Nazi Propaganda Essay

Submitted By tuckermcgaugh
Words: 3586
Pages: 15

The goal of this paper is to determine the effectiveness of Hitler’s propaganda. First you have to understand what Hitler wanted to accomplish with his propaganda. In his book Mein Kampfe he wrote that ‘the task of propaganda is to attract followers.’ He certainly accomplished that. It could be said that Hitler himself was one of the most successful forms of propaganda. He established himself so rapidly as the Fuhrer and had a cult like following probably like none other in history. The superhuman image of Hitler was sometimes referred to as the “Hitler Myth”. (Stout, Michael J.) Hitler focussed his efforts on the masses to create this following, because he thought they were corrupt, unintelligent people, that were easily influenced. He felt there was no point in targeting the intellectuals because they would form their own opinions. Germany was crippled by the Versailles treaty and the depression. Hitler was able to increase his followers by creating jobs and a pay scale that was higher than that of other countries, paid holidays, and overtime. This brought Germany out of the Depression quicker than other countries ,causing the people to love Hitler even more. Propaganda was also used to boost the morale of the soldiers and to fuel their hatred towards the enemy. This essay will explore some of Hitler’s most effective and influential propaganda techniques. Hitler felt that the information in his propaganda should be limited and simple using slogans and themes that are repeated over and over.Some of Hitler’s propaganda techniques included rallies, posters, films, art, books, and all kinds of media aimed at the goal of taking over Germany. Before Hitler rose to power propaganda was not utilized as much by the Germans. Hitler believed that in the first World War that the Allies were much more effective in using propaganda to promote their cause. He felt that Germany’s failures were mostly because of their lack of use of propaganda. Hitler took propaganda to a whole new level, that was different than anybody ever before.Hitler used mass media to convey simple propaganda messages that all of the people could respond to and understand easily. In these messages he portrayed Germany’s enemies in a very negative manner which in turn created loyalty towards Hitler. He also created a government-controlled Propaganda Ministry to control the national media networks. The Pro-Mi’s purpose was to control all public media and entertainment. It consisted of seven departments: Legislation and Legal, Coordination of Popular Enlightenment and Propaganda, Race and Travel, Radio, Journalism, National and Foreign Press, Film, Film Censorship, Newsreel, Theater, Music, Fine Arts and People’s Culture. (Stout, Michael J.) Hitler needed someone to manage his undertakings so he appointed Dr. Joseph Goebbels as Propaganda Minister. Like Hitler, Goebbels was an excellent speaker and was very skilled in using propaganda for a specific purpose. Goebbels focused negative propaganda against the Allies and promised victory to the Germans. With Goebbel in charge the Propaganda Ministry was very successful during Hitler’s rise to power in the 1930’s and the first years of World War II. How effective was Hitler’s propaganda? First of all, the effectiveness of Hitler’s propaganda cannot be confused with the Germans losing the war. You might think that the propaganda was not effective at all because Germany lost the war. But that’s not the case. In fact, propaganda was very effective in rallying the troops and stirring up the peoples loyalty, especially during the first part of the war. In 1928 the number of registered members of the Nazi party was 108,717. By 1932 that number had increased to 1,414,975. When Germany started losing the war however, Hitler had to rethink his strategies. He told the people if they lost the war Germany would be destroyed. The Germans believed this was true. As the war drug out and battles were being lost