In conclusion to the above, I think that the ‘stick’ method is more important that the ‘carrot’ as more people were defying the regime, as the communists were the majority due to the effect of the Depression which resulted from the wall street crash. There were many more people who were suffering from the aftermath of the depression, who wanted equality in Germany, not a single power dictating what you should and should not do. Therefore, more deterrence was needed to ensure that everyone followed the Nazi Regime, as the propaganda did not necessarily affect communists as they were excluded from the encouraging activities proposed by the party.
The second main area in which Hitler targeted his opposition was socially; propaganda was directed at the public. Hitler began to encourage people into the regime. He did so by creating a new Germany. For example, the all-new craze of the Volkswagen Beetle, (the people’s car), was launched and became a much more accessible luxury. Another way in which people were encouraged to participate in the regime was by creating the Hitler youth, which included fun activities for children and teenagers. ‘Strength through Joy’ was an organisation that organised the leisure time of workers. Hitler aimed to attract the lower class of Germany, as they were the majority, and he feared they could revolt, following in the footsteps of the Bolsheviks in Russia. The activities were mainly used to keep the youths fit and healthy, but as a way of attracting youngsters to join in with the Nazi regime. This organisation soon became the only legal youth group to be part of, and membership was later made compulsory in 1939. This, on the other hand, meant that if a parent did not send their child to the Hitler youth, and displayed obvious anti-Nazi thoughts and beliefs, then, they were taken away from the children to be sent to a labour camp. This deterred the parent, as through all the treatment in the labour camps, people became scared of the final solution, as they had had their last chance. In some cases, many children ‘turned their parents in’ so to speak, in that they had been so brainwashed by the ideology studies indoctrinated to them at Hitler youth lectures. This ‘stick’ method was a way in which Hitler avoided opposition arising. Another thing Hitler did to encourage people to join in with the regime was to re-establish the role of women in Nazi society. Hitler dictated that a women’s purpose was to provide the future, Greater Germany and to breed a pure, fit and healthy Aryan race. Due to the indoctrination women encountered whilst ‘working’ for the women labour front, and other such organisations e.g. the NSF, and the DFW to name but a few; Nazi women actually followed the Fuhrer’s instructions to ‘donate a child’ to him. This was the Nazi women of Germany doing their part for society. There was a set of guidelines that were to be followed by the average Nazi housewife, and these were incorporated in the slogan ‘Kinder, Kirche, Kuche’. Another way in which women were encouraged to have more children was the medals scheme, in which one could have a gold medal if she reached the grand and impressive eight children.
Another way in which Hitler deterred opposition was by controlling the minorities of Germany, the social misfits, the homosexuals, and the beggars, the prostitutes, the burdens on society, and not least forgetting the Jews. Hitler believed in a strict society of social Darwinism, in that similar to Darwin’s theories that as creatures evolve, that only the strongest survive. Hitler thought that in his country, it was to be a case of the survival of the fittest, i.e. his perfect Aryan race, and all inferiors would perish. Hitler detested social outcasts, and he targeted each case separately. For instance, the ‘work shy’, those who could not or would not work, the mentally or physically handicapped, tramps and beggars were not to be tolerated in society, and under Hitler, action was taken to ‘round up’ certain groups of minorities and cart them off to a labour camp. Gypsies were the worst feared social groups in Germany, as they were viewed as not only work shy, but homeless as well. In 1933, Hitler banned marriage between a gypsy and a German citizen, for fear of contaminating society. In 1938, the decree for the ‘struggle against the gypsy plague’ was issued, and as a result, gypsies had to be registered to ensure complete racial separation from Germans. Hitler could not just simply target these groups of people, he had to convince the public it was right to do so in the first place, and to begin with, as always, he stirred up resentment and anger towards the social outcasts amongst the population of Nazi Germany, through endless propaganda. Then, he took things up a level and began saying that in order to get his desirable perfect Aryan race, he would need to exterminate all possibility of corrupting the pure race with un-pure genes. To do this, he passed a sterilisation law, and interestingly enough, he did this only shortly after the Nazis had come to power, in July 1933. As an effect, by 1945, between 320-350,000 men and women were compulsorily sterilised. Even after the law was passed, Hitler still was paranoid about opposition arising, and he created concentration camps, where 1000’s upon 1000’s of social delinquents were sent off to be indoctrinated to not defy the Nazi regime, or to face serious consequences, one of which was named the final solution. In 1937 a youth concentration camp was set up, and in 1938, another round up caught around 11,000 gypsies, tramps and beggars, who were all sent to Buchenwald concentration camp. The final solution was the last step Hitler took to securing a single party state with no opposition. In 1939, the Nazis secretly began killing ‘burdens to society’ using carbon monoxide gas, which later became the main way during the holocaust, that many millions of Jews were exterminated. However, despite many protests, some people believed this act to be right and only a normal human thing to do. People had become so brainwashed by the propaganda regime, that people wrote to the Fuhrer asking for ‘mercy killings’.
The persecution of the Jews played an important role in how Hitler got rid of his minorities of society. Because people had been so completely brainwashed by Nazi propaganda, they believed it was right to think that Jews were inferior to themselves. In schools, youngsters were taught how to spot a Jew in a crowd, being told you can normally tell if they have an unusually long nose. Bizarre as it sounds, people had been indoctrinated for so long that they would believe almost anything. Hitler passed many laws against the Jews, the most significant of which was in 1935, on the 15th September, The Nuremburg law which deprived Jews of German citizenship and made marriage and sexual relations illegal between Jews and Germans.
In addition, pathetically in November 1936, Jews were not even allowed to say the salute of ‘Heil Hitler’. Similarly to the Night of the Long Knives, Hitler targeted the Jewish race in a single night. It was called the night of the broken glass, and following the murder of one Nazi official, 91 Jews were murdered, 191 synagogues were ruined, and 7,000 businesses destroyed. 30,000 Jews were arrested and taken to concentration camps, and an estimated 2,000 were murdered, almost certainly by the gas chambers. It is important to note that almost all of this juvenile terrorism was carried out by the Police State. Because of the ‘night of the broken glass’, as of 3rd December 1936, Jewish businesses were completely overtaken by Aryan executives. The Genocide of the Jewish race was protested against strongly, but those who protested were soon sent to concentration camps.
Another deterrent for social misfits was the ‘Hashude’. This was a housing estate, completely controlled by Nazis in which families were ‘sentenced’ to live there. It was a last chance given before families were sent to concentration, or labour camps, which was the final solution. The men were made to work and the women were taught how to look after their children properly and to keep the house in order and clean, as there were daily inspections. The children attended school. Alcohol was prohibited and the guards could enter the house at any time. There was no escape as there was no back door. If the families were not up to standard, they could face punishments such as extra drill, or locked up in a cell with little or no food. It was a crude version of big brother with strict rules and fierce consequences if you did not get it right. The Hashude aimed to reform criminals and brainwashed them with propaganda which cohersed them gently back into the regime. Rebels were not tolerated and were sent straight to concentration camps. In other words if you did not change your state of mind, you were out. It really was a last chance. After the war, Germans did however admit that it was an expensive method of deterring social burdens, although it was mostly effective.
Another reason why there was little opposition in Nazi Germany was the re-organisation of the protestant church. In 1933, almost all Germans were Christians, and completely abolishing the church would be far too risky and controversial. Instead, Hitler decided to control and ‘Nazify’ the church. In June the same year, a concordat was signed between Hitler and the Catholic Church. It stated that the church will be left alone and allowed to continue as usual, if they did not interfere with the government. Their response was that they agreed to keep their distance and that they agreed with many of the Nazi ideas as well. As for the protestant church, Hitler united all into one and renamed it the ‘Reich Church’ and all Protestants became German Christians. They wore Nazi uniforms and used the swastika, salutes etc. In summary, the Nazis had militarised religion. Hitler handled his opposition by using many of the ‘stick’ methods, for example, Schneider was arrested in 1934 for displaying public Anti-Nazi views. He was then sent to a concentration camp in 1937, stretched on a rack, and whipped. He was then sentenced to an isolation cell, and died soon after. Defiance to the regime was simply not tolerated. The situation was apocalyptic to the Christian church. Hitler had completed corrupted the Protestant church and replaced it with ‘worshipping’ Hitler.
In conclusion, the key to the fact that there was little or no opposition in Nazi Germany was the Police State. Briefly, Hitler would not have been able to cope if he had not the alliance of a police force capable of almost anything. If there was no force, people could have got away with rebelling the regime and uproar would have followed. Summarizing this, if there was no ‘stick’ the ‘carrot’ would not have been effective enough to prevent opposition.
A third reason why there was little or no opposition in Nazi Germany was the effects of Hitler’s economic policies. His three promises to his people were bread, freedom, and most importantly, work, as after the depression caused by the Wall Street crash, people were desperate and live in poverty and disease. Hitler’s campaign attracted the poor, and he began schemes similar to those of US President Roosevelt who had faced a similar crisis following the crash of the stock market.
Hitler created work schemes with the main principal to rebuild Germany by making public buildings, building roads etc, into Greater Nazi Germany. Yet, more significantly, conscription was the most important factor in employment. From the Wall Street crash to 1938 unemployment fell from 5.6 million to just a mere 0.5 million, and this was all thanks to conscription and compulsory schemes created by the Nazi party. There was no unemployment benefit for those who did comply with the job schemes, so it looked like the better option to take. This was part of the ‘carrot’ side to Hitler’s approach to tackling unemployment. The other side, the ‘stick’, was previously discussed in Hitler’s social policies. The Police State was enforced if rebellion was seen. During the war, everybody was encouraged forcefully to participate and ‘do their part’ for their ‘beloved Fuhrer’. Hitler tried his best to please everybody. Small businesses e.g. shopkeepers or local craftsmen found it difficult to compete with leading department stores, so the party banned new chain stores and made it illegal for standing stores to expand. As an immediate result, local businesses flourished and the value of trade doubled between 1933-1937. Big businesses were prospered by rearmament plans and factories began to produce arms for the army. Big profits were made, and during the war particularly, the industry boomed. Unskilled were hit hardest by the depression, but all unemployment was resolved by the work schemes imposed by Hitler. Farmers were seen as the most important group of people in business and trade as they provided all food for the population. Their debts were ignored and food prices were allowed to increase.
Nevertheless, it was not all as simple as it seemed. The party said a minimum of 65 eggs were to be laid every year per hen. In addition, there was a lack of labourers for they had all gone to the cities in search of unskilful labour in factories. This meant life was difficult for Farmers. This was where Strength through Joy came in. This was a scheme aimed particularly at the working class. It organised leisure activities for people who needed a well-deserved break. Activities included things such as hiking, swimming, going to the cinema (not forgetting those propaganda trailers), trips to the theatre, and just general fitness promoting sports and hobbies. This was part of the ‘carrot’ side of the propaganda encouraging people to follow the regime. In addition, Beauty of Labour was a scheme set up, similar to a trade union but obviously the only one of its kind as the Nazis banned all trade unions. It entailed persuasion of employers to improve general working conditions for employees, such as air conditioning and heating, and hot meals in the factory. However, workers could not strike for better pay or conditions, and in some areas, they were prevented from moving to a better job. In general, the German labour front was enforced using constant propaganda, for example poster campaigns aimed at certain groups. For example, when the new Volkswagen Beetle (or the people’s car) was launched, there was a lot of publicity, which was showered over the people of Germany. They were literally drunk on propaganda courtesy of the Nazi government. Of course, the people never saw what went on behind the façade of prosperous events in Germany, as all newspapers were censored from anti-Nazi material. Papers soon began to stop printing such content as it was not allowed to sell, and so to maximise profits of sales, News was completely pro-Nazi material.
In conclusion, I think that the main reason why Hitler’s economic policies helped minimise opposition was because of the laws and schemes passed. If you did not comply with the unemployment programmes, you were not better off as there was no dole payment, and you were almost destined for a labour camp or prison. There was no alternative.
Finally, the last reason why there was little or no opposition in Nazi Germany was Hitler’s foreign policy. In summary, propaganda was used to gain support of the country’s people, and reverse the treaty of Versailles. In 1935, Hitler’s first propaganda success was the Saar plebiscite. This gave Germany its rich resources back, so the rebuilding of Greater Germany could begin. The second step was the remilitarisation of the Rhineland in 1936. This gave Germany much more control of itself, and the League of Nations did nothing to stop Hitler in his tracks. Next came the Sudentenland, claimed to be needed to unite Germans together, and more ‘Lebensraum’, or living space, for the people. The same excuse was used to gain the remainder of the Czech republic. Hitler was in complete control of the situation as the League was weakened as the US was not a member and they had no army. These were all seen as propaganda victories, but Hitler took it one step too far by forming an alliance with Russia then moving in to invade Poland. This resulted in war, which slowly resulted in the end of the Nazi regime. As an effect from the war, rationing was inflicted. There was little or no hot water, women went back to work, most men of that generation had been completely wiped out by the war, and depression fell.
In conclusion, propaganda here was a vital ingredient to Hitler’s foreign policy as it was a way of letting people know how the front was doing. Of course, people never read anything negative due to censorship, so nobody really knew the truth at all.
In all, yes, propaganda played a very important role in creating little or no opposition in Germany, but it was not the single most important factor. Propaganda only coerced people into the indoctrination spell cast by Hitler and not everybody was hypnotised. Those who could see through his diabolical statements and ideas rebelled from the regime. However, they were stopped by the Police State and I think it is the force applied to keep things in order, was the more significant reason because without the Police State, uproar would have occurred, possibly a revolution similar to that of Russia. The Police State was needed to track down the criminals and ‘burdens to the community’.
Finally, I think that the propaganda was used to allow the Nazi party to take hold of the nations imagination at a time of depression and low esteem, following the First World War. Using the ‘carrot’ of full employment and ‘Strength through Joy’, and the ‘stick’ of his ruthless totalitarian regime, his dreams of power and control were able to develop unchecked.
The most important reason why there was little or no opposition in Nazi, therefore, is propaganda; because it changed, the populations state of mind as to what people thought was acceptable. On the other hand, a revolt would have occurred without the police state. However, it was Propaganda planted the seeds of ideas and changed people’s views and so permitted the horrors of the Nazi regime.
