Media, Propaganda, and the Cult of Personality

”The Eternal Jew” - anti-Jewish campaign run through the museums as an art exhibition in the late 1930s

Media, Propaganda, and the Cult of Personality Handout

• Hitler thought that propaganda must be directed towards the unintelligent masses and believed that effective propaganda relied on constant repetition of a few basic points

Radio, Press, and Movies

• From the very start, both Hitler and Goebbels recognized how important propaganda could be in the Nazi state
• Considerable resources were directed towards the development of the propaganda machine to: glorify the regime, spread the Nazi ideology and values (i.e. censor the unacceptable), and to win over the people and to integrate the nation’s diverse elements
• All means of public communication were brought under state control

Radio

• Goebbels and Hitler valued the spoken word over the written one
• When Nazis came to power, Goebbels brought all radio communication over state control (instead of regional control, which it had been before)
• Nazis provided cheap radios so that more German households had access to radio
• By 1939, 70% of German households had radio (highest percentage in the world)
• Radio was completely controlled by the regime
• Many public places had loudspeakers installed in them

Press

• Goebbels could not control the press as easily
• Germany had tons of newspapers, due to strong regional identities, and papers were owned privately and had no ties to the government
• Goebbels did take some steps:
• The Nazi publishing house, Eher Verlag, bought out many newspapers - by 1939 it controlled ⅔ of the German press
• Various news agencies were merged into one state controlled agency, the DNB
• Introduced a daily press conference at the Propaganda Ministry
• Oct. 1933: Editors’ Law made newspaper content the sole responsibility of the editor
• Editor’s job was now to satisfy the Propaganda Ministry
• Successful in suppressing the press, but made for bland journalism that led to a decline in newspaper circulation
• In terms of written word, Hitler’s Mein Kampf, first published in 1926, became a bestseller
• It’s popularity increased after 1930, when it was sold at a significantly lower price
• In 1936, a copy of Mein Kampf was issued to all newlywed couples

Movies

• Rallies were filmed for propaganda purposes
• Triumph of the Will: propaganda film of the 1934 Nuremberg rally
• Directed by Leni Riefenstahl
• Displayed Hitler as the heroic redeemer of an adoring public

Joseph Goebbels

Who is Joseph Goebbels?

• Insecure due to his physical limitations
• Originally a supporter of Strasser
• 1926 Hitler appointed him as Gauleiter of Berlin

What was his purpose to the Nazi Party?

• 1930 was made chief of propaganda
• Many state that Hitler would not have been as powerful as he was if it was not for Goebbels’ propaganda methods
• 1933 Became Reich minister for public enlightenment and propaganda
• Established the new ministry with 350 employees by 1937 1000

Relationship between Goebbels and Hitler, Goebbels loved hitler, looked at him as god

Relationship with other government officials

• Not very popular within Hitler’s court
• Goring, Himmler, Ribbentrop, Schacht, Strasser disliked him
• Focused mostly on what he hated rather than how to fix the problems, Jews and Communists particularly

World War II

• Losing support and influence before the war and at the beginning, objected to the war
• But once they started losing Goebbels gained back his influence
• 1943 made a rousing speech at Sportspalast stadium about the need for a “total war”
• 1944 became General Plenipotentiary for Total War--warlord on the domestic front.
• Europe against Bolshevism- cast Germany as the defender of Europe, asked for more sacrifices on the domestic population

Role of Hitler

What was the first idea of propaganda introduced by Hitler in Mein Kampf?

• He believed “propaganda must be addressed not to the intellectuals of society but only to the masses.”
• “aimed to the emotions”, psychological aspect

How was Hitler viewed by the public? How did he view himself?

• Likened himself to Jesus
• National Socialism was a religion
• Nazi leaders encouraged this idea in German schools
• Certain posters just had pictures of Hitler’s face because he represented all of nazism

What was a major propaganda method that Hitler used?

• Great orator
• aroused emotion within the audience
• climax, discharge, mass orgasm were used to describe Hitler’s speeches
• theatrical elements
• paid a lot of attention to the environment of the speeches
• practised a lot

Mass Rallies, Rituals and Ceremonies

• Goebbels, and sometimes Hitler himself, strategically planned every aspect of the rallies to ensure that they would promote the best characteristics of the party and help the people feel as though they were a part of a greater movement and emphasized the fact that Germany could create order out of chaos
• Hitler and the National Socialists established a cycle of important days in substitution for religious holy days; most of the holidays were related to important events in the coming to power of Hitler
• Nuremberg Party Rallies
• Purpose was to link the Nazis to the glories of Germany’s past
• Nuremberg was one of the leading German cities of the Holy Roman Empire in the late Middle Age and the Reformation Period and became the embodiment of national ideals in the nineteenth century
• first rally held in 1927- 30,000 people attended
• rallies held in 1923, 1927, 1929, and annually from 1933-38
• Berlin Olympics August 1936
• Goebbels viewed the Olympics as a propaganda “gold mine”
• glorify regime
• spread Nazi ideological themes w/o causing international upset
• everything was done to present a positive image of the “new Germany”
• Siegfried Eifrig lit the torch because he epitomized the Aryan race
• Jesse Owens marred the Nazi dream because he was African American and won four gold medals
• Blood Flag Ceremony
• Nazi Blutfahne (Blood flag)- Swastika flag used by the Nazi plotters during the Beer Hall Putsch. Munich police fired on the group and the flag was stained by the blood of SA Storm Trooper Andreas Bauriedl. The flag became the most revered symbol of the party. It was carried at important Nazi ceremonies and the blood on the flag was seen as carrying sacred symbolic power. During the Nuremberg rallies, Hitler used the Blutfahne to santify new flags in a kind of religious ritual. Honored guards would present new banners and Hitler would touch them to the Blood flag.The Blood flag was last used at the Volkssturm Induction Ceremony in Berlin.
• Other rituals
• Heil Hitler greeting
• the Nazi Salute
• the Horst Wessel anthem
• many different military uniforms to strengthen the individual’s identity within the regime