IGCSE History: Germany – Propaganda in the Nazi Police State

IGCSE History: Germany – Propaganda in the Nazi Police State Nazi propaganda Problems Goebbels’ solutions Newspapers Most newspapers were local and some were owned byJews. Many political partieswho opposed the Nazis hadtheir own newspapers ● Took over most publishers –end of independent press ● Controlled what journalistswrote ● Press agency – tellnewspapers what the newsshould be ● Propaganda Ministry –issued daily orders tonewspapers ● Anti-Nazi newspapersclosed ● 1944: only 1000newspapers, controlled byNazis ● Newspapers put in publicdisplay boxes ● People who cancelledsubscriptions threatened

Radio Locally based, but fewpeople had radio sets ● Millions of cheap radiosmade, which could not pickup foreign broadcasts ● Radios played Hitler’sspeeches ● 1939: 70% of Germanhouseholds had radios ● For those without one, 6000loudspeakers were set up toplay Nazi propaganda ● Orders for people to listento broadcasts Films Germans used to watchingentertaining, good qualityfilms. Did not want to watchboring propaganda films ● Believed that propagandasucceeded if people wereproperly entertained ● Wanted propaganda films tobe properly made ● Films about ‘evil’ Jews,anti-British, and pro-Nazi ● E.g. Aryan climbersuccessful, Aryan womancommits suicide rather thanmarry African (black)

Festivals Rallies and festivals were oldNazi tactics. How could thesebe adapted? What should becelebrated? People encouraged to celebrate anew list of important days. Onthese days people were expectedto attend parades, speeches, andhang out flags ● Jan: ‘Day of Seizing Power’– mass torchlightprocessions ● Feb: founding of the NaziParty day ● March: War Heroes’ Day ● April: Hitler’s birthday. Armyparades, flowers forportraits ● July: German Culture Day ● Sept: Reich Party Day –week’s rally at Nuremburg ● Nov: anniversary of theMunich Putsch – silentmarch through Munich Image ofHitler How to enhance the image ofHitler? ● Lots of supporters, powerful ● Images of Hitler: ○ Strong ○ Powerful (uniform,straight arms) ○ Brave (iron crossfrom WWI) ○ Caring (photos of himwith children) ○ Organized (uniform)

Culture Weimar Germany had verymodern culture, which theNazis thought underminedtraditional values. How couldGoebbels control artists nowthat the Nazis were inpower? ● Supported Nazi ideology ● Activities coordinatedthrough ‘chambers’, e.g.Reich Culture Chamber,Reich Press Chamber ● Standards set for art, music,literature ❖ Importance of propaganda ➢ Used to achieve power in 1933 ➢ Targets – Jews, Socialists, Communists, etc ➢ Used to mould the minds and lives of the people ➢ Reinforced existing attitudes ➢ Used to make the people aware of Nazi achievements