Nazi Propaganda

Nazi Propaganda

Propaganda

• The spreading of information and

ideas to advance a cause or

discredit an opposing cause

Nazi Propaganda goals: 1. To create

a positive image of Hitler and the

Nazi Party 2. To create a negative

view of those considered to be

enemies, particularly Jews

Hitler’s Propaganda Methods

• Present simple themes in a repetitive manner

• Appeal to emotion rather than intellect

• Have broad appeal to the masses

• Focus mainly on one enemy - Claim that this enemy is at the root of all problems

Propaganda: Pervasive in Nazi Germany

• Images – Posters, Book and Newspaper

Illustrations

• Spoken Word – Nazi Speeches and Radio

broadcasts; Songs and slogans

• Printed Word – “Der Sturmer” ; Academic

publications; School curricula

• Dramatic - cinema (i.e. Triumph of the Will;

The Eternal Jew; Jud Suss); Party Rallies

Goals of Pro-Nazi Propaganda

• To portray Hitler and The Nazi Party as

the saviors of Germany

• To connect the Nazis to a positive,

idealistic vision of Germany’s future

• To portray the Nazis as confident,

decisive, and overwhelmingly powerful

Hitler as the Heroic Leader

Hitler Brings Unity

“The Reich will

never be

destroyed if

you are united

and loyal.”

Appeals to Traditional Values

Motherhood

“German Women

Think of Your

Children

Vote Hitler”

Youthful Idealism

“Youth

serves the

Fuhrer”

“Workers of the

mind and hand –

Vote for the

front soldier

Hitler!”

Power and Pageantry

Goals of Anti-Jewish Propaganda

• To connect Jews to every problem facing Germany and every other group seen as opponents

• To reinforce traditional negative stereotypes about Jews

• To create a climate of contempt toward Jews

• To dehumanize the image of Jews (to facilitate discrimination, segregation, exile, and murder)

Jews as Aliens

“Only a racial comrade can be a citizen.

Only a person of German blood,

irrespective of religious denomination,

can be a racial comrade. No Jew,

therefore, can be a racial comrade.”

Point 4 - Nazi Party Program, 1920

The Jew as Eugenic Threat

“With satanic joy in his face, the black-haired Jewish youth lurks in wait for the unsuspecting girl whom he defiles with his blood, thus stealing her from her people. With every means he tries to destroy the racial foundations of the people he has set out to subjugate.”

Adolf Hitler - Mein Kampf

The bottom slogan reads: “Women and girls,

the Jews are your undoing!”

The Jew as

Communist

From the cover of

the book

The Eternal Jew

“The God of the Jews

is Money. And to gain

money, he will commit

the greatest crimes.

He will not rest

until he can sit on the

largest sack of money,

until he becomes the

King of Money.”

The Jew as Capitalist Exploiter

The Jew as Warmonger

“If international finance Jewry inside and

outside Europe should succeed in plunging

the nations once more into a world war,

then the result will not be the bolshevization

of the earth, and thus the victory of Jewry,

but the annihilation of the Jewish race in

Europe!”

Adolf Hitler - January 30, 1939

Nazi

propaganda

poster

blaming

Jews for the

war

Note the similarity between the portrayal of Churchill

(who was not Jewish) and the antisemitic stereotype.

All Enemies are Jews!

Jews depicted as

controlling the Allies

Jews plotting to

rule the world

The Protocols of the

Elders of Zion

(Front cover of a French

edition)

The “Blood Libel”

The Jew as demonic

From an

advertising

poster for a

movie

The Poison

Mushroom

A

Children's

Book

“Jews Get Out!”: A Children’s Game

Dehumanizing Words

“We had the moral right, and the duty toward our nation to kill this people who wished to kill us. … We do not, because we were exterminating a bacillus, wish to be infected by that bacillus in the end and die.”

Heinrich Himmler - October 4, 1943

Dehumanizing Words

“Was there any form of filth or profligacy, particularly in cultural life, without at least one Jew in it? If you cut even cautiously into such an abscess, you found, like a maggot in a rotting body, often dazzled by the sudden light - a little Jew”

Adolf Hitler - Mein Kampf

Dehumanizing

Images:

Jews portrayed

as vermin

Results of Propaganda

• “True Believers” are empowered by

propaganda to engage in behavior that

would otherwise be forbidden.

• Propaganda shifts the “frame of reference”

regarding the subject. Formerly extreme

ideas enter legitimate discussion.

• The “piling on” effect mutes opposition.

Lessons for Today

• Learn to recognize and interpret propaganda and to distinguish it from legitimate attempts to inform.

• Recognize distortions embedded in public communication (i.e. - stereotypes, misuse of statistics, over-generalization, guilt by association, etc..)

• Recognize that images and words are important because they create the social climate – which will tend either toward respect or contempt.