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Propaganda in Nazi Germany

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Nazi propaganda is the term that describes the psychologically powerful propaganda within Nazi Germany, much of which was centered around Jews, consistently alleged to be the source of Germany's economic problems. Nazi propaganda also expressed themes more common among the warring countries: the imminent defeat of their enemies, the need for security, etc. Doctored newsreel footage was also used to garner support for the Nazi cause. Leni Riefenstahl is likely the most famous propagandist; her film Triumph of the Will is still viewed today as a masterpiece in film making. Nazi Propaganda had a great effect during World War 2 creating patriotism and the will to continue fighting.

Joseph Goebbels was the Minister for Public Enlightenment & Propaganda in Nazi Germany and played a large role in creating new anti-Semitic and pro-Nazi material for the party. He was in charge of a propaganda machine which reached right down to branch level. In this way information and instructions could be sent out from party headquarters and adapted to local circumstances.

In the 1920s, Nazi Propagandists wanted to draw support for their political machine and create a new attitude of the German countrymen. One source of leverage was the Treaty of Versailles. The Treaty of Versailles, which was signed by the Allies of World War I in 1919, placed most or all of the blame on Germany for World War I along with harsh punishments dealt out to the country. The Treaty was referenced before and throughout the war as a “warning of what our enemies are capable of”, a direct quote of a 1942 speech by Joseph Goebbels.[1] Some, including rising politician Adolf Hitler, believed the Treaty was too harsh. He states in Mein Kampf “In the oppression of the treaty (Versailles) and shamelessness of its demands, there lies the greatest propaganda weapon for the reawakening of a nation's spirit.”[2]

Before the war (1919-1939)

Two examples of Anti-Jewish posters distributed by the Nazis: on the left is the Jewish worm, with a dollar sign and Communist hammer and sickle sign form each pupil; on the right is The Wandering Jew depiction.

Before the war the Nazi propaganda strategy consisted of several focus points for the German audiences. Their ideas were to create external enemies (countries which signed and were looking to enforce the Treaty of Versailles) and internal enemies (Jews). Hitler and Nazi propagandists played hard on the Anti-semitism already present in Germany. The Jews were blamed for things such as money leeching the German people of their hard work while the Jews did nothing. Hitler accused Jews for “two great wounds upon humanity: Circumcision of the Body and Conscience of the Soul.” Der Sturmer, a Nazi propaganda newspaper, tells Germany to call for children of six or seven weeks old to be aware of Jews before Passover because “Jews need the blood of a Christian child, maybe, to mix in with their Matzah.” Posters, films, cartoons, and fliers were seen throughout Germany which generalized and defaced the Jewish community. Most notably are The Eternal Jew.

Reaching out to ethnic Germans in other countries such as Czechoslovakia, France, Poland, the Soviet Union and the Baltic states was another aim of Nazi party propaganda. In Mein Kampf, Hitler makes a direct remark to those outside of Germany. He states pain and misery is forced upon those outside of Germany and those men dream of common fatherland. He finished stating they need to wish to fight for one’s nationality.[3] Throughout Mein Kampf, he pushed Germans worldwide to make the mainland struggle for political power and independence their main focus.

Nazi propagandist efforts then focused on creating external enemies using mostly the Treaty of Versailles. Propagandists only strengthen the negative attitude of Germany towards the Treaty creating territorial and ethnocentrism. When the Treaty was signed in 1919 non-propagandists newspapers headlines across the nation spoke German’s feelings such as “UNACCEPTABLE” (Frankfurter Zeitung, front page 1919). The Berliner Tageblatt, also in 1919, predicted “Should we accept the conditions, a military furore for revenge will sound in Germany within a few years, a militant nationalism will engulf all.”[4] Hitler, knowing his nation's disgust of the Treaty, used it as leverage to influence his audience. He would repeatedly refer back to the terms of the Treaty as a direct attack on Germany and its people. In one speech delivered on January 30, 1937 he directly states that he is withdrawing the German signature from the document, in protest of the outrageous proportions of the terms. He claims the Treaty makes Germany out to be inferior and “less” of a country than others only because the blame of the war is placed on them. The success of Nazi propagandists and Hitler won the Nazi party control of Germany and eventually led to World War II.[5]

For months prior to the 1939 invasion, German newspapers and politicians like Adolf Hitler had carried out a national and international propaganda campaign accusing Polish authorities of organizing or tolerating violent ethnic cleansing of ethnic Germans living in Poland.[6] On 22 August, Adolf Hitler told his generals:

"I will provide a propagandistic casus belli. Its credibility doesn't matter. The victor will not be asked whether he told the truth."[7][8]

The main part of this propaganda campaign was the false flag project, Operation Himmler, which was designed to create the appearance of Polish aggression against Germany, which was subsequently used to justify the invasion of Poland.[9][7][8]

During World War II

Poster depicting America as a monstrous war machine destroying European culture.

Until the conclusion of the Battle of Stalingrad on February 4, 1943, German propaganda emphasized the prowess of German arms and the supposed humanity German soldiers had shown to the peoples of occupied territories. Pilots of the Allied bombing fleets were depicted as cowardly murderers, and Americans in particular as gangsters in the style of Al Capone. At the same time, German propaganda sought to alienate Americans and British from each other, and both these Western nations from the Soviets.

After Stalingrad, the main theme changed to Germany as the sole defender of what they called "Western European culture" against the "Bolshevist hordes". The introduction of the V-1 and V-2 "vengeance weapons" was emphasized to convince Britons of the hopelessness of defeating Germany.

On June 23, 1944, the Nazis permitted the Red Cross to visit concentration camp Theresienstadt to dispel rumors about the Final Solution, which was intended to kill every Jew. In reality, Theresienstadt was a transit camp for Jews en route to extermination camps, but in a sophisticated propaganda effort, fake shops and cafés were erected to imply that the Jews lived in relative comfort. The guests enjoyed the performance of a children's opera, Brundibar, written by inmate Hans Krása. The hoax was so successful for the Nazis that they went on to make a propaganda film at Theresienstadt. Shooting of the film began on February 26, 1944. Directed by Kurt Gerron, it was meant to show how well the Jews lived under the "benevolent" protection of the Third Reich. After the shooting, most of the cast, and even the film-maker himself, were deported to the concentration camp of Auschwitz where they were killed.

Goebbels committed suicide on May 1, 1945, shortly after Hitler killed himself. Hans Fritzsche, who had been head of the Radio Chamber, was tried and acquitted by the Nuremberg war crimes tribunal.

Posters

Poster art was a mainstay of the Nazi propaganda effort, targeted both for Germany itself and occupied territories. The themes used reflect a great deal of research into the power of images and ideas to motivate.

Films

Main article: Nazism and cinema

The Nazis produced a number of films to promote their views. Themes included the virtues of the Nordic or Aryan type, German military and industrial strength, and the evils of the Nazi enemies. On March 11, 1933 The Third Reich established a Ministry of Propaganda, appointing Joseph Goebbels as Minister of Propaganda. On September 22, a Department of Film was incorporated into the Chamber of Culture. The department controlled the licensing of every film prior to production. Sometimes the government would select the actors for a film, financing the production partially or totally, and would grant tax breaks to the producers.

Under Goebbels and Hitler, the German film industry became entirely nationalised. The National Socialist Propaganda Directorate, which Goebbels oversaw, had at its disposal nearly all film agencies in Germany by 1936. Occasionally certain directors, such as Wolfgang Liebeneiner, were able to bypass Goebbels by providing him with a different version of the film than would be released. Such films include those directed by Helmut Käutner: Romanze in Moll (Romance in a Minor Key, 1943), Große Freiheit Nr. 7 (The Great Freedom, No. 7, 1944), and Unter den Brücken (Under the Bridges, 1945).

Triumph of the Will, by film-maker Leni Riefenstahl, chronicles the 1934 Nazi Party Congress in Nuremberg. It features footage of uniformed party members (though relatively few German soldiers), who are marching and drilling to classical melodies. The film contains excerpts from speeches given by various Nazi leaders at the Congress, including portions of speeches by Adolf Hitler.

The Eternal Jew (or The Wandering Jew) was directed by Fritz Hippler at the insistence of German Minister of Propaganda Joseph Goebbels, though the writing is credited to Eberhard Taubert. The movie is done in the style of a documentary, the central thesis being the immutable racial personality traits that characterize the Jew as a wandering cultural parasite. Throughout the film, these traits are contrasted to the Nazi state ideal: While Aryan men find satisfaction in physical labour and the creation of value, Jews only find pleasure in money and a hedonist lifestyle.

Here is an incomplete list of Nazi film: List of films made in the Third Reich.

Books

The Nazis and sympathizers published a great number of books. Many beliefs which would become associated with the Nazis, such as German nationalism, Eugenics and Anti-Semitism had been in circulation since the 19th century, and the Nazis seized on this body of existing work in their own publications.

The most notable is Adolf Hitler's Mein Kampf detailing his beliefs. The book outlines major ideas that would later culminate in World War II. It is heavily influenced by Gustave Le Bon's 1895 The Crowd: A Study of the Popular Mind, which theorized propaganda as an adequate rational technique to control the seemingly irrational behaviour of crowds. Particularly prominent is the violent anti-Semitism of Hitler and his associates, drawing, among other sources, on the fabricated "Protocols of the Elders of Zion". For example, Hitler claimed that the international language Esperanto was part of a Jewish plot and makes arguments toward the old German nationalist ideas of "Drang nach Osten" and the necessity to gain Lebensraum ("living space") eastwards (especially in Russia).

Other books such as Rassenkunde des deutschen Volkes (Ethnology of German People) by Hans F. K. Günther and Rasse und Seele (Race and Soul) by Dr. Ludwig Ferdinand Clauss attempt to identify and classify the differences between the German, Nordic or Aryan type and other supposedly inferior peoples. These books were used as texts in German schools during the Nazi era.

See also

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Nazi propaganda.

References

  1. ^ German Propaganda Archive, What is At Stake 2004. Calvin College. 25 Oct. 2007
  2. ^ AngliaCampus, Opinions Provoked by Treaty, October 25, 2007
  3. ^ Hitler, Adolf. Mein Kampf. Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 1999
  4. ^ Abel, Theodore. Why Hitler Came Into Power. Cambridge: Harvard UP, 1986.
  5. ^ German Propaganda Archive, "Hitler Speech" 2004. Calvin College. 25 Oct. 2007
  6. ^ [1]German newspaper editor outlining the claims of Polish atrocities against minorities
  7. ^ a b James J. Wirtz, Roy Godson, Strategic Denial and Deception: The Twenty-First Century Challenge, Transaction Publishers, 2002, ISBN 0765808986, Google Print, p.100
  8. ^ a b Bradley Lightbody, The Second World War: Ambitions to Nemesis, Routledge, 2004, ISBN 0415224055, Google Print, p.39
  9. ^ Roger Manvell, Heinrich Fraenkel, Heinrich Himmler: The SS, Gestapo, His Life and Career, Skyhorse Publishing Inc., 2007, ISBN 1602391785, Google Print, p.76

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