running head: propaganda techniques of … head: propaganda techniques of the nazi party 1...

Running head: PROPAGANDA TECHNIQUES OF THE NAZI PARTY 1

Propaganda Techniques of the Nazi Party

Elaina Frechette

Troy Hughes

Audrey Stowe

Rachel Veale

Texas Tech University

During World War II, the Nazi Party instilled anti-Semitism in the hearts of the German

people, exterminating two-thirds of the Jewish population over the course of six years. Adolf

PROPAGANDA TECHNIQUES OF THE NAZI PARTY 2

Hitler led this charge, destroying the lives of millions and becoming one of the most powerful

dictators in the world. The Nazi Party’s success was largely due to their means of utilizing

propaganda in the mass media. During their reign, they took advantage of media outlets such as

radio, newspaper cartoons, and pamphlets to create a brand of Nazism that ultimately engraved

itself in history.

In their academic article, Adena, Enikolopov, Petrova, Santarosa, and Zhuravskaya

(2015) study the effect that radio propaganda played on the support of the Nazi Party during the

election period of 1933 and beyond. Additionally, Adena et al. (2015) study the impact of Nazi

radio propaganda on acts of anti-Semitism, and whether the persuasion of radio propaganda was

affected by the prior views of their audience.

The Nazi Party made significant efforts to control the radio waves and dominate their

listeners’ ears with propaganda during the election campaign of 1933. Over the course of five

weeks, Hitler, the recently appointed chancellor, spoke 16 times over the radio (Adena et al.,

2015). This exposure, coupled with the Nazi party’s blocking of all other campaigning parties,

led to “a significant increase in the Nazi vote share” in 1933 (Adena et al., 2015, p. 1919).

Joseph Goebbels, the Reich minister of propaganda in 1933, led the charge to mass produce an

affordable radio receiver that would significantly increase the numbers of radio listeners (Adena

et al., 2015). Goebbels knew of the significant power that mass media held, stating shortly after

Hitler was elected chancellor, “‘Now it will be easy to carry on the fight, for we can call on all

the resources of the State. Radio and press are at our disposal. We shall stage a masterpiece of

propaganda’” (Adena et al., 2015, p. 1886).

After the Nazis rose to power in the 1930s, they continued to use the radio to encourage

anti-Semitic acts, and the exposure to Nazi radio propaganda “ significantly increased both the


number of deportations of Jews and the number of letters to [the Nazi Newspaper] Der Stürmer”

(Adena et al., 2015, p. 1928). However, Adena et al. (2015) did find that Nazi anti-Semitic radio

propaganda had a dissuasive impact on listeners in places with historically low anti-Semitism,

and vice versa. In conclusion, Adena et al. (2015) found that Nazi radio propaganda increased

the support of the Nazi party during the election campaign and beyond, encouraged anti-Semitic

acts, and was especially effective when aligned with listeners prior dispositions (2015).

Newspaper cartoons were used as another propaganda technique during World War II.

The Nazi party used these cartoons to convey a strong message to the German people, that “the

Jews are our misfortune” (Coupe, 1998, p. 26). The Nazis used cartoons as a method of instilling

fear and conveying what they wanted, and their success in utilizing cartoons allowed them to

maintain power. In 1933, Hitler planned to destroy freedom of the press once he achieved power.

He made sure that “illustrated material had to be approved by a censor before publication”

(Coupe, 1998, p. 26). Censorship gave Hitler further power over the media, and he took

advantage of this power, using the newspaper and cartoons to exploit imagined enemies and

manipulate public opinion.

Many cartoons like the ones in Kladderadatsch, a German magazine, portrayed Hitler in

a positive way. Coupe (1998) explained that a cartoon in particular suggested that a vote for

Hitler was a vote for peace, with a slogan that reads ‘for equal rights, honour and peace.’ Other

cartoons from this magazine included sayings supporting Hitler’s leadership, such as “Hitler is

the seed of peace, not dragon’s teeth.” Another cartoon called “Traffic” showed a policeman

holding up the traffic so that ‘peace’ could cross the road. Hitler paradoxically preached peace

while he was physically torturing millions. When Hitler wrote Mein Kampf, he explained his

view of propaganda in the text. He was very clear on his opinion that propaganda works on the


broad masses, whose “intellectual capacity is only very limited, whose understanding is small,

but whose forgetfulness by contrast is great” (Coupe, 1998, p. 28). Coupe (1998) also explained

how the Nazi’s power of the media was so grand that they were capable of changing the

direction of it the moment the political plans of the party required it.

The outbreak of the Spanish Civil War lead to the Nazis continuously portraying Stalin as

a monster in order to convince their people of the greater power they had. The Nazis didn’t stop

with Stalin; they continually depicted other countries and their leaders as if they were demons

trying to take advantage of their citizens. Propaganda during World War II was heavily taken

advantage of by the Nazis. As Coupe (1998) says, “the most effective propagandists had nothing

to offer for their readers’ comfort, except unrelieved Wagnerian gloom and the promise of

immortality through death” ( p. 31). This further explains just how cruel the Nazis were and how

they used media to brainwash Germans into believing their corrupt ways. The Nazis use of

political cartoons proved that even in a totalitarian and co-ordinated society, the political cartoon

could still make significant statements about the real state of the nation (Coupe, 1998).

As we’ve already proven, the mass media channels of the radio and newspaper cartoons

were the most important elements of the Nazi reign over Germany. In addition to those elements,

mass distribution and word-of-mouth propaganda techniques were used which made the Nazis

successful in their mission. Bytwerk’s article (2005) summarizes these propaganda techniques

and argues their direct effect to the genocide of the Jews.

Theodore Kaufman was an American Jew who published the book, Theodore N.

Kaufman’s Germany Must Perish!, which summarized a plan that would result in the

extermination of the German population. The book outraged Hitler. In response, he mass

distributed a pamphlet that summarized Kaufman's plan. Not only did newspapers provide full


coverage of the pamphlet, newsletters even sent out instructions to magazines on how to cite the

pamphlet within their copies. The book sparked a fire in the Nazis, and is considered to be one of

the first steps leading up to the mass genocide of Jews.

Bytwerks (2005) also illustrates the word-of-mouth propaganda, which was used

extensively to get Hitler's message across. Hitler never held back on his feelings and statements

about Jewry. He constantly used words such as ‘destroy’ and ‘exterminate’ in his speeches that

were broadcasted on radios and printed in newspapers."These words were repeated regularly in

public not only by Hitler and Goebbels, but also by leading Nazi books and periodicals and in the

speeches and conversations of hundreds of thousands of Nazi propagandists, who were instructed

to use these and similar words in presenting Nazi thinking to ordinary citizens" (Bytwerk, 2005,

p. 39). In addition to those hateful words, there were a lot of statements that couldn’t be printed

in newspapers because of their hostility; therefore, designated speakers were told to say things

like, "the Jews were responsible for the death of every single German soldier, and that they

would have to pay" (Bytwerk, 2005, p. 50). The Nazis utilized word-of-mouth and mass

distribution of pamphlets as propaganda techniques to spur on the genocide of Jews.

All of the propaganda techniques discussed henceforth contributed to the creation of the

brand of Nazism. In the article by Nicholas O’Shaughnessy (2009), the author expresses that

every move by the Nazis was made effective because of their techniques of making Nazism a

brand. The author further claims that Hitler’s success in the persuading of the German public was

made possible by branding Nazism. The Nazis’ knowledge of how to manipulate and use

propaganda made it easy for them to utilize imagery and symbolism to strike fear into those who

heard or saw it.


“The Nazi Regime was founded and anchored in imagery: propaganda was the governing

philosophy, not merely a means to an end but an end in itself. Everything, from machinery to

documentaries to books to buildings, to art itself, was interrogated with a single question: what is

its persuasion value?” (O’Shaughnessy, 2009, p.55). One example of how the Nazis used

propaganda was through their military; they strategically held onto Stalingrad because of the

significance the city had through what it represented. If they could take it, not only would it be a

great military feat, but also deliver a demoralizing blow to their enemies (O’Shaughnessy, 2009).

Another reason that Hitler was so successful was because of Dr. Goebbels. “Nazi propaganda

had a supreme director, Dr. Goebbels, and a supreme star, Hitler himself” (O’Shaughnessy,

2009, p.56). Dr. Goebbels knew how the power of using propaganda could give them an

advantage in their war plans if used properly. In whatever avenue of propaganda they took, they

knew how to manipulate the story. They paid great detail into making Hitler one of the biggest

actors in Germany of that time. “Hitler himself once said, ‘I am the greatest actor in Germany’”

(O’Shaughnessy, 2009, p.57). Hitler’s branding was extensive and involved many different roles.

He was on many magazines, films, photographs, and newsreels to get his presence out and large.

Even the use of the swastika was strategically thought out to be used in the brand of Nazism

(O’Shaughnessy, 2009). Although its meaning was misrepresented, it is now a major symbol of

Nazism. Just like the swastika is widely recognized today, so is the brand of the Nazi Party.

In the wrong hands, propaganda can inflict irreparable damage. Such was the case with

the Nazi party, which wiped out six million people over the span of six years. By abusing the

mass media outlets of the radio, newspaper cartoons, and pamphlets, the Nazi party was

successful in creating a brand for themselves that will be remembered for the rest of time.


Reference Page

Adena, M., Enikolopov, R., Petrova, M., Santarosa, V., Zhuravskaya, E. (2015). Radio

and the rise of the Nazis in prewar Germany. The Quarterly Journal of

Economics, 130 (4), 1885-1939.

Bytwerk, R., (2005). The Argument for Genocide in Nazi Propaganda. Quarterly Journal

of Speech, 91(1), 37-62.

Coupe, W.A., (1998). Cartoons of the Third Reich. History Today, 48(9), 26-32.

O’Shaughnessy, N., (2009). Selling Hitler: Propaganda and the Nazi brand. Journal Of

Public Affairs, 9(1), 55-76.

running head: propaganda techniques of … head: propaganda techniques of the nazi party 1...

Documents