How Did Hitler Use Propaganda Under Joseph Goebbels

For Hitler, the communication gap and differences within the government deterred his followers from creating a solid opposition to his power. Mommsen stated, “The movement’s energies had to become totally absorbed in internal ‘disputes over areas of competency…’” (171). Another advantage Hitler had when dealing with people was his charisma. He was “uniquely talented in being able to change the minds” of officials who started to doubt the Hitler’s wisdom. Hitler had a habit of tirelessly trying to convince nonbelievers by persuasion. His behavior had people feeling that he was determined and had a sense of purpose. Along with Goebbels as Propaganda Minister, Hitler had the “fate of the nation” in him and Germany had never seen a leader like him (165). Hitler had “come to symbolize the unity and substance of the nation” (167). When complaints arose about the party and the Nazi regime, Hitler was exempt from them and citizens thought that if he only knew what was happening, then he would change it.

Another way Hitler was able to stay in power was by using propaganda to influence his people. Hitler used propaganda to control the ideas and influence the youths into trusting the Nazi party. Propaganda was used to change the youths' perspective of the Nazi party, the youth were easily able to be brainwashed into joining the Nazi party by peer pressure, enthusiasm, and coercion leading to a significant increase in membership refer to Source L. His effective use of propaganda to shape public opinion, control information, and manipulate the people played a role in spreading Nazi beliefs through media, rallies, and educational materials as mentioned in Source O. Lastly, Hitler's unique leadership qualities allowed him to gain mass numbers of loyalty from his party and people.

Propaganda is information of a biased or misleading nature, used to promote a political cause or point of view. Hitler was able to use propaganda successfully throughout his reign as leader to shine light on his views, the biggest one being anti-Semitism. The Nazi party spread their propaganda through art, music, theatre, films, books, radio, educational materials and the press. Hitler used propaganda as a way of persuading German people into prejudice. Propaganda was used

First off, propaganda enticingly misled Germans into following whatever Adolf Hitler said. It promoted a political cause or point of view. It almost

As Adolf Hitler began to gain power in Germany, propaganda was a key component of his political plan. Hitler believed that propaganda was the best way to unite the masses. He used propaganda in a different manner than Charles Foster Kane did in the film, but it had the same goal; to formulate the opinions of the people of Germany in his favor. Hitler believed that the best use of propaganda was through simple slogans that specifically targeted the emotions of the middle and lower classes. The main emotion that was targeted by Hitler and the Nazi party was terror. “Many Germans, seduced by Nazi propaganda, accepted terror as a legitimate weapon against subversives and racial defilers who threatened the new Germany” (Perry 445). As seen with the people of Germany during the 1930’s and 1940’s, propaganda can easily sway the beliefs of the people. While Hitler believed that propaganda was the key to uniting the masses, it was not through written sources that he believed the key lied to reach unity, it was through speeches. This is also seen in Citizen Kane.

The Forms of Propaganda Used by the State in Nazi Germany One of the purposes of dictatorship was to give the Nazis control of people's lives. The more control they had, the more easily they could put their aims into effect. The job of controlling people thus became one of the main tasks of the Nazi state. Party propaganda was evident throughout German society and served as a means by which the state could effectively reach every German and summon absolute loyalty to the Nazi party. Following the Nazi party's rise to power in 1933, Hitler established the Ministry of Public Enlightenment and Propaganda headed by Joseph Goebbels - who was a master of propaganda that used all means at his

In order for Adolf Hitler to become successful, he knew that he had to spread Nazism to the far corners of the world. He accomplished this to some extent by using propaganda. “Following the Nazi seizure of power in 1933, Hitler established a Reich Ministry of Public Enlightenment and Propaganda headed by Joseph Goebbels” (“Nazi Propaganda”). Goebbels was the master propagandist and orator to whom Hitler gave the responsibility of spreading the favorable image of the Nazi regime. The Nazis took control of all means of entertainment in order to spread their beliefs. “The ministry’s aim was to ensure that the Nazi message was successfully communicated through art, music, theater, films, books, radio, educational materials, and the press” (“Nazi Propaganda). The main target of the propaganda was the Jewish race. Goebbels’ “propaganda campaigns created

Aldous Huxley, author of the famous dystopian works 'Brave New World’, commented that “Propaganda gives force and direction to the successive movements of popular feeling and desire; but it does not do much to create these movements”. The decree instating the new Ministry defined its task as the spreading of “enlightenment and propaganda within the population concerning…the national reconstruction of the German Fatherland”. It sought to Nazify German culture, wiping away the Weimar decadence of the 1920s with traditional values, societal sense of racial worth, ‘Führerprincip’ and concentration of German culture, purging it of degeneracy and Üntermenschen. Joseph Goebbels had two primary objectives: To ensure nobody in Germany could see or hear anything hostile or damaging to the Party and ensure that Nazi ideology was encouraged in the most persuasive possible manner. Nazi propaganda promoted ideology by demonising the enemies of the Nazi Party, especially Jews and communists, but also capitalists and intellectuals, it maintained the personality cult around Adolf Hitler, and promoted campaigns for eugenics and Pan-Germanism.

Propaganda was recognized by Hitler and his men as an important tool for the success of a regime. 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.” Practically, propaganda was aimed at winning support for policies and keeping the population contented. Yet more than that, it was aimed to indoctrinate the nation to believe in a ‘people’s community’ and to ‘mobilize the spirit’. Goebbels wanted to create ‘one single public opinion’ that was committed to the regime, yet the effect of propaganda varied across different social groups, and changed over time. Some such as Welch thought the

Nazi propaganda films became increasingly popular throughout Hitler's reign. They "played an important role in disseminating racial antisemitism, the superiority of German military power, and the intrinsic evil of the enemies as defined by Nazi ideology" (www.ushmm.org). One film example is The Eternal Jew, which "portrayed Jews as wandering cultural parasites, consumed by sex and money" (www.ushmm.org). Other films praised Hitler and his

Prior to his upbringing and continuing, anti-Semitism propaganda was abundant in production. Nonetheless, Hitler established a Reich Ministry of Public Enlightenment and Propaganda headed by Joseph Goebbels. The Ministry's aim was to ensure the Nazi’s anti-semitic message was successfully spread through any mode of communication. The propaganda reignited the resentment and underlying hatred inside every German through the exploitation of anti-semetic myths entrenched in the European culture for generations. Propaganda also encouraged passivity and acceptance of the impending measures against Jews, as these appeared to depict the Nazi government restoring

When looking back on the events of the Nazi regime, it is impossible not to note the triumph of the libelous propaganda of minority groups. The success stems from the nationalistic and anti-Semitic thoughts born through the misfortune of being involved in World War I—a war that left Germany in financial shambles. Though Dr. Joseph Goebbels and The Ministry of Propaganda and Public Enlightenment did not start the fire of radical thoughts, they took advantage of the situation and fueled the flames with incessant propaganda commending the aforementioned ideals. As the world media blanketed the horrors of the Holocaust to the back page, millions of innocent Jews, Gypsies, homosexuals, political enemies, and Jehovah Witnesses were condemned for

Hitler had used his power and influence to hire Josef Goebbels as his Minister of Propaganda. Goebbels was able to influence Germany as a whole by controlling the mass media. He had books burned that didn’t agree with Hitler’s messages and had Anti-Semitic books produced and promoted to “educate” the public on what they should be thinking and feeling. They sent out daily instructions to the newspapers on what to publish to shine up Hitler’s image and make the people agree with his views. His campaign was successful due to all this and therefore is what put him in power and started the genocide of 11 million people. The media’s high dependency of the government restricted our country from being informed and helping sooner and brainwashed a whole country into worshipping a racist, Anti-Semitic murderer. If the media had been free to express themselves without restrictions, who knows what might have happened and how many would have

Loudspeakers were set up in public places to broadcast Hitler's speeches. He controlled the press and decided what photographs should be printed, he arranged for posters to be put up, and he made sure Hitler's speeches were broadcast on the radio. It was also Goebbels who planned the big party rallies and publicised everything Hitler did. Fear and terror was also a main contributor to keeping opposition to a minimum. Force was used where propaganda and education had failed.

It is undebatable that Hitler and the Nazi party abused propaganda and distorted the media in order to rise to power and then deceive the German population. Propaganda was incorporated into every German citizens’ life through broadcasts, posters, newspapers and speeches put on by the Führer himself. This propaganda was filled with lies and deceptions about certain ethnic groups, held strong nationalistic ideals and contorted the national German opinion. In Goebbels’s efforts to create a unified German opinion he targeted several all-encompassing groups; the military, workers, the middle class, housewives, the church and youth. The goal of targeting these groups was unified; however, the details and effects of propaganda differed throughout these groups. Occupation and social place effected the influence of propaganda over an individual and the strategies used in making propaganda effective.