Nazi Propaganda: Rise, Methods, and Impact

This article delves into the rise, methods, and impact of Nazi propaganda in Germany during World War II. It explores how the Nazis used various mediums like films, newspapers, books, and radio to spread their messages and gain support for their anti-Jewish laws and policies. The article also discusses the role of art, posters, and photographs in promoting Nazi ideology. Overall, it provides a comprehensive overview of the far-reaching effects of Nazi propaganda.

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The Nazis with the rise of Hitlar used propaganda in order to gain support of the German
after the first world war first in democracy then in the dictatorship. These facilitated persecution,
genocide and ultimate war. The Nazi propaganda had some stereotypical images which were not
new but familiar to the intended audiences (Kershaw 2014). Nazi propaganda was conveyed
through sophisticated advertising methods which employed most advanced technology available
at that particular time. These were created by Reich ministry of public enlightenment and
propaganda of Hitlar that shaped the German public behavior and propaganda. The Nazi
propaganda mainly aimed to advance the persecution and destruction of the Jews in the entire
Europe. These incited hatred against this particular section of the people through constant
messages that they are engaged ion a conspiracy for provoking the second world war
(Voigtländer and Voth 2015).
As mentioned before, the ministry of public enlightenment and propaganda created by
Hitlar aimed to ensure perfect conveyance of the Nazi message through music, theatre, films,
books, various educational materials, radio and the most importantly, the German press.
Unfortunately, there were a huge number of audiences to these Nazi propagandas. Through these
mediums, the Germany was reminded of their scuffle against the foreign opponents as well as
Jewish subversion (Voigtländer and Voth 2015). This Nazi propaganda also encourage the
passively as well as acceptance of impending measures against the Jews in Germany because
these depicted the Nazi government as restoring order in the country. Two east European
countries such as Poland and Czechoslovakia became subject of the Nazi propaganda. It sought
to encourage an elicit the political loyalty as well as race consciousness among ethnic German
populaces. This had misled the foreign governments that included the great political powers of
then Europe as the Nazi Germany had a clear and fair demands for annexations (Lacey 2017).

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Nazi propaganda not only relates the anti-Jewish laws and policies and annexation
through misleading information regarding the supremacy of race, but also had posed the country
to be working as defender of the western culture. The German invasion in the Soviet Union,
Stressed both the civilians as well as the army with occupation of territory themes. This linked
the Soviet communism with the European Jewry and presented the Judeo-Bolshevik threat in a
fair and understandable manner to the people. These message from the ministry gained support
as this propaganda was launched just after the catastrophic defeat of Germany in 1943 at
Stalingrad (Lacey 2017).
Along with the message of the ministry, the films and newspapers successfully supported
the Nazi propaganda. Films at that time played the role for disseminating racial antisemitism,
intrinsic evil of the Nazi enemies by the theories proposed by the Nazis and the superiority of the
military power of the Nazi Germany. In these films, the Jews were portrayed as the subhuman
creatures that infiltrate, he proper Aryan society (Voigtländer and Voth 2015). The movie such
as The Eternal Jew by Fritz Hippler had portrayed the Jews as the wandering cultural parasites
that are consumed by money and sex. In the films like The Triumph of the Will by the director
Leni Riefenstahl, ideology of the Nazis and most importantly the actions of Hitlar have been
glorified. The National Socialist movement was also been glorified in the films like Festival of
the Nations and Festival of Beauty. These depicted the success of regime of the Nazis in the
1936 Berlin Olympic Games. In addition to these, ‘Jud Sass’ by Harlan was a provocative Nazi
film propaganda that was effective at the German box office and shown at the indoctrination of
events by the Schutzstaffel as well as Hitler Youth (Łysak 2016).
Similarly, the newspaper in Germany used the printed cartoons by using antisemitic
caricatures for depicting Jews. In 1939, when the German army began to invade Poland with the

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bringing of the second would war, the propaganda was to impress upon both the German army as
well as the civilians. These caricatures directly attacked the Jews terming them as subhuman in
one hand and dangerous enemies of the Nazi regime (Kershaw 2014). This elicit support and
acquiescence for the policies regarding the complete reduction of the Jews in the country or for
that matter in entire Europe. At the Nazi era, Völkischer Beobachter or People's Observer was
the official daily that disseminated the Nazi ideology through brief hyperboles (Hancock 2011).
These newspapers mainly wrote around the evils of Bolshevism and Jewry and weakness of the
parliamentarism. This also influenced the nation thinking against the humiliation of the Treaty of
Versailles and other related subjects. Along with this, the official newspaper of the country also
attacked against the political opponents as well as the sworn enemy Jews (Stachura 2014). These
newspapers came under complete Nazi editorial control through the policy of Gleichschaltung so
that these can be used to manipulate the ideology of the state.
Along with these films and newspapers, the books like the autobiography of Hitler
himself namely Mein Kampf detailing his belief of the Nazi led the German army and
countrymen to support the facts of the Jew oppression directly. In addition to this, the book like
‘The Crowd: A Study of the Popular Mind’ by Gustave Le Bon, published at the time of the rise
of Hitler. This had theorized the importance of propaganda as a method to control the irrational
behavior of the crowd. More important the book named Protocols of the ‘Elders of Zion’ directly
accused the Jews to indulge in the conspiracy for rule the world themselves (Kershaw 2014).
This particular book though published in the year 1895, became the key source of propaganda of
the Nazis after the first world war and helped in a long run to fuel the common hatred against the
Jews during the second world war (Soyer 2014). Along with these other books written in the
German language like Rassenkunde des deutschen Volkes or Ethnology of German People and

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popular genre of Schollen-roman known as Blood and Soil novels attempt to identify then
classify the differences between the Aryan, Nordic and German type with the other supposedly
inferior people in the country or for that matter in Europe. These books were used as the texts in
the schools of the Germans in the Nazi era. These books had given boost by the acceptability of
the themes of race and purity to the Nazis thus developing a mysticism of unity in the nation.
The Nazi propaganda also used photographers for documenting the events of the time and
promote the ideology. Hitlar employed official photographer Heinrich Hoffmann and he captured
the moments of Hitlar while motivating the German army or civilians through his completely
new ideology (Himmler and Wildt 2016). These photographs were published as the post cards,
posters, picture books and stamps. These pictures of the Nazi leader stopped people to think
critically and just emote to support the Nazi Germany (Friedlander 2014). Along with the
photographed posters, the painted posters aimed to share the striking visual effects that would be
difficult to avoid. These posters were placed in the buses, platforms, cars and tickets windows
wherever there was dense traffic flow. In these posters, the visual style was with Nazi influenced
colors as well as texts as these were meant to capture the attention of the civilians (Kershaw
2014). The texts in these posters were so big that more people might read those at a time and
from far distance. Most of these posters were focused on the allied countries in the second world
war like the United States, Great Britain, Russia and the Jews. In all of these posters, the main
subject was associated with the Jews’ connection with the war. They were accused solely to be
the reason of capitalism, supposed economic war, attachment with the Bolshevik revolution in
Russia (Friedlander 2014).
Along with these, radio and internal broadcasts were used to spread the Nazi propaganda
in all over the country. In 1933 when Hitlar came into power, his speeches became widely

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broadcast all over the nation through radio. The ministry of propaganda itself introduced these
speeches so that the feeling of Nazi nationalism could be spread. These records were captured in
the weekly newsreels as well as reprinted in the large editions in text books or pamphlets all
across the country (Engel 2014). The Nazis made the pubs and restaurants of Germany to have
their own radios so that the people must listen to Hitlar’s Speech. Sometimes the public speaker
of the cities used to be employed so that the passersby could listen to those speeches.
Therefore, it can be concluded that Nazi propaganda had a far-reaching effect in the
minds of the people of the country. These helped the Nazis to gain support regarding the anti-
Jewish laws and policies thus helped in the annexation process through misleading information
regarding the supremacy of race and nationalism. Art, radio, newspaper, posters and films were
used in this process and successfully conveyed the Nazi messages creating a base for the second
world war.

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