Use of Propaganda to Spread Anti-Semitism in Nazi Germany During the 1930's and 1940's

The Treaty of Versailles was signed on June 28th 1919 by the Germans in order to obtain world peace. However, this agreement seemed to only provoke the nation. According to the clauses of the document, Germany would have to pay for all damages caused by the war and they even had to claim full responsibility for initiating the war, often referred to as the War Guilt Clause. The German population also felt resentment with the government for giving away so much land to the various countries that had won the war. Around the time of the treaty, Adolf Hitler of the National Socialist German Workers’ Party was getting much attention because of his promising ideas to reduce unemployment which was a crisis that was caused by the depression of

Propaganda was arguably one of the most effective ways for ideas to be spread around rapidly, this was shown in Hitler's autobiography, Mien Kampf, in which he states: "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." It shows that Hitler understood the effectiveness of propaganda and utilised it to spread his anti-Semitist ideas towards the German people to create a negative image of the Jewish population. The United States Holocaust Memorial Museum Webpage states that the Nazi propagandists "exploited pre-existing images and stereotypes, and portrayed Jews as an "alien race" that fed off the host nation, poisoned its culture, seized its economy, and enslaved its workers and farmers." This hateful depiction of the Jewish people was enough to create fire in the minds of the German population and drove them into an anti-Semitic frenzy, resulting in the German people expressing their rage against the Jews through violent means. The impact on the German people that was created by the slanderous depictions of Jews was extremely valuable to prepare them for the Holocaust, as the hatred for the Jews was so deeply

Have you ever wondered how Hitler got the Germans on his side, or how he started anti semitism throughout the country. Anti Semitism is the prejudiced against Jews. He killed up to 6 million Jews in an event known as the holocaust. Hitler was a ruthless dictator that tried conquering the world during world war two. He killed anyone in his path and took never took no for an answer Hitler’s leadership was significant throughout Germany because he got German Nationalism started in the country, He destroyed the Weimar republic and rebuilt a dictatorship in Germany with the help of the Nazis , And made the majority Germans anti Semitic.

During the first part of Hitler’s Regime, the government established concentration camps to confine and detain anyone the Nazi’s though as political, cultural and ideological opponents. The first Concentration camp was built in January, 1933, right after Hitler came into power. Hitler gained further support for his ideas by propaganda, which filled the media of Germany with pro-nazi material. All forms of communication; newspapers, radio, books, TV, art, music and movies were controlled by the Nazis. This way, nonother than what the Nazi’s wanted published could only be distributed to its society, and preventing news about the Holocaust from getting anywhere outside of Germany. This propaganda identified the Jews as an inferior ‘race’, and the source of Germany’s defeat and economic depression in world war one on them.

The anti-Semitic propaganda led the minority Nazi party into the place of superiority so they could influence the public that Jews were subhuman. Various forms of propaganda ranged from posters, radio broadcasts, marches and more. These helped influence those or pressured those had opposing views of those of the Nazi party. Sheldon Kishner mentions in his article Nazi propaganda shaped German opinion, “No sooner had Hitler been appointed chancellor than he embarked on a quest to destroy the free press and thus shape popular opinion” (6) This limited the information the public was to intake in daily life and shaped their opinions of what was going wrong in the country. Since

Formed in 1919, the Treaty of Versailles was considered to be a “humiliation of Germany” and was made “in order to bring 20 million Germans to their deaths and to ruin the German nation,” as Hitler once firmly expressed in his speech of April 17, 1923. Hitler was deeply outraged by the outcome of the treaty and criticized the ‘November Criminals,’ the German politicians who had signed the armistice. The treaty took a toll on Germany’s territories, military, finance and people. Previous territories of Germany were given to other countries, such as Alsace-Lorraine to France, and the League of Nations were in charge of other German territories and colonies overseas in Africa and the Pacific. The size of Germany’s

The holocaust was caused by Hitler in order to get rid of Jews. Adolf Hitler was a German leader born in Austria which was later annexed by Hitler and was called Anschluss.Hitler distrusted his generals and believed in anti-semitism which is the hostility or prejudice against jews which is one of the reasons he used them as scapegoats. Hitler’s leadership was very significant. He ended democracy in Germany by using the Weimar Republics weaknesses. He also used propaganda to try to make Germany anti-semitic and without him the Rhineland wouldn’t have been re-militarized because his relationship with his generals was complicated.

In what ways did Hitler and the Nazi Party adopt and adapt various elements of ‘traditional’ and ‘modern’ forms of anti-Semitism? The Nazi party rise to power during the 1930’s was radically influenced and inspired by anti-Semitic philosophy, in a number of forms, that being, drawing on their historical origins of traditional anti Semitism - that is religious bias, to evolving to modern forms which ultimately for Adolf Hitler and the Nazi party was illustrated through discrimination and racial prejudice. The anti-Semitic beliefs also had a significant impact on economic and political circumstance in Germany following World War 1. At that time, Germany was not known for its stability as a country, a trend that had been reoccurring in German

During World War II, anti-Semitic publications circulating throughout Germany display clear evidence of pervading the minds of young German children. Julius Steicher, editor of Der Stumer and the agent responsible for many of the anti-Semitic publications (Mills), helped dramatically initiate the German resistance toward Jews early on in a child’s life. It is important to understand the severity of anti-Semitism taught to the future Nazi generation in order to maintain the National Socialist state and further it’s agenda. By examining the ideas, and publications aimed towards children that express those ideals, it is clear that the National Socialist state wanted to indoctrinate a hateful, militant agenda into young children. Ultimately, the final result was to maintain the prejudice view that the Jewish people were the inferior race, and therefore the enemy for future generations.

Between World War I and World War II, the Nazi Party transformed Germany from a politically and economically unstable state into an optimistic, productive, and unified totalitarian dictatorship capable of eliminating its enemies. The Treaty of Versailles punished Germany for World War I with demilitarization, reparations, and territorial concessions. These conditions enraged Adolf Hitler, an anti-Semitic socialist and German nationalist who, in 1919,

Additionally, the Nuremberg Laws contributed to the Holocaust, since it let the sovereignty obtain more power to reduce the status of Jewish people. Many laws were created by the Nazis and government excluded the Jews politically. Before the Nuremberg Laws were enacted, the Treaty of Versailles stated, “The Allied and Associated Governments affirm and Germany accepts the responsibility of Germany and her allies for causing all the loss and damage…” (Duffy). Since Hitler was anti-Semitic, he used this opportunity to create laws that omitted the Jews from society. Evidently, many Jews opposed although a majority of the discrimination was based on cultural background. The Nuremberg Laws

Hitler’s ideology also reveals a foundation in earlier anti-Jewish tradition in terms of justifying prejudicial and violent treatment of Jews. Just as early Christian writers justified hostility against the Jews by portraying them as killers of an innocent Christ, Hitler rationalizes discrimination of Jews by blaming them for Germany’s defeat in World War I (Cunningham 54-55). In his speech to a massive audience in 1923, Hitler particularly blames the Jews’ “burning interest in [the] artificial whipping up of hostility” as the cause of the tensions created between Germany and Russia (Adolf Hitler on the Jewish Question 216). Another rather ludicrous notion made by the Nazis for the sake of justifying and propagating antisemitism was the accusation of Jewish blood libels published in a 1934 Nazi newspaper. Utilization of this chimerical allegation was recycled from legends circulating in the middle ages about Jews killing innocent Christian children and using their blood for ritual purposes (Hsia 2).

Without jobs and money, the Jewish people fell into a state of poverty and decrepitude. Thus, the Gentile German populace began to see the Jews as poor degenerates and saps on the German economy. (“Anti-Jewish Legislation in Prewar Germany”) Throughout its rule, the Nazi party also tried to influence public opinion by repeatedly accusing the Jews of leading an international conspiracy against the German nation. Joseph Goebbels, Reich Minister of Nazi Propaganda and writer of the weekly newspaper “Das Reich”, in an article titled “The Jews are Guilty!”, infamously declared: “The Jews are our destruction. They started this war [World War II] and direct it … The Jews are the enemy’s agents among us” (85-91). Through this accusation of Jewish terrorism, the Nazi Party succeeded in effectively convincing the German people to allow their persecution of the Jewish people in the name of national security. The Nazis also utilized another method of swaying public opinion against the Jews: accusations of

Adolf Hitler, the leader of Nazi party and dictator of Germany, was a significant people in the history of World War 2. He has come to power in 1933 and used aggressive military policy to acquire Lebensraum (living space) for German in European area, leading to conflicts between Germany and other European countries. After World War 1 has finished, Germany has been accused of what it has done during the war and has signed the Treaty of Versailles in 1919. Before signing the treaty, there was a discussion about whether accepting or rejecting the treaty within the German government without acknowledging German people and most members in the government agreed to unconditioned acceptance of the treaty. ( Luckau 1919) After the treaty has been signed

Anti-Semitism in Nazi Germany from the period of 1939-45 could be seen to be the most significant period in the 20th century, and perhaps human history particularly as it led to the holocaust, which saw the extermination of 5.4 million Jews and the creation of the new state of Israel in 1945. Although the Jews had experienced persecution throughout history, especially in the 14th and 15th centuries, when large numbers of Jews were persecuted in Europe, and the crusades, where mass killings of Jews transpired. However, Nazi anti-Semitism is unique because it was the widespread, systematic and industrial method used. The use of gas to kill on a large scale, and other various barbaric methods.