Manipulating The Masses : How Propaganda Strengthened Nazism

When contemplating the holocaust, the question of how so many people could have allowed such horrors to unfold, baffle the minds of thousands. It was not sudden and out of the blue, as it may seem looking back now. The Nazi Party spent years of effort and dedication into building an environment of racial intolerance and hostility until Germany was ripe to house mass murder. Did their usage of propaganda play a vital role in doing so? Yes, the importance and influence of Nazi Propaganda usage can be broken down into 3 parts: Nazi approach to propaganda use, Nazi utilization of propaganda and lastly the effects of said propaganda.

The topic of this report is: To what extent did Nazi propaganda help Hitler consolidate power in Germany (1933-1938)?

Totalitarian leaders used propaganda to persuade followers to believe that their country would be restored again. Propaganda is when information deliberately spread to help or harm a person, group, or institution. This allows people to be pursued by the leaders and gives the leaders the advantages. In document C, poster created by the Nazi government in 1938, encourages Germans to vote for the annexation of Austria. In the poster you can see that their is hands in air showing that Germany is always united. In this poster, you can see that at the top there are some letters, these letter in English means United Germany. At the bottom the word “Ja!” means YES!. This means that the people are proud of their country. In document B, a speech by

What would make a group of people ignore their country’s own genocide? In Nazi Germany, the answer was propaganda. From the end of World War I, the German leaders knew how important propaganda was. By the time Hitler had complete control of the military, the powerful propaganda film Triumph de Willens was already being produced . By the time the second offensive started, they had already launched an international propaganda magazine called Signal. Both of these are prime examples of the purpose of German propaganda. Like earlier British propaganda, it had two primary roles. First, the control of the people. Gobbels’ propaganda about “national enemies” made it seem as if the Nazis were the only alternative to a loss in national security. The second goal was scaring foreign powers. Through international magazines and radio broadcasts such as Signal, German power and victories were highlighted and shown to the world. The three key issues are the attacks on Jews and Communists, the origins of these methods, and the uses of these methods to create a powerful Nazi government. Through slandering and suppression of the opposition of the Nazis, Hitler’s media soon became the voice of the country. The Nazi Party used propaganda to gain power out of fear for national security.

Propaganda, though not the most effective war time strategy, allows people to come together as one to contribute to the success of the country as a whole. However with this idea, there is also the idea that they are not whole truths being told by governments within countries. Propaganda is a form of a lie seen in both North Korea in the book Escape from Camp 14, and in one of the world’s darkest times, World War II; the world allows these lies to surface due to the fact that they do no outwardly hurt another race.

Propaganda is information, especially of a biased or misleading nature, used to promote or publicize a political cause or point of view(Webster). It has always been used to encourage the support of a cause especially during times of war. During World War II, the American government was hesitant to use propaganda to encourage American support due to past experiences of propaganda during World War I. According to Lincoln Riddle’s article on War History Online, businesses and corporations had to persuade the government to use propaganda in America. The government consented to the deed so long as the ads being displayed by business and corporation were only giving information on the war instead of withholding information from the public (Riddle). Regardless, some posters and ads were overexaggerated for a war effort making them propaganda. The themes could be divided into six main themes: “The Nature of the Enemy, The Nature of the Allies, The Need to Work, The Need to Fight, The Need to Sacrifice, and The Americans-What we are fighting for” (Campbell). These forms used as propaganda ranged from posters, radio, and television.

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 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.

The pinnacle of the movement is embodied during the raging battles of World War II. At present, it is apparent that the entire barrage of propaganda for seven plus years was in preparation to send German youths, both boys and girls, to both fronts to fight the Allied powers. According to expert David Welch of the BBC, the Nazi usage of propaganda was so persuasive that Hitlerjugend became paramilitary troops who were sent directly to Poland to fight the Soviets as well as to the Rhine region to fend off the Americans. One such propaganda poster depicted a father with a SS armband helping his son shoot a gun, both of them in full military attire, as well as another which, when translated, says, “For Freedom and Life; The People’s Storm,” (see Appendix B) and Welch argued that such encouragement would have filled the youth on the battlefield with drive. The surprising fanaticism and reckless bravado of the Hitler Youth in battle left the Western Allied forces astonished. There were reports of accounts which detailed how the adolescent boys fought till their death without the thought of surrendering; young boys were shot by soldiers who were old enough to be their own fathers. From the D-Day and Invasion of Normandy, the Hitlerjugend lost 8000 over the course of six hours. Even boys at the age of seventeen were described as ruthless fighters, who would outfight their fellow adult Nazi soldiers, and this can be directly attributed to their indoctrination. Out of the

Throughout the Nazis’ reign they employed many different types of propaganda to lure the public to their views and ideals. Propaganda lurked in even the most innocent of places waiting to entrap the unsuspecting mind and often targeting the young men of Germany. The Nazis use of propaganda was meant to appeal to the public through a sense of nationalism and fear of enemy nations. The propaganda was tailored to the public preexisting opinions and prejudices. These aspects along with the Nazis opportunistic style of propaganda made for a dangerous trap that threatened to ensnare all of Germany. The Nazis used opportunistic propaganda to convince a nation to follow in their ideals and actions.

Joshua McConnell Mrs. Johnson Honors English 10 4X 12-15-2014 Nazi Propaganda Nazi propaganda played a big role during the Holocaust because it was used to brainwash the German people into thinking that Jews were subhuman and were not worth anything. Some of the things they used included posters, books, and propaganda films that portrayed concentration camps as positive. This led to the Holocaust being accepted by the German citizens. This essay will talk about how Nazi propaganda was used during the Holocaust, who used it, and why they used it. Adolf Hitler and Joseph Goebbels were the main people to use Nazi propaganda in order to control the German people.

Propaganda played an extremely crucial part in the Nazi’s rise of power, the brainwashing of the Germans to hating and ultimately killing the Jews. What is being discussed is the power of persuasion and how it is used through various forms of media to gain a stronger anti-Semitic than they had already had.

All ranks of Nazi officials played a significant part in the reign of propaganda that impacted the world. The creation of the “Final Solution” to annihilate the Jews and enemies of Europe was heavily culminated with propaganda efforts to keep death camps hidden from the view of media outlets globally. Originally this plan was to systematically remove the Jews, then with the establishment of ghettos and mobile killing units, SS Officers, German authorities and their collaborators were able to kill upwards of six million Jews. This was impactful on the society with almost two-thirds of the Jews in Europe killed by poison gas, shooting and other means.

The central theme to this essay will be to answer the question “Discuss the roll that graphic design played in political/social change in a specific period”. This essay will look into what Hitler’s propaganda meant for the Nazis and the population of Germany. Propaganda is the dissemination of information to influence or control large groups of people. In totalitarian regimes like Nazi Germany, propaganda plays a significant role in consolidating power in the hands of the controlling party. (ushmm, 2015) This essay in conjunction will look into what Hitler’s propaganda meant, what methods conducted by Adolf Hitler and the Propaganda Ministry, directed by Dr. Joseph Goebbels use to infiltrate their enemies and commit mass genocide of the

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