riefenstahl's ‘ Triumph of the Will' and - though a beautiful showcase of Nazi might at the Nuremberg party rally - was in many respects, in presentation - too extreme. A documentary, but one so very

Leni Riefenstahl was offered the opportunity to film for the Third Reich in 1933. Out of both fear and intimidation to comply, Riefenstahl accepted this offer and in 1934 went on to film the Nuremburg Rally, known as ‘Triumph of the Will’. With a crew of roughly 170, combined with Riefenstahl’s exceptional skills, she achieved the Ministry of Propaganda’s ideal to portray Hitler in a God-like and heroic manner, with the first 10 minutes dedicated solely to him. The purpose of this film was exactly that, to subconsciously coerce the public into viewing and idolising Hitler as the one and only, ‘Fuhrer’. This further added to the primary perception of Riefenstahl as a propagandist due to the nature of the films and their intentions.

“Germany will be either be a world of power or will not be at all”Adolf Hitler. In 1933, Adolf Hitler became ruler of Germany. Hitler reconstructed Germany’s army, abolished all political parties and labor union, and created a police controlled by the SS. Hitler was also a leader of the Nazi party. The Nazi was first a small party, but became popular as it helped Germany prosper. Totalitarian ideas permitted Europe allies anti-Semitism to flourish, completing ideology to compete and heroes emerge. In addition, to make the Aryan race powerful, and consider it the superior race. Legislative acts that went against Jews were created between 1933 and 1939. Henceforth, Hitler and the Nazi party were focused on finding a solution to get

German cinema was greatly affected during the Nazi movement between 1933 and 1945. Once appointed Chancellor of Germany on January 30, 1933 Hitler wasted no time and almost immediately began working on his propaganda strategy. Typically “propaganda targets a mass audience and relies on mass media to persuade. Propaganda is aimed at large numbers of people and, as such, relies on mass communication to reach its audience” (Gass, 14). The Nazi party used film propaganda to brainwash the German people, distract them from the harsh reality of the Nazi party, and attempt to intimidate the enemy. Hitler knew propaganda entailed mass persuasion and he knew just how to get his message out there; film. It was through the use of

Compared to primary and secondary sources, films extend different understandings of issues within the war by providing visual insight on the war’s atmosphere. World War Two was the first conflict in which films were used as mass propaganda to boost support for the war. As a result of the obvious political tensions between Nazism and democracy, states used films to glorify their respective political ideologies in the eyes of their citizens in order to boost support for their efforts. Since propaganda was an integral tool of states during the war years, it is interesting to analyze and visualize the distinct ways each nation portrayed the enemy. The first film studied was The Lion has Wings directed by Alexander Corda in 1939.

During the rise of power of Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party 's in the 1930 's, Leni Riefenstahl became a household name as a film director, her claim to fame was putting a public face to Hitler. During this time period, it was very rare for the public to know what their leader looked like, and with this film it allowed many of the Germans to finally get to see who they elected into power. Hitler’s goal was the complete eradication of the Jewish peoples, in addition he wanted to spread his ideology and power across Europe. In order to achieve this goal, Hitler needed the support of all of the German citizens. Which lead to Hitler commissioning, Leni Riefenstahl to direct a film that would later be dubbed the

Often underestimated, the arts have time and time again proven that they are powerful. The arts in all and any of its forms has the power to move masses, it has the power to either end or start movements. Adolf Hitler knew the power the arts had, he knew that controlling art would allow him to control culture and in turn allow him to control people. The control of the arts was key to the success Nazi Germany had. It was Adolf Hitler’s belief that Germany’s destiny was to lead in terms of culture; Germany had to set the example of prime European culture. Some examples of art that Nazi Germany controlled were paintings, sculptures, literature, music, architecture, and film. Film was just one of the forums the Nazi regime used as a means to

Spielvogel will continue by adding these men, this generation needed something that would help them feel completed. Military would offer them comradeship and give life its meaning again (Spielvogel 8). With a generation of men in need of a military life and a country with a divested economy Germany was in desperate need of that voice that would tell them things would get better. There began the creation of the Nazi propaganda machine. The question becomes how well did Nazi’s create propaganda films for one to not know they were actually just that propaganda. Eric Rentschler states, “While ideological critic revile Nazi films, cineastes sabor their aesthetic delights. Take, for instance, the proprietor of the “Werkstattkino” in Munich, referred to by an interviewer as “Anatol” He openly admires Nazi productions, insisting that many of them deserve cult-film status” (Rentschler 10). Hitler himself defines propaganda in Mein Kampf “The art of propaganda consists precisely in being able to

British comedian Charlie Chaplin produced a comedic satire, The Great Dictator, which reflected Hitler’s endeavors. The film was released in 1941 and before its production, WWI ended and the Germans sought out a scapegoat for their devastated economy. Due to this, Hitler rose to power by assigning blame to the Jewish community. The Germans then committed awful acts on the Jewish population, contributing to WWII. Through this all, Charlie Chaplin saw a reason to make a movie: waging war against Hitler on the big screen. His film targeted anti-nazi audiences, leaving those who watched to laugh at the Germans.