How successful were Nazi methods to indoctrinate and control the German people?

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AS History – Examination Question on The Domestic policies of the Nazi state

How successful were Nazi methods to indoctrinate and control the German people? (30 marks)

From the moment the Enabling Act has been passed, the Nazi regime has effectively been turned into a dictatorial one. Indeed, at the beginning of Hitler’s rise to power a vast population of Germany was engaged with nationalist politics believing it would reshape and revolutionarise the country. However, Hitler knew that in order to reach his ultimate goal in creating the “Thousand Year Reich”; he could not depend on the sudden yet temporary surge of excitement of the German public; but rather, he had to convince the Germans of the Fuehrer leadership and make the Nazi ideology an unquestionable existence. The organisation of such a program of indoctrination and control was simple: as a German under the regime you had the choice of buying in or pretending to buy in to Goebbels’s propaganda, and if you failed to do so you would be “convinced” or dealt with by means of violent and intimidation by Goering and Heydrich’s organisations. It can be argued that the Nazis did indoctrinate and control the German people effectively; a proof of that would be the fact that there has been no successful uprising against the regime during the period of Nazi ruling. However, flaws did exist in the Nazi program and dissent groups such as the white rose youth movement did exist.

Indoctrination is the milder and physiological means of controlling the minds of the German people; it involves the building of permanent loyalty to the regime and Nazi values. It is achieved through the use of the combination of both propaganda and censorship. Joseph Goebbels was appointed the Minister of Propaganda and Entertainment in the Nazi government and played a crucial role in producing convincing propaganda. Goebbels believed that propaganda “must be limited to very few points” and that “if you tell a lie big enough and keep repeating it, people will eventually come to believe it”. This had lead to the content of Nazi propaganda being very focused and direct. The messages would be very simple and straight forward such as the need for more living space and the destruction of the Jews. The means of spreading such propaganda was important too, for Goebbels successfully made use of new technologies including loudspeakers and the radio to spread messages. Traditional methods such as posters and newspapers were also used and large rallies such as the Nuremburg Rally were also hosted. The usage of censorship is mutually inclusive with the success of propaganda as the removal of opposition ideas lead the German public to believing or treating Nazi propaganda as facts. Also, they did not have other sources of information thus had to trust the Nazis for it.

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However, as much as Goebbels believed that “The Reich was created out of propaganda” it in many cause failed to indoctrinate sections of the society. Indeed, the grass root remained the firmest based of support for the Nazi regime and brought the propaganda offered by the Nazi’s. However, the intellects and the older generation were not convinced by Nazism and the over simplified messages of their propaganda. A significant example of such would be the fact that the Nazi’s could not ban newspapers, but were just able to censor them.  This was because the Nazi’s knew the politically educated ...

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