Nazi Propagnda

Question 1

Ministry of Public Enlightenment and Propaganda/ Reich chamber of culture

Answer 1

Founded 13th March 1933
Josef Gobbles, in charge of both
7 subsidiary chambers: Press, Film, Literature, Theatre, Music and fine art
All workers to be racially pure and politically reliable
Those who weren’t were purged or kept quiet.

Question 2

Propaganda: A bureaucratic nightmare?

Answer 2

Overlapping organisations
Gobbles control never total
Combat League for German Culture: Alfred Rosenberg (Party organisation)
Ministers in other depts fought for control over propaganda in their own jurisdiction

Question 3

Parades and Public Spectacle

Answer 3

‘Good discipline is the best propaganda’ -Nazi pamphlet
Intimidate political opponents: impression of large well organised force
Torchlight processions effective: 30th Jan 1933
Hitler balcony of Reich chancellery, salute 100,000 SA/SS. Symbol of ‘national revolution.’

Question 4

Parades and public holidays

Answer 4

Parades held across country public holidays
Hang swastika flag, monitored block leaders
If not: ‘politically unreliable.’ Subject to loss of jobs/worse.
12 new public holidays: inc Mother’s Day and Hitlers birthday
‘Individualism finally died. Individualism has been replaced by the community of the people.’

Question 5

Parades and compliance

Answer 5

Forced to comply: True support?
True compliance=Free will.
Nazi reliance on intimidation and mass suggestion to create impression of propaganda victory

Question 6

Newspapers

Answer 6

Reich Press Chamber: All staff join or lose job
Applications vetted for political and racial reliability
1933: 1300 Marx/Jews dismissed
DNB State controlled (on another card)
Control advertising/Printing contracts. Force independent press into line.

Question 7

News Agency (DNB)

Answer 7

State controlled. Told papers what to print
Often full articles
Late 30’s: 50% articles supplied DNB

Question 8

Frankfurter Zeitung

Answer 8

Liberal leaning. Small circulation.
Political and professional elite
Until 1932: Anti Nazi. More sympathetic after takeover.
Raided SS March 1933. Closure for non compliance
Occasional Nazi critique/Refused publish DNB
Sold Nazis 1938. Circulation declined closed 1943

Question 9

Control over the press

Answer 9

Hard control. 4700 private, mostly local, papers 1933
Nazi papers: 2.5% circulation
Socialist/Communist closed
Bought 27 papers 1933: 2.4M circulation
Daily briefing Gobbles: What can/can’t be printed
Editors Law 1933: Follow propaganda ministry or consequences. Editors censored own papers.

Question 10

Did Newspapers work?

Answer 10

The Nazis took control. In that respect, it worked.
The forced govt compliance meant papers bland. Circulation of many dropped.
People didn’t openly defy the Nazis, they simply didn’t read propaganda. They failed to create enthusiasm for the regime.

Question 11

Radio. Why important and what steps taken to make it accessible?

Answer 11

‘The most important tool in educating the masses’
Hitler speak to people. Charisma over radio
Deal with industrialists: Cheap radios.
‘30th January’ 1933 78RM
‘People’s Receiver’ 1938 35RM
70% households possessed radio 1939, largest world 15M 1941
1933: 50 Hitler speeches. Nobody else. Gobbles no alienation audience.
Music and light entertainment

Question 12

Communal Radio listening

Answer 12

Communal listening: Workplace, town squares, cafes. Owners ordered install loudspeakers.
Sirens before Hitler speeches: Drop everything & listen
Radio wardens ensured compliance: Genuine listening?

Question 13

Radio autarky

Answer 13

Could not pick up external broadcasts
British tried & succeeded during war for time
‘Cultural autarky from alien influences’

Question 14

Art

Answer 14

Weimar weakened Germ. Decadence. ‘Moral bankruptcy’
Artistic individualism enemy of volksgemeinschaft.
Aryan: True art
Weimar: ‘degenerate art.’

Question 15

Great German Art Exhibition vs Exhibition of Degenerate Art

Answer 15

July 1937: Two art exhibitions Munich.
GGAE: True Aryan art
EODA: Cultural disintegration Weimar period
EODA 1M visitors 6 weeks. 3x more than GGAE
Massive misstep from propaganda ministry

Question 16

Music

Answer 16

Weimar: Musical diversity. US jazz.
Nazis denounced foreign influences. Jazz: ‘negro’ ‘degenerate’ music
Found hardest to control
Reich Music Chamber controlled production & promoted approved music. Non German music banned from radio/performances

Question 17

Bureaucracy/enforcement music

Answer 17

No clear policy on what to promote
Hitler: Wagner operas. Leading Nazis disagreed.
No way to enforce: Majority preferred popular music.
Tradition listening in home
Swing Youth formed: Liked UK/US way of life. Not overtly political, counter culture to HJ and Volksgemeinschaft

Question 18

Cinema: Stats and Purpose

Answer 18

1933-1945: 1000 films. Cinema attendance x4. 14% overtly political, all contained some form of political message.
Film works subconscious.
Subliminal messages reinforce existing prejudices.
Escapism: Gobbles Disapproved overtly political films. Boredom.
Disliked foreign films
American films: 64 1933. 5 1940.
Newsreels before films. Often staged events. Invasion UK filmed: Never shown.

Question 19

Film production companies

Answer 19

4 major independent companies. Remained independent.
Nazis bought shares, eventually main financial sponsor films
Film production nationalised 1942

Question 20

Gobbles and film

Answer 20

Main interest. Personally responsible approving films & oversaw development
Became obsessive with public opinion.
Took soldiers off front line end of war, film army political film.

Question 21

Aims of Propaganda

Answer 21

Establish/Maintain control
Full powers state control content and distribution propaganda
‘The sharpest weapon in conquering the state’

Question 22

Triumph of the Will

Answer 22

Propaganda film. Nuremberg Rally 1934
Overtly political: Against wishes of Gobbles. Hitler wanted.
Leni Riefenstahl director.
Wide camera shots of 100,000 people. Carefully coordinated.
One of 3 most profitable films of year

Question 23

Examples of Films

Answer 23

Jud Süss. 1940. Sex and seduction featuring lead Jewish sexual predator. Massive popular. 20 million tickets.
The Eternal Jew 1940. Documentary on Jews. Critique for juxtaposition of Jews to rats. Commercial flop. Less than 1M tickets

Question 24

Manipulation of education

Answer 24

Youth most easily manipulated

Textbooks vetted ideological correctness & new textbooks produced, reflect Nazi ideology

Question 25

National Socialist Teachers League (NSLB)

Answer 25

1933: massive increase membership. Teachers keep jobs.
Not compulsory, by 1936: 97% joined
Responsible teacher indoctrination. Political education courses
Voice of regime to youth. Non compliance reported to Gestapo.
Law restoration professional civil service April 1933, dismissed Jews and politically unreliable.

Question 26

Changes to curriculum

Answer 26

PE: Racial health, military drills
Biology: Race. Measure sculls, classify racial types. Survival of fittest. Aryan fittest.
German: ‘national consciousness’ being German. Nordic Sagas.
Essays: Regurgitate propaganda pamphlets
Maths: Calculate trajectories, relative cost of treating mentally ill vs building houses
Girls: needlework and home craft
Sex education: Banned. Have as many kids possible, raise birth rate.

Question 27

Censorship

Answer 27

Individualism died. No critique of regime.
Ban political opponents/Jews.
1935-6: more effective. Opponents arrested or undercover.
Accepted themes of regime to keep jobs.
Some art/writings smuggled into Germany. Never enough to trouble regime.

Question 28

How effective was propaganda?

Answer 28

Hard to gauge.
A lack of resistance doesn’t correlate to support for the regime.
Gestapo: At least some scepticism of Nazism.
Germany was a diverse population with many different attitudes and beliefs. True support is impossible to gauge.
Attitudes dept on demographics and time period.
Most success with youth. Opinions not formed.
Most successful built on existing prejudices. When it challenged beliefs, less successful.