Nazi’s Propaganda in the XX Century Essay

Exclusively available on Available only on

Updated: Mar 5th, 2024

Table of Contents

Introduction
Main Text
Conclusion
Works cited
Footnotes

Introduction

Hitler scornfully concerned to the ability of people to understand the events. If he was alive today could note, that people use only in a roundabout way belief and in the reflections apply simple heuristics. Effective propaganda is necessary on heuristics and addresses to emotions. Hitler has written in Mein Kampf: “It [propaganda] influence should be aimed mainly at emotions and only in very limited degree on so-called intelligence. We should avoid excessive intellectual inquiries in relation to our people. The susceptibility of weights is very limited, their intelligence is insignificant, but ability to forget – is huge. As consequence of these facts, all effective propagation should be limited by few positions, and infinitely repeat these slogans until the latest representative of people will not understand in them that is required to you “¹

Main Text

Different political parties, the organizations, the nations use propaganda to find support to the ideals or actions. The propagandist can be the person who tries to involve people under the banners by the means of manipulation with the facts (which can be or to not be truthful) calculated on strong emotional effect. The most effective and powerful propaganda was used by Nazis. As a result they have seized power in Germany.

The Nazi party used propaganda in various directions and has reached horrifying results. In the beginning they used propagation to get support of Germans and to reach authority, later – to get support of expansion, to war and the Holocaust. Hitler has realized the importance of propaganda even before the First World War in Vein where his basic ideas have developed. During the first world Hitler observed the effect of propaganda on German people.

At first, Nazis used propaganda technologies to draw attention of other political organizations of the right wing, then, after the departure of imprisonment by Hitler, the party becomes better organized and, finally, propaganda is used for the achievement of authority. Having reached authority, Nazis continued to use the propaganda machine already for other purposes. The importance of propaganda for Nazis confirms the fact of the creation of the Ministry of public education and propagation led by recognized master Joseph Goebbles. Goebbles was engaged in a practical embodiment of ideas by Hitler by the means of slogans, newspapers, magazines, posters, radio, mass assemblies, and performances.

The Nazi party thoroughly relied and used the propaganda in achievement of authority and support of the ideas. Features of Nazi propaganda cannot be considered outside of following unevident aspects: true national traditions (archetypes, mentalities) corresponding territories and nationalities; theoretical base and historical practice of aggressive fundamentalism (for any mode of the Axis respecting it was not limited to pure nationalism, always bringing under it the certain speculative or “well forgotten” ² conceptual basis); history of the public relations in XX century and, in particular, the century which have occured in the middle in the field of commercial of transition from ” promotion of the goods ” to ” promotion of an image “³ ; the transition explaining that efficiency of “promotion” of crude and eclectic ideologies which historians-Marxists traditionally explained a low cultural level and marginal, and steady average layers of the Central European society.

Having reached the authority Nazis allowed themselves to involve the resources of machinery of state and, thus, to deduce Nazi propaganda on a qualitative new step of development. On the one hand, they got the access to public finances and having been reliable for the large industrialists who have offered, for example, on February, 20th, 1933 3 million marks for carrying out of pre-election campaign, could expand application of the old, tested forms of propaganda: through poster art, carrying out of assemblies, processions, distribution of leaflets, etc.

The operation of broadcasting with a view of psychological processing the population became one of the main methods of Nazi propaganda.

Propaganda strategy of nazi Germany has appeared conceptually most close to strategy of simplification, reduction in price and unification of production, bulk sellings, aggressive advertising. The researchers allocate two characteristic attributes of such approach: a principle of simplicity. “A secret of effective propaganda is refusal of aspiration to speak about many things and a concentration of all efforts on few questions. It is necessary to pay to them the attention of people constantly… Up to such degree that they became clear to any person from the street” ⁴– Gobbles approved; a principle of the scope and concentration. “Total influence on people, maintenance of uniform reaction to events”⁵, – so the head of national broadcasting of Reich defined a problem of propaganda.

The Prominent aspect of such propagandist line, industrial character providing mass character and cheapness admits. The accent is done on technology. Vladimir Lenin spoke about the importance of a cinema, Joseph Gobbles – about basic value of broadcasting for “social revolution” in Germany.

The reasons of prevalence of such approach are following factors: the domination in a society of power model of authority and submission (instead of charismatic (Italian) or paternalistic (Spanish)), originating Prussian army traditions and association of Germany by Bismarck ” iron and blood “⁶; the domination of the industrial way of life partially inherited from the Second empire, partially cultivated by general labour mobilization; the absence of more ancient dominants of the social device and statehood, than two specified above.

The activity of Hitleryugend should promote the formation of “national community”, rallying in struggle against enemies during the war. In nobleness and a height of this purpose the majority of youth rendered hard, quite often social help by to adult fellow citizens trusted, providing with that durability of rear of hitlerite army. It is possible to result many examples of self-renunciation, unselfishness and even the self-sacrifice, shown during these actions; rendering assistance to families of victims, invalids, elderly in difficult conditions of military years answered norms and values nazi humanity, but they were used by a nazi top in the criminal purposes, for prolongation of its domination in conditions of become more and more hopeless war for Germany.

Alongside with daily actions, character and which orientation quite often varied, the youth has appeared involved and in more scale and long-term campaign. One of them was participation in the land development, occupied by hitlerite armies in the East. In February, 1940 at a youth management of reich the special bureau on resettlement of youth “East” has been founded. It had close contacts with SS and personally Hitler which among other things was still and reichcomisar ” on strengthening German spirit ” in the grasped territories of Poland and Czeckia. A number of territories has been declared the “areas” of Hitleryungend” “, including areas in the north and northwest of Poland – on a watercourse of Varta and in “the Polish corridor “.

One of the factors, which influenced the development of system of nazi propaganda, was the consecutive gain a mode of monopoly for illumination of events in mass media. Within 1933 Nazis have concentrated management of broadcasting and press, have crushed an oppositional press and have legislatively issued a taken place unification by a number of decisions and laws (in particular, the order ” About protection of people and the state ” from February, 28th, 1933 had been limited a freedom of speech, and ” the law on editors ” from October, 4th, 1933 has finally transformed all German press into the tool of Nazi domination). That had been created a uniform ideological climate that has allowed Nazis free, not being afraid of an ideological competition to form public opinion.

At last, the mentioned expansion of a field of propaganda activity and as consequence, necessity of more precise coordination of efforts at carrying out of the propaganda companies have caused serious changes in the structure of Nazi propaganda. On March, 13th, 1933 the Ministry of national education and propaganda was formed.

National socialist propaganda, forming a positive image of the new state in public consciousness, was not limited to promotion of the slogans varied depending on to what address group they intended. To one of the most effective methods belonged the use by nazis of indistinct hopes which the certain part of German people connected with A.Gitler’s name.

Effective method of psychological processing of the population became the designing of an image of the enemy in the mass consciousness. Applying the concept of “mythology of an ethnotrauma” by the described historical period, it is possible to tell, that Nazi party created with a view of the maximal mobilization of people the archetypical opposition “they-we”, loading concept “they” a maximum quantity of negative ethnic symbols. Forcing fear before communistic threat, using in the purposes an ethnotrauma put of the German nation by the defeat in the First World War and its consequences, kindling anti-Semitic moods, propaganda eliminated many obstacles in a way of an establishment of Nazi dictatorship.

Conclusion

As we see, Nazi propaganda used the most low feelings of the person which sympathies promoted fascists of the widest broad masses, and not only Germany, but also many other things of the countries of the Axis. It used all means for achievement of the purposes: from cinema up to architecture, but the greatest value from all mass-media was given to radio. Radioreceivers by 30-th years were almost in each house and, therefore it was represented possible to influence huge quantity of people psychologically. By means of propaganda in mass consciousness of German people hatred to the so-called “not Aryan” nations, the highing of Hitler and power of the German military machine was spread.