The Use Of Propaganda In The Nazi Regime Essay Example For Students

The Use Of Propaganda In The Nazi Regime Essay subject = history:Holocausttitle = The use of propaganda in the Nazi Regimeand in their Totalitarian Controlpapers = The Role of Propaganda in the NaziTakeover and in Their Totalitarian ControlWhen one thinks of the termpropaganda, what comes to mind? Would it bring a positive response? Wouldit bring a negative response? When one thinks of propaganda in associationwith the Holocaust, what comes to mind? A positive response or a negativeresponse? Most likely a negative response. Why is propaganda any differentfrom what any political party or regime does, namely to disseminate its views?Is propaganda simply the name we give to views which we do not like or whichwe think to be untrue? And finally, was the role of propaganda in the Nazisassumption of power overstated? (Daniel Goldhagen, 1996)As many peoplewho are learned in the field of the Holocaust will agree, propaganda playedan extremely vital part in the Nazis rise to power, as well as their brain-washingof the German population int o detesting all, of what they considered, hereticsto the degree of accepting their murders. Validity of the accusations uponwhich they attempted to justify their action against the Jews was not an issue. The issue in this case was its power of persuasion. Although to achieve thisgoal the Nazi party deemed it necessary to monopolize the communications, media,and entertainment industries, Germany already had a strong anti-Semitic background. Europeananti-Semitism is an outgrowth of Christianity. Since the time of the RomanEmpire, Christian leaders preached boundlessly against Jews. It escalatedfrom generation to generation, for as long a the Jews rejected Jesus as theirMessiah, the Jews challenged the whole belief system of Christianity. Theidea that it was the Jews that killed their savior also evolved from that timeperiod. Along those lines, the notion that all Jews of forever were responsiblefor Jesus death, for they approved of the crime, would have certainly doneit again (according to the anti-Semitics), and had always rejected his teachings. Asthe Medieval period came, the Christians hatred for Jews further articulatedand was brought to a new level. The Christians in the Medieval world saw Jewsin twofold opposition to Christianity: they rejected his revelation and werehis killers. In addition, church members had much detested the Jews on thebasis that they should have accepted Jesus as their Messiah. Consequently,persecution and killing of the Jews became a part of everyday life, leavingmany regions of Western Europe without any Jews by the end of the sixteenthcentury. Entering the nineteenth century, German anti-Semitism went throughan acute transformation. It was then that it made its change from a religiousissue, to a racial one. Germans naturally detested Jews, and with a passion. Nineteenth century Germans now saw Jews as the symbol for everything awryin their declining economy, even though they made up but a mere one percentof the population. Soon the cultural taboos that had formerly shaped the moralfabric of Germany at the time lost all influence. It was then that Germananti-Semitism reached a high point: false, cruel, yet indisputable accusations. Prostitution, sexual degradation and depravity, and the sexual assaultingof unsuspecting German virgins are examples. The Germans also imagined Jewconducting ritual murders. By the time the Nazi party instituted totalitariancontrol, all that remained was to build on the framework provided by the nineteenthcentury. A framework which included anti-Semitism being common knowledge,Germans obsessive hatred toward Jews, the common belief of Jews being thereason for their collapsing economy, the belief of Jews being evil and a sourceof great harm. This new type of anti-Semitism was of a savage nature and alogic that it was necessary to rid Germany, along with the rest of the world,of Jews by whatever means necessary.Already having a foundation for theircause, all the Nazis had to do was execute their strategies. Even before gainingfull control in January of 1933, they used all possible methods, and even introducednew forms of publicity, to get national attention and recognition. The Naziparty sponsored mass meetings and pageants, distributed all sorts of visualaids and propaganda, and assumed control of the radio and film industry. Oncethe Nazis gained control they used all the above means and more to strengthentheir totalitarian control on the German population. By means of blatant falseclaims and accusations, the Nazis made untrue justifications for politicaland military aggression, as well as enthusiasm toward Nazi goals. Hitlerknew how he had to manipulate propaganda to get positive results from thepopulation. In his book, Mein Kampf, he wrote:To whom should propagandabe addressed? To the scientifically trained intelligentsia or to the lesseducated masses? It must be addressed always and solely to the masses. What the intelligentsia?need is not propaganda but scientific instruction. The content of propaganda is as far from being science as the object depictedin a poster is from being art. A posters art lies in the designers abilityto capture the attention of the masses by form and color. The functionof propaganda does not lie in the scientific training of the individual, butrather in directing the attention of the masses toward certain facts?It mustbe directed toward the emotions, and only to a very limited extent toward theso-called intellect. The receptive ability of the masses is very limited,their intelligence is small, their forgetfulness enormous. Therefore, allpropaganda has to limit itself to a very few points and repeat them like slogansuntil even the very last man is able to understand what you want him to understand. And that is the basis upon which Hitler set up his whole campaign. Hewanted to aim his propaganda crusade exclusively toward the masses. In doingso they would accept it as a decree. Furthermore, it was extremely importantthat the material exposed to the masses appeal to the interests of the majorities,and not address itself to just the intellect. Propaganda had to be popularand be geared in order for even the most simple-minded individuals to understand. Environmental Crisis EssayBillboards, poster,leaflets, and flyers were everywhere. Some were aimed at the adult population,some at children. Most commonly, they were to urge the public to join Hitlerscrusade, for there was a job and a place for everybody. The Nazis offeredmen jobs in Hitlers army. If they were inexperienced, they offered trainingcamps, seminars, and classes, in which they were taught everything from militarymaneuvers to how to identify a Jew.As effective of the other forms ofNazi propaganda were, the best results came from the media: newspapers, radio,and film. Control of the media was the key to gaining control of the peoplesminds. Joseph Goebbles took the first step to assuming full control of thenews-wire services. He then merged the different wire-services into the GermanNews Bureau. This allowed him to control the distribution of news at its source. Now that the Nazis had full control of the news circulation in Germany, theybegan making laws pertaining to it. For example, in 1933, Goebbles institutedthe Editors Law. This stated that all newspapers had to go through his ministry. Accordingly, the editors were responsible for every picture and word in theirpublication, and if Goebbles did not like what was being printed, the editorswould be punished. Although, they would most commonly lose their jobs, Goebbles,on occasion, would have the person sent to a concentration camp. His regulationson new circulation so limited the liberty of the reporter, that daily pressconferences were often held. There, Goebbles would dictate what should bewritten in the article and how it should look. Unfortunately for the Nazis,much of the population of Germany stopped reading newspapers, altogether,for they already knew what would be written. Since Goebbles realizedhe could not brainwash the people just through the newspaper, he then tookover radio communication. By making sure stores kept a plentiful stock ofinexpensive radios, a record seventy percent of German families owned at leastone radio. If in the event that a family did not own one, the Nazis encouragedgathering in groups at home, at work, and at eating places to listen to thebroadcasts. With over a quarter of a typical days broadcasting time beingreserved solely for Nazi propaganda, the people became very vulnerable to whatthey heard. To be sure not one person was without the privilege of listeningto daily broadcastings, the Nazis had loud speakers installed all over thecountry. Goebbles also seized control of the cinemas. Still a fairly newconcept, motion pictures were very popular among the Germans. The Nazis beganmaking both movies and documentaries with extremely anti-Semitic messages. There were documentaries that were merely intended for the glorification ofthe Nazis, while other were tasteless, explicit movies based on mere blatantlies and biases produced by the Nazis and other anti-Semitic organizations. Some were so anti-Semitic that the actors requested that a telegraph be sentout publicizing that they themselves were not really Jewish. Despite the horrifyingmotion-picture campaigning, countless numbers attended these films. By now,the German population was predominantly anti-Semitic. Stage one of the Nazisplan was done. However, Nazi missionaries began coming over to the UnitedStates. Although quickly deported, they left behind their ideas. Organizationssuch as the Christian Front and the German-American Bund were formed and stronglysupported the Nazis. Newsletters and leaflets were being mass produced throughoutthe country. Luckily the majority of Americans retained their morals and acceptanceof Jews.In their quest for both world and racial domination, the Naziscovered all possible territory/subject-matter, and all possible means of accomplishingtheir goal. They monopolized and strictly monitored all branches of the communicationsand media industry. By doing this, the Nazis only allowed the people to hearwhat they wanted them to hear, and nothing more. In the midst of a major economicdepression, the German people were both vulnerable and desperate, and the unemploymentrate was very high. Thus, many people had nothing else to do beside listento the radio and read the newspaper. Naturally, there was no commercial orindustrial market, almost everything fitting into those two categories wasfailing, so it was not difficult to take over. Hitlers plan was working verywell. Reflecting on the manner in which the term propaganda is used inthis paper, it could be understandable why one could see the word as a negativeterm. Even though the dictionary defines propaganda as publicity to eitherfurther or damage ones cause, I am unable to picture myself defining Hitlerspublicity scheme as merely marketing, promotion, or advertising. Rather, Isee it as a disgusting form of disinformation (See, p. 1). In conclusion,even though the word, propaganda, can be used in reference to either positiveor negative campaigning, it is how we have come to, most often, identify ideologywhich we do not approve of or think not to be true. WorksCitedAusubel, Nathan. Pictorial History of the Jewish People. NewYork: Crown Publishers,1953. Goldhagen, Daniel. Hitlers WillingExecutioners. New York: Random House, 1996. Goldhagen, Daniel. PersonalInterview. 25 December 1996. Holocaust. World Book Encyclopedia. Http://haven.ios.com/~kimel19/index.html#index. Internet. AT;T Worldnet Service, Vrs. 3.0. Windows 95, disk. Levin,Nora. The Holocaust: The Destruction of European Jewry. New York: SchockenBooks, 1973Microsoft Encarta Encyclopedia. Computer software. Microsoft Corporation, 1996. Windows 95, 6.39 MB, CD-ROM. Rossel,Seymour. The Holocaust: The World and the Jews, 1933-1945. West Orange: Behrman House, 1992.