Nazi Germany Revision Notes. Rise to Power, New Laws and Propaganda.

WWII Timeline

Nazis – Why vote for them?

PUPS OF WH

Propaganda

Use of technology

Promise to voters

Support of Industrialists = more money

Organisation

Flexibility

Weakness of opposition

Hitler

Hitler’s helpers

Josef Goebbels – editor of Nazi Newspaper

Hermann Goering – 1923 Leader of SA

Rudolf Hess – early days = Hitler’s private secretary, later = party admininstrator

Heinrich Himmler – early posts: Gauleiter (regional party chief), Head of SS

Ernst Rohm – 1921 ran the SA

The Gestapo

Originally Goerings Prussian secret police

June 1936 – Himmler in charge – tapped into telephones etc.

Propaganda Problems

Newspapers – 4700 of them in 1933 and Nazi ones in small circulation

Radios – Hitler and Goebbels believed it to be important but radios = expensive

Films – lots of high quality films – will people accept political ones?

Festivals & Celebrations – marches/rallies/festivals = success

Culture – How to control these works?

Solutions

Newspapers – Take over them and put in trustworthy journalists who knew what to report. Anti-Nazi ones closed and by 1944 there were only 1000 daily newspapers

Films – Encourage more and put in some political films. Only allowed in at the beginning of the film so people had to watch the Nazi newsreels and they had to watch short documentary films

Radio – ‘The People’s Reciever’ – cheap. By 1939 70% had one, 6000 loudspeaker pillars erected

Festival/Celebrations – ‘New’ festivals put in such as Hitler’s Birthday in April

Culture – Goebbels set up the Reich Chamber of Culture – everyone had to be a member to publish things – guidelines set up and books burnt

Women

Gertrude Scholtz-Klink = perfect example

• Had children
• Did as she was told and well behaved and well dressed (no makeup and flat heels)
• Her place was at home