The Nazis took strict control over the press; the centre for the Reich Press control had a list of all acceptable editors. In October 1933 it was made illegal to publish anything that would weaken the Reich. The press agencies would write half of the content of the newspapers, the other half was came from the press conferences. Press was basically state controlled; the press lost all its freedom of expressionism. In 1933 the Nazis only controlled 3 per cent of the press by 1939 that had risen to 69 per cent. Section four of the press law ordered editors “to keep out of the newspapers anything which in any manner is misleading to the public, mixes selfish aims with community aims, tends to weaken the strength of the German Reich, outwardly or inwardly, the common will of the German people, the defence of Germany, it’s culture and economy… or offends the honour and dignity of Germany.”
Radio became one of the most powerful tools of indoctrination; Goebbels described it as “the spiritual weapon of the totalitarian state.” In April 1934 the Nazis established a unified radio system. They purged all of what they described as ‘hostile elements’ from the system. Probably Goebbels greatest propaganda asset was the production of the ‘Volksempfanger’ (peoples receiver). It was a cheap small radio subsidised by the government and it only picked up one station. In 1933 7 million people owned one of these radios by 1940 16 million household were listening. To start with the radio was only for light entertainment. In 1935 the estimated audience was 37 million out of 70 million people. If a speech were about to be broadcast then a siren would sound all work would stop and mass listening would commence. “Through technical devices such as the radio…80 million people were deprived of independent thought. It was thereby possible to subject them to the will of one man.”
Film was seen as a form of light entertainment and relaxation. During the 1930’s as audiences increased Hitler began to realise that it could be used as a means of propaganda. In 1942 it was nationalised under the UFA. However it wasn’t just domestic films that were controlled it was also foreign film that was restrained in particular a number of American Films were banned, because they promoted anti-social behaviour. Goebbels made himself personally responsible for each film, a film would be rewarded by money if it was supportive of Nazism and they were valuable to society. Leni Reifenstahl was Hitler's favourable Director. The two most famed films she directed were the ‘Triumph of the Will’ released in 1935 and Olympia a documentary about the 1936 Berlin Olympic games. There were many films that promoted Nazi ideology such as the ‘Eternal Jew,’ that referred to the Jews as a parasitic race, and Judd Suss about the hanging of a Jew. Film was used more for maintaining support for Nazism rather than converting people.
One of the most effective ways of maintaining support was through mass rallies. Most of the participants would already be Nazi supporters, but their commitment would probably be strengthened through attending these rallies. Films of rallies might make non-participants feel they wanted to become part of such an impressive movement. The purpose of rallies like film was to improve and maintain support Goebbels described how rallies “transformed a person from a little worm into a part of a large dragon.”
Much of the Nazi social policy was aimed at transforming people’s consciousness far more than their social position. A wide variety of schemes were devised to encapsulate the idea the idea of Volkgemeinschaft, working together, protected by the state. The DAF (German Labour Front) provided facilities for German workers. The people’s car scheme symbolised co-operation to help potentially anyone. The winter relief campaign and Eintopf (one pot meal) all illustrated the new sense of unity within society. The social policy was used to help keep the nation content so they saw that the Nazi Government was good for Germany.
The Nazis were determined, through the Reich Chamber of Culture, to exercise control over all forms of culture, to apply it to strengthen their power and to include their values. After 1933 the arts were bound to serve as vehicles for the broadcasting of Nazi ideology, and to help fabricate the peoples collective mind. “The arts are for the National Socialist State a public exercise; they are not only aesthetic but also moral in nature and in the public interest demands not only police supervision but also guidance.”
Painting was ‘dumbed down’ so it could be easily understood by the common German. Heroic scenes, biological purity and athletic images that promoted the individual was used providing all sections of the community with an ideal. Artists had to have permission to paint and those that did not coincide with the Nazi ideals were prevented from painting or exiled. As a result art in Germany lost its individuality. Degenerate art was art that Hitler considered unacceptable basically any art that had no connection with Volkgemeinschaft and art that threatened to split society. “As in all things, the people trust the judgement of one man, the Fuhrer. He knows which way German art must go in order to fulfil its task as a projection of the German character.”
Sculpture was used by the nazis as it was strong and was a long lasting way to promote the Aryan race all sculpture was changed so that it promoted Nazi ideology. A series of massive sculptural muscle men paraded on or in front of Nazi buildings, reflecting the biologically pure, vigorous Aryan race.
Considerable use was also made of photographs. Hitler had an official photographer, Heinrich Hoffman. Key images were carefully stage-managed. Hitler practised expressions and poses before the camera. A series of photographs was widely reproduced, some as postcards, others inside cigarette packets.
Of all the traditional arts architecture was viewed as the most artistic form of propaganda. Hitler described it as the ‘word in stone’. Buildings were experienced by large numbers of people, and could be constructed in materials that would last; they could thus represent the Thousand-Year Reich that the Nazis were building.
The Nazis, like other parties had made considerable use of political posters during the democratic Weimar Republic. After 1933 they had a monopoly which was used to deepen support.
For the Nazis education was particularly important. In the schools Nazi racial views were taught and textbooks in subjects such as history and biology were re-written. Teachers were required to join the Nazi Teachers Association and were continuously watched to ensure they followed the party rules by law the association was held “responsible for the execution of the ideological and political co-ordination of all teachers in accordance with the National Socialist doctrine.” Universities were placed under control of government appointed rectors and academics were not willing to toe the Nazi line were forced out.
The Hitler youth was a form of propaganda. It allowed Hitler to infiltrate every aspect of young people’s lives, to always be there. It was the fun of activities and sports, social activities, that held the true appeal of the Hitler youth to the young, not the military practices and exercises that were endlessly drilled into them. All youth movements were absorbed into the Hitler youth, which boys joined at the age of 14. The boys were indoctrinated with the nationalist and racist ideas. They took an oath to Hitler as ‘saviour of our country’ and were taught to look forward to a future role in the military service. The parallel girls’ organisation the League of German Maids, prepared girls to serve the state as wives and mothers.
Many Christians initially welcomed the Nazis in preference to the ‘ungodly’ Weimar Republic. This encouraged Hitler to attempt to bring he church under Nazi control by amalgamating the 28 provincial Churches into a Reich Church under a Reich Bishop, Muller. The Nazification of the Reich Church, which attempted to combine Christianity with anti-Semitism and Fuhrer-worship, resulted in a split and emergence of the Confessional Church, led by Pastor Niemoller. This was banned in 1937 and Niemoller and some hundreds of other Pastors were sent to concentration camps.
The relevance of how successful propaganda was at reaching people is that it would be true to say that if it had reached people, if it had influenced peoples thought in a way beneficial to the rise of the Nazi party, therefore it had reached its primary aim. If it was successful then it is a credible explanation as to why the Nazis did gain power, through its constant repetition and its means of a way of creating a terror state. Effectively brain wash the nation in to believing that their ideals were right. Propaganda was used in its greatest effect to affect every German person in at least some small way. Propaganda helped the rising Nazi party earn a stronger foothold in the consciousness of peoples thoughts, earn a vote, earn support. However it was not entirely successful as there was fierce opposition to the Nazi movement we see in the example of the Christian Church and the dissenting Confessional Church from the newly created Reich Church. Also there was the Edelweiss Pirates which was a youth movement set up to counteract the Hitler Youth the slogan of this movement was ‘We’re going to get rid of Hitler and he can’t do a thing.’ In this opposition we see a failure of propaganda because it shows that it was not influential enough to control these groups opposed to Nazism.
It is very difficult to actually gauge the success of Nazi propaganda no market research was conducted to collect results there is no accurate way of measuring the success. If there had been polls conducted, the results would have shown exactly what Goebbels and Hitler wanted people to think, this was achieved by making sure that only certain things were safe to think and more importantly safe to say. “In general Nazi propaganda…was most successful where it could play traditional prejudices and values of German middle class society, upon issues such as nationalism, anti-socialism, family values…But where the regime opposed traditional loyalties, it was far less successful, most obviously in the case of the Churches, also amongst the German working class.”
We can see that the propaganda must have been influential amongst the German people. It helped the Nazis gain support of the middle class in particular. The nation seemed to be united under Hitler or was that the image portrayed by the Goebbels propaganda machine? The Nazis did achieve some of their objectives through propaganda especially support for their political policies. The only indication we have of success is in the fact that the Nazis gained sufficient support in order for them to be democratically elected into a government which they later destroyed. As Goebbels said in 1934 “Propaganda was our sharpest weapon in conquering the state, and remains our sharpest weapon in maintaining and building up the state.”
Propaganda was the Nazis main weapon and in the evidence we have of election results, support and little opposition the Nazi propaganda machine did succeed in achieving it’s objectives and therefore was largely successful.
