Nazi Propaganda In The 1940s

In her essay, “Propaganda: How Not to Be Bamboozled”, author Donna Woolfolk Cross explains the different types of propaganda and how it is used in the United States. The essay was first published in Speaking of Words: A Language Reader (1977). Cross defines propaganda as “simply a means of persuasion and so it can be put to work for good causes as well as bad” (247). In her article she discusses how propaganda works and explains how propaganda is used with thirteen different devices to manipulate people’s thoughts, opinions, and ideas. She uses this essay as an informative piece, giving advice on how not to be manipulated by propaganda.

When was the last time you were exposed to propaganda? If you think it was more than a day ago, you are probably unaware of what propaganda really is. According to Donna Woolfolk Cross in “Propaganda: How not to be Bamboozled,” propaganda is “simply a means of persuasion” (149). She further notes that we are subjected daily to propaganda in one form or another as advertisers, politicians, and even our friends attempt to persuade us to use their product, vote for them, or adopt their point of view. Propaganda is usually considered in a negative sense. However, when viewing propaganda as mere persuasion, one can readily appreicate that it is

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.

While it did not originally have these connotations, the usage of atrocity propaganda in World War One which investigations during the inter-war period proved to be fabricated heavily shifted public opinion. While propaganda was used in World War Two and on-wards it was employed much more carefully than it had previously been. However, its association with dictatorships namely that of Hitler and Stalin and its usage in popular culture such as George Orwell’s Nineteen Eighty-Four and Animal Farm led it to being seen in a cynical manner. These negative connections are strongly established, so much so that we often use the word ‘propaganda’ as an ad hominem attack to discredit and dismiss an opinions or arguments that one is in opposition against.

Although the holocaust was a terrible and sad period in time, it was a brilliant work of propaganda and other components used by the Nazis in WWII to get the Jews into concentration camps. The Nazis were able to control the mass media and at the same time were able to warp the minds of people to thinking Jews were the problem.

“Anti-Semitism” was the idea of the hatred against Jews (Museum). Adolf Hitler made Joseph the head of propaganda in Nazi Germany (Samuels 16). Goebbels was focused in two major aspects of Nazi ideology (Eitzen). Firstly, Goebbels argued that the German race should survive by unifying all of the Germans into a single empire that would cover Central and Eastern Europe. Secondly, he insisted that the Germans were the master race and made the Jews seem as “non-human” seemingly pertaining to the vermin family because they were the “parasites who were the cause of economic problems in Germany”

"Propaganda tries 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." ( Adolf Hitler, Mein Kampf, 1926).

The film also contained hateful characterizations and assumptions about Jewish culture, such as a Jewish ritual butcher at work slaughtering cattle, and the “alien nature of the East-European Jew.” “Der Ewige Jude” concludes with Hitler’s infamous pre-war speech to the Reichstag on January 30, 1939: “If international Jewish financiers inside and outside of Europe should succeed in plunging the nations once more into a world war, then the result will not be the victory of Jewry, but the annihilation of the Jewish race in Europe” (Defining the Enemy”). Accordingly, this speech foreshadowed the genocide of Jews across

Propaganda is being used throughout history from as early as the 1600s. Adolf Hitler uses propaganda to brainwash Europe into believing that Jewish societies are wicked. In the Russian Revolution, propaganda is used through posters to either support or oppose Stalin’s ideas. In George Orwell’s Animal Farm, he suggests the notion that propaganda is used to persuade or brainwash individuals; this is demonstrated by glittering generalities of using words that stir emotions, transfer, which is the use of propaganda through symbols and quotes, and finally fear which present a dreaded circumstance.

These books to convince the Germanys on the need to expand their country demeaned the Jews along with creating a sense of distrust among Germans on Jews with the objective of encouraging the elimination of Jews. Adolf Hitler believed that the future of Germany was best without the Jew because of the role of the “Jews and their Marxist fighting organization, which blamed General Erich Ludendorff for the loss of World War One.” By creating propaganda that highlighted this falsehood in the education system, the Nazi Party ensured that the Jews were eliminated during the war to reduce the risk of being betrayed in war. At a tender age, the German children were exposed to an education that rather than equipping the students with knowledge and skills, the education system strived towards preparing the students for the World War II as well as ensuring that they despised their immediate neighbors who were the Jews (Pinkus, 2005).

“Only the mob and the elite can be attracted by the momentum of totalitarianism itself. The masses have to be won by propaganda.” (Hannah Arendt). Hannah Arendt was a German-born Jewish political theorist, who grew up in a time where propaganda was running rampant in Germany under the power of the Hitler Regime. Hitler would use propaganda to bring out anti-Semitic feelings in his citizens. This quote talks about how propaganda is used by groups to convince people to believe in what the group wants them to believe in. Propaganda can come in many forms, from pamphlets and flyers to posters and television shows. All throughout history, countries like the United States, Germany, North Korea and China have used propaganda to gain support

The fact that wars give rise to intensive propaganda campaigns has made many people suppose that propaganda is something new. The truth is, it is not. The battle with persuasion for power and men’s minds is as old as human history (Casey, 1994d)

First, one must define propaganda and since many have done so already, I shall use the Sheryl Ross model. Her model defines propaganda as “an epistemically defective message designed with the intention to persuade a socially significant group of people on behalf of a political institution, organization, or cause.”

Adolf Hitler is known by the entire world for his actions as the leader of Germany. He was born on April 20, 1889, and died April 30, 1945. In his 56 years of life, he accomplished most of his goals, now when we look back at them, it was a pathway that leads to an unimaginable pain and numerous death of innocent people. His political career included chancellor of Germany from 1933 to 1945. He served as a doctor, and leader of the Nazi Party, or National Socialist German Workers Party. Adolf Hitler ideals, principles and actions were a major contributor to World War II, which was a catastrophic event for the entire world. Moreover, his attention was the focus on power and dominance, his biggest innocents victims were the Jews, who were treated in an inhuman way by Hitler and his supporter. His hate led to the genocide known as the Holocaust, which results in the death of about six million Jews. He infected Germans’ minds with his hate and unsupported and crazy ideas by an excellent use of propaganda.

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