Lying : The Truth About Nazi Propaganda

"Propaganda attempts to force a doctrine on the whole people... Propaganda works on the general public from the standpoint of an idea and makes them ripe for the victory of this idea." These words of Adolf Hitler are taken from his book Mien Kampf (My Struggle) published in 1926. Propaganda was an elaborate and essential tool used extensively by Hitler and the Nazi's during their terrorizing reign of Germany and throughout Europe. Not only was it used to promote and endorse the party and its leader's extreme anti-Semitic values, but also to mask the horrifying truths of what was to become known as the Holocaust.

There is no doubt that the Nazis committed unspeakable acts of horror during the Holocaust. Millions of Jews were murdered by people enthralled by the propaganda of Hitler and the Nazi Party. The main question however is how ordinary people were convinced to take part in horrible acts. Many explanations exist to answer this question. Author William Golding suggested that all humans have the capability to be Nazis. One can certainly believe this statement after acknowledging the horrific acts of the common German during the Holocaust. I agree that every human has the capability to commit unspeakable acts of horror under the right conditions.

During World War II propaganda posters where used to influence many peoples value, beliefs and behavior. The use of propaganda had a huge impact on the allied and axis power during this time. Both enemy’s used posters to get support from there government and families back home. Creating these posters encouraged people to save their materials so that most of the weapons could be used during the war. Propaganda it was a smart way to get people to degrade the enemy. Furthermore it was a great financial investment for America and its allies during the war. The poster I will address are what I found to be the most interesting and significant during this time.

Hitler believed that propaganda from the allies was the main reason that the Germans lost during World War I and felt that this form of warfare needed to be a primary tool in modern warfare. He spoke of this belief in his book Mein Kampf well before the start of the second World War. Hitler felt that the public needed to be inundated with the ideology of the state at all times and through all mediums (Jowett and O'Donnell 2). "To do this," he said "everything from child's story-book to the last newspaper, every theater, every cinema and every advertisement must be brought into the service of this single mission" (qt. in Qualter ix). This onslaught of propaganda led to the Holocaust by leaving no other option open to the German people

Nazi propaganda played an important role in the Holocaust, the extermination of millions based on race, religion, and ethnicity. It successfully secured the acquiescence of the general public to the crimes committed by the Nazis. The Nazi Party used their control of the media to fuel anti-Semitic belief and to persuade Germans to support the Nazi cause throughout the Holocaust and World War II.

You might think war is fought with men and weapons, but one of the most dangerous weapons a country can use is also an unexpected one. Propaganda was one of the most dangerous weapons that was used in World War 2 by both the Nazis and the Allies. War is fought with men and weapons but, how do you get those men to join your cause. This is where propaganda comes in, but let’s start at the beginning.

Some ways the holocaust was implemented was the use of propaganda, the relocation of people to Ghettos, the creation of laws to strip people of their rights, and the use of technology to increase the efficiency of the machinery of genocide. I think one of the most effect sytstem was using propaganda because a picture is worth a thousand words. Seeing how the Nazis used propaganda and how that system was very effective and terrible.

Propaganda and media have always been very important in convincing the public to agree with their government. Leaders have usually used propaganda and media in common everyday matters, not just politics. In today's age it is easier to find out if information is true or not because of all the technology (which also leaves more room for more false reports.) Today we have Facebook, Instagram, Snapchat; the media list available to the public is almost infinite. It has not always been like that though; people have not always had smart phones and the internet to get information about what is happening in their country. Back in the 1940's while World War 2 was raging, people had newspapers, radios, and faith. Naturally

Throughout the Holocaust, there were many types of propaganda that influenced the people of Germany. Hitler wanted to find a way to get everyone on the same page and by manipulating them to believe what he did was his ultimate goal. Not only does propaganda devalue groups of certain individuals, it affects society by exerting a power that shows people that it's okay to abandon members of their old society (Imbleau). The propaganda that took place in the Holocaust was a nasty type. It singled out a certain type of person and made everyone see a different, usually bad, side to them.

“All propaganda has to be popular and has to accommodate itself to the comprehension of the least intelligent of those whom it seeks to reach,” Adolf Hitler (The National World War Museum). The German Nazi dictator utilized his power over the people using propaganda, eventually creating a sense of hatred towards Jews. After World War 1, the punishments of the League of Nations caused Germany to suffer. The Nazi party came to blame the Jews in order to have a nation-wide “scapegoat”. This hatred and prejudice towards Jews is known as anti-semitism. According to the Breman Museum, “the Nazi Party was one of the first political movements to take full advantage of mass communications technologies: radio, recorded sound, film, and the printed

Propaganda was used to be prejudice against Jews;it was something that made them feel bad about themselves and their decisions. Jews were being treated with hostility because of the religion they were.

Were they just ignorant,blindly following orders, afraid to speak out against the Nazis??? Many theories have been tossed around that maypartially be true, but none of them fully explain the German’sfailure to try and stop the genocide.Thetruth of the matter is more like a perfect storm. When one examines thetheanti-Semitism that prevailedat this time in this part of the world,along with the religious leaders of the timewho failed to act, and the rise ofa political party with itspropagandaefforts to manipulate the people, it becomes clearer how ordinary Germans failed to stop the genocide.

In the country of Germany, between the elections of September 1930 and then July 1932, the Nazi party began to take control and, subsequently, a larger percentage of the votes of the German people. Looking back on those events, modern day observers have to wonder why the people would allow themselves to be taken in by a group which is now equated with the worst kinds of inhumanity. However, that vantage point ignores much of the reasoning for why the people of Germany became so absorbed in the Nazi party and why they in turn gave that party the ability to rule their lives. In less than two years time, the Nazi party was able to improve their popularity from receiving 18% of the popular vote to the 1932 election where they received more than a third of the popular vote. It can be stated without hesitation that propaganda and the subsequent manipulation of the popular opinion changed the course of German and indeed world history.

I woke up this morning with a bright smile on my face, and the sky was as blue as the river across the valley. Mother told me yesterday the the nazis were in a bad mood and if anyone knocked on the door to not answer it, but i like the nazis they always call my friends funny names and i call them funny names back, its our game we like to play i suppose. I went to the kitchen to make some breakfast. I got a cup of milk and a sliver of bread, but i was still hungry so i went to mothers room snatch a lolly from her cabinet.

In a time of war, when people are needy and weak, what worked rather well for the Nazi party to get its country back in shape was propaganda. Before World War 2 (1933-1938), the Nazis used propaganda to brainwash their citizens into believing that Germany was the best country, to create anti-Semitism. After losing the first great war which caused a major depression in the state, Nazi’s used Jewish people as a scapegoat for Germany's suffering economy and poor moral. This idea of using propaganda against the Jews tied into the Nazi ideology. Nazi ideology came to be after Adolf Hitler and others created the “National Socialist German Workers’ Party (NSDAP)”(Alpha History 1). They called this ideology that they developed ‘National Socialism’, which is now called Nazism today. This ideology was the centerpiece that the Nazi Party moved around. However, The NSDAP didn’t have a very clear expression of its ideology, the only documents that had concrete evidence were the Twenty Five points (1920), and Hitler's journal, Mein Kampf (1924). (Alpha History 1). The core beliefs of the Nazi party are as shown: “Authoritarianism, Totalitarianism, Nationalism, Militarism, Expansionism, Economic sovereignty, Traditional values, and Racialism” (BBC 1-2). The effective use of propaganda; which is “Defined as: information, ideas, or rumors deliberately spread widely to help or harm a person, group, movement, institution, nation, etc” (Dictionary.com), was one of the main reasons the Nazi