Influence of Nazi Germany WWII Propaganda Films on the German Film Industry

First off, propaganda enticingly misled Germans into following whatever Adolf Hitler said. It promoted a political cause or point of view. It almost

All media was controlled by the Nazis. Newspapers, radio stations, films obeyed and said what the Nazis told them to. A number of rallies were put on to emphasise just how strong Nazi Germany was. Goebbels was in charge of this and was also very successful. He was able to persuade people into believing that Hitler and the Nazis were right. All Nazi view points on everything were always emphasized. Groups opposing the Nazis such as socialist, communists, liberals, democrats, Jews and other group were targeted by the Nazis. All books were censored, over 2500 authors banned and many books burnt on the streets. Propaganda manipulated Hitler’s image very carefully so that he would be portrayed as a kind, hardworking man with simple tasks.

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

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 used propaganda to turn people against Jews, blacks and about everyone else that was not German and he also use it to make people want to join Nazi army. Franklin Roosevelt or F.D.R also use the science of propaganda to turn people against Germany, Italy and Japan. Hitler had first become aware of propaganda and its uses before the First World War. During the war he saw the effect of British propaganda on the soldiers of the Central Powers. Later on after the war Hitler wrote a book called Mein Kampf (My Struggle), he devoted two whole chapters to the study and practice of propaganda. He once said “the psyche of the masses,” he wrote, “is not receptive to anything that is weak. They are like a woman, whose psychic state determined less by abstract reason than by an emotional longing for a strong force will complement her nature. Likewise, the masses love a commander, and despise a petitioner” (Hitler). After many speeches and papers he wrote on

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.

Propaganda through advertisements was very effective. Propaganda was shown in multiple films to make sure the ideas of Nazi's would stick in society's minds

In addition, the perceived communist threat compelled Hindenburg to pass the Reichstag Fire Decree, nullifying all civil liberties and providing the Nazi Party with the freedom to use violence against any minority or dissenter without repercussion. Political propaganda elevated the status of the party while slandering opponents, providing the Nazi Party with sufficient influence to initiate the Final Solution. However, Nazi propaganda also deceived other nations about the intensity of persecution and militarization in Germany, delaying attempts at foreign diplomacy and military responses. The Nazi Party tailored propaganda to influence foreign perspectives of Germany and directed many of attempts, including the Theresienstadt masquerade, to depict the tolerable nature of life in concentration camps (“Propaganda, Nazi”). Meanwhile, propaganda films such as Triumph des Willens portrayed the German army as a peaceful assembly of workers fighting against the poverty and unemployment of the depression. Foreign propaganda made other nations disregard Nazi violation of the Treaty of Versailles, allowing Hitler to surprise Europe with a series of unstoppable blitzkrieg attacks and distract other nations from his plans for the Final Solution. Propaganda offered the Nazi Party social, political, and military advantages that brought it the political influence, popular support, and time required to implement

The most propagandistic part of the film was when different men were giving speeches when Von Hindenburg died. They all had glittering and nice things to say about Germany and how the people and their loyalty were making all of it happen. It was giving Germany a sense of pride

The Germans were great at propaganda. Adolf Hitler said it would leave an impression on the brain (Hitler).

     The Nazis utilized propaganda to spread the Nazi ideology, philosophy, and mentality into the German population. The hope of the Nazis was the ideas and mentality expressed were going to be part of the Germans everyday regime, and their everyday lives. The thought of the evil Jews was to consume the Germans minds, bodies, and their souls. The thought of other enemies was not to be permitted; the Jews were the only enemy. They were to be the “enemy of the common people.”

Propaganda is a way of trying to “force a doctrine on the whole people” (Nazi Propaganda). That quote is written in the first piece of Hitler’s Nazi propaganda - his book Mein Kampf. As soon as he got out of jail, he helped the Nazis take power of Germany. Once they did, he created a Reich Ministry of Public Enlightenment and Propaganda. The goal of this organization was to spread the Nazi ideals through press, films, radio, music, books, theater and other arts, and school education. The propaganda that was being spread had many goals - those goals included promoting Hitler and the Nazi party, encouraging anti-Semitism, and eventually, encouraging support for World War II. Some examples of anti-Semitism include framing the Jews for communism in Russia, portraying Jews as a threat to Germany, and simply making Jews look bad. Many political cartoons and movies were

<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

After Hitler was appointed by Hindenburg to become the chancellor of Germany, his Nazi party soon became the majority controlling the government. Hitler would then create a Propaganda Ministry that was government-controlled to control the media which would secure his way of promoting Nazi propaganda. The ministry managed any works of art, newspapers, posters, radio broadcasts, and literature for children and many more ways of propagating the Nazi ideology and Hitler’s cult. Hitler made one of his devoted followers Joseph Goebbels as the Reich Minister of Propaganda due to his great skills of being an orator, deep hatred of Jews and support of antisemitism. Nazi propaganda was very successful from the start of the NSDAP party to the first half of the Second World War, but as the Allies became more aggressive and victorious, their propaganda started to lose

Nazi Germany, under the rule of Adolf Hitler, was harrowing, with fanatical Nazis repeatedly undertaking inhumane acts of violence. Despite the disturbing facts of the period, to this day many films are directly, or indirectly, based around the actions of Nazism. Specifically focusing on The Lion King, Cabaret, Sophie Scholl, Schindler’s List, and The Downfall, Nazism is heavily illustrated. These films focus on various parts of Hitler’s timeline, and the actions of the Nazi Party, with society continuously being intrigued with media based around these themes.