Evaluate the impact of propaganda in the Nazi regime.

University Degree Historical and Philosophical studies

Colin Malloy

Evaluate the impact of propaganda in the Nazi regime

Adolf Hitler and the Nazi party came to power in January 1933 and held power until the end of the Second World War in 1945. (Fulbrook 1990 p176-202) During this time of the Nazi regime, Hitler, along with his minister of propaganda, Dr Joseph Goebbels, took control of all media output, giving them ‘one voice’ towards the population of Germany. (Fulbrook 1990 p182) Having control of all the media output, such as literature, art, music, radio, films, and newspapers, gave the Nazis one of their greatest weapons during their time in power… an unopposed propaganda machine. (Snyder 1995 p273) Propaganda is seen as the art of persuasion, it is the ability to persuade others that ‘your side’ of the story is correct. It might take the form of persuading others that your military might is too great to be challenged or that your political might within a nation is too great or popular to challenge. (Rutherford 1985 p8) The Nazis however, were more concerned with using propaganda to build the ‘myth’ of Hitler, the image of him being the saviour of Germany and the myth of the ‘Aryan’ German. This myth being that the pure German was the superior race through nobility of blood. (Snyder 1995 p277) To evaluate the impact of propaganda within the Nazi regime, this essay will focus on the importance, or the worth of the impact to which the propaganda had through these myths. It will focus firstly on the ‘Hitler myth’, and how Hitler’s image made an impact on the German population with the use of propaganda. It will look at the radio, the impact broadcasted propaganda had when portraying this myth. It will then look at the ‘Aryan myth’, and how the youth of Germany were fed propaganda from the outset of their lives, allowing them to know nothing else but this myth. (Snyder 1995 p278) And the impact this propaganda had upon the Jewish population of Nazi Germany.

It has been suggested by Ian Kershaw in his book ‘the Hitler myth’ that at the peak of Hitler’s popularity nine Germans in ten were ‘Hitler supporters’, ‘Fuhrer believers’. He claims, with certainty that support for the Nazi party never approached the same levels as it did for Hitler, suggesting that the support, praise or belief for Hitler went way beyond those who thought of themselves as Nazis. He claims that Hitler embraced many who were critical of the institutions, policies, and ideology of the regime. It could be said that the impact of the ‘Hitler myth’ was ‘massive’, along with the propaganda that portrayed it. The worth of the image of the ‘Fuhrer’ would be ‘priceless’ in providing the regime with its mass base of support. (Kershaw 1987) Hitler himself paid the greatest attention to the building of his public image. He gave great care to style and posture during speeches and other public engagements. He was keen to avoid any hint of human failings, as in his refusal to be seen wearing spectacles or participate in any form of sport or other activity in which he might not excel and which might make him an object of amusement rather than admiration. Even his celibacy was portrayed by Goebbels as a sacrifice of personal happiness for the welfare of the nation. (Bessel 1987 p41-45) Hitler worked wonders for his own image as the fuhrer, but it could be argued that a more dynamic impact was to come from radio broadcasts. (Snyder 1995 p279)

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Dr Goebbels considered the radio to be his number one weapon in transmitting propaganda. In 1933 Goebbels appointed Eugen Hadamowsky as head of the chamber of radio, and on the 16th August of the same year, Hadamowsky issued a report on what had been accomplished in a little more than a month. (Snyder 1995 p279) The report read, “We National Socialists must show enough dynamism and enthusiasm coupled with lightening speed to impress Germany and the whole world. Party comrade Dr Goebbels ordered me on July 13th 1933, to purge the German radio of influence opposed to our cause. I can now report that the work has been done thoroughly”. Throughout the day and evening the German public would hear broadcasts portraying the fuehrer as the nation’s most precious asset and would describe the Nazi way of life as desirable. It could be argued that the propaganda used by the Nazis was so constant and unopposed, that it effectively ‘brainwashed’ a nation into believing what the Nazis wanted them to believe. (Snyder 1995 p279) It had the biggest part of a nation believing that Hitler, the Fuhrer, was a ‘godlike’ figure. He was seen in this way by most of the people beneath him. Everyone owed allegiance to him and he always got his way. The phrase “The Fuhrer knows best” became a common saying throughout Germany. This ingenious Nazi propaganda had turned the mild Adolf Hitler into the ‘fuhrer’ of Germany, who was now seen by the people of Germany, as the saviour of Germany. (Kershaw 1987)

As well as being an ingenious form of propaganda, it could be argued that the ‘Hitler Myth’ increased Hitler's confidence too much, and made him too powerful, forcing him into decisions which he may not have other wise made with a little more opposition or a little less popularity. It could be said that Hitler started out with a plan of action, It has been said that he wrote this plan in his book ‘Mein Kampf’, (Watt 1974) yet it would be difficult to believe that even Hitler himself would have believed that his idea’s would actually become reality. Hitler's huge platform of popularity made his own power position ever more invincible; it provided the basis for the extreme ways in the Third Reich. It allowed for Hitler’s personal ideas and obsessions to become translated into a reachable reality. It could be suggested that the mass adulation actually caused Hitler to believe he was indeed ‘superhuman’, and that he would lead a pure German ‘Aryan’ race. (Watt 1974 p258)

The ‘Aryan myth’ and Nazi ideology was injected into society from an early age. Every German child would say ‘Heil Hitler’ throughout the day, everyday, every time they would greet someone in the street, or at school, or when they would greet their parents. (Ayer, 1995, p144) This greeting, accompanied by the raising of the right arm, high up in to the air as a salute to the fuhrer of Germany could be said to have had a great impact on every child, and possibly most adults. (Wiesenthal, 1997) It could easily be said that the children of Germany, were seen as a major propaganda weapon of the Nazi’s them-selves. Guided by the Nazis, they would ‘install’ their ‘rules’ and ‘beliefs’ from the outset of a child’s life. (Wiesenthal, 1997) When a child would leave the house to head off for school, with the words ‘Heil Hitler’ upon his or her lips, he or she would possibly walk down a street covered with the ‘swastika’ flag, the Nazi emblem, hanging from almost every window of every other house in the street. (Ayer, 1995 p144) Once at school the German child would ‘soak up’ the propaganda that was forced upon them. All aspects of Nazi ideology, and in particularly the preaching of anti-Semitism, that being the hatred towards the Jews, and the need for a ‘pure’ German population, the need for an ‘Aryan’ population would be the everyday routine. (Gutman, 1995) It could be argued that there was no other condition wherever Nazis were in power; and in Germany at that time, they did rule everywhere. Their supremacy over the German child, as they learnt, ate, slept, and grew up, would be almost complete. (Wiesenthal, 1997)

The children of Germany would grow into Nazi teenagers; join such groups as the ‘Jungvolk’, the junior division of the ‘Hitler youth’ or the ‘jungmadel’ for the young girls of Germany, where they would endure more preaching of the Nazi ways. (Wiesenthal, 1997) In these youth organisations, the young ‘Aryan’ teenagers would be fed with more Nazi propaganda, in the form of enjoyment; they would ‘bond’ together, wear the brown shirt uniform of the ‘Hitler youth’ and preach the might of the fuhrer to younger children. These organisations had something for everyone, but were open to only the ‘pure’ German children. (Snyder 1995 p187) Once the teenagers had reached the age of fourteen, the young women would then join the ‘bund deutscher madel’, which was better known as the league of German girls where the young women would be prepared for marriage and motherhood. (Snyder 1995 p45-46) The young boys however would join the ‘Hitler Jugend’, more commonly referred to as the ‘Hitler youth’, all the way to the age of twenty-one. Here the young men would be gradually drawn away from their families, with a routine covering the entire week. Every free hour was monopolized, and the parents dared not object to this kind of conformity. The failure of any boy to join the ‘Hitler youth’ was regarded as a violation of civic responsibility. (Snyder 1995 p161-162) These youngsters, who lived more and more with their comrades, and with the impact of the Nazi propaganda, would gradually turn into young German adults, thinking and breathing only in the ways of an ‘Aryan’ Nazi. But not everyone in Germany fitted this picture of perfection of the ‘Aryan’, and not all children had the preaching of Nazi ways. (Snyder 1995 p277-278)

Due to the mass propaganda surrounding the ‘superior race’ or ‘Aryan’ myth, the Nazis saw to it that a ‘euthanasia policy’ was to come into effect to deal with the ‘unsuitable’ children of Germany. Any child with a disease, such as idiocy or mongolism, or any deformity, in particular the absence of limbs, or spina bifida would come under this policy and would be subjected to death. (Rees 1997 p81) The youth were also ‘picked out’ due to the ‘Aryan’ myth. If they had a bad family background, and the Nazis classed them as ‘delinquent’, then they would be forcibly sterilized as teenagers. This sterilization of teenagers and the ‘euthanasia policy’ would effectively, in the eyes on the Nazis, cleanse the future German ‘Aryan’ race. (Rees 1997 p83) The Jewish population also fell foul to the ‘Aryan’ myth. The Nazis saw the Jewish population as a pollutant, or bacteria, which was poisoning and infecting the healthy ‘Aryan’ stock. (Snyder 1995 p201) In 1941 after Germany had invaded the Soviet Union, (Snyder 1995 p84) Hitler and the Nazis saw the Jews in the way of victory, and came up with a ‘final solution’ for ridding Europe of the Jews. It could be said that this ‘final solution’ was to see the process of the Jews move from exclusion to persecution, then to expulsion, and ultimately to annihilation through the Holocaust. (Snyder 1995 p84) The Holocaust was used to describe Hitler’s attempt to exterminate all European Jews, and the Nazis succeeded in physical destroying approximately six million Jews in Europe during their time in power. (Snyder 1995 p168-169)

It is in no doubt that the so-called propaganda stunts of the ‘Hitler myth’ and the ‘Aryan myth’ caused a ‘massive’ impact in the Nazi regime. Propaganda set the direction of young peoples lives within the regime and was one of the major causes of millions of deaths. It could easily be said that because the ‘Hitler myth’ and the ‘Aryan myth’ had such a big impact on the people of Germany, it actually led to an ‘over positive’ impact on Hitler himself, or even a negative impact. It could be argued that his over confidence, because of propaganda actually led to Hitler’s eventual downfall due to his own belief that he was ‘superhuman’ and ‘invincible’. It could be argued that he made decisions because of his stature, a stature that was glorified over and over again through propaganda and with no opposition. Hitler could effectively do whatever he wanted to do, therefore he did do too much, and he eventually did the unthinkable in the Holocaust. The burning question would be that if the propaganda did not make such a big impact on Hitler himself, would he have taken such unbelievable actions has he did?

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Bibliography

Eleanor H. Ayer with Helen Waterford and Alfons Heck, (1995), Parallel journeys, New York, Atheneum.

Richard Bessel, (1987), Life in the Third Reich, Oxford University Press.

Mary Fulbrook, (1990), A concise history of Germany, Cambridge university press.

Israel Gutman, (1995 Ed), Encyclopedia of the Holocaust. Vols. 1-4. NY: Macmillan. http://motlc.wiesenthal.com/pages/t030/t03025.html

Ian Kershaw, (1987), The "Hitler Myth": Image and Reality in the Third Reich, Oxford University Press. http://college.hmco.com/history/west/mosaic/chapter15/source438.html

Laurence Rees, (1997), The Nazis, a Warning from History, BBC Worldwide Ltd

Ward Rutherford, (1985), Hitler’s Propaganda Machine, Bison books Ltd.

Louis L. Snyder, (1995), Encyclopedia of the Third Reich, (2nd Ed), Robert Hale, London.

Introduced by D.C.Watt, (1974 Ed), Hitler’s Mein Kampf, Hutchinson & Co. Ltd.

The Simon Wiesenthal Centre, (1997), Museum of tolerance online

http://motlc.wiesenthal.com/text/x35/xm3503.html