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 blackhaired 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 Jew as Capitalist Exploiter 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 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
All Enemies are Jews! Note the similarity between the portrayal of Churchill (who was not Jewish) and the antisemitic stereotype.
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.