en general agreement amongst historians at least on what constituted the four main pillars of the Nazi's racial ideology, such as Social Darwinsim, (i.e. survival of the fittest, anti-semitism and Nordic superiority. However apparent this may be there are

Regarding the debate on manipulation versus mobilization in the Third Reich it has to be kept in mind that some elements of German society were amenable to neither. What Mason said of the Labor movement was profoundly true: the SA had a rawhide whips and rubber truncheons for the enlightenment of Marxism who failed to recognize that 30 January had brought a new spirit of national and social unity. Moreover the frequent capriciousness and unpredictability of this brutality in itself added to its effectiveness. Such propaganda is not a substitute for violence, but one of its aspects. Mason at least would recognize that Neumann's definition of propaganda as "violence committed against the soul" scarcely does justice to National Socialist terror. Neither does Kuhnl's remarkable assertions that since class society began all ruling systems have been based on a combination of physical oppression and ideological manipulation. This is surely to minimize the difference in degree bet!

more serious problems about the way in which Academia have treated ideology. In political science for example, when studying fascism and totalitarianism, they have fallen for the notion of regarding National Socialist ideas as a fixed and constant system that are unrelated to everyday socio-economic realities. Such an approach would have to really on Hitler's role in Nazism, due to the emphasis on the leader and personality cult in a so-called totalitarian system. Though Hitler may have played a huge role in contributing to National Socialism, we have to understand the origins of National Socialist ideas.

The passage of time has inevitably clarified the debate over the use of terror, and in particular its relationship to persuasion, without which the terror would have been impossible. Indeed, it has been argued that Hitler actually preferred conversion to force, his ideal being the individual citizen who acted always from purely idealistic motives rather than from intimidation; this is preference may well have emanated from the comradeship of the trenches in World War one. Whatever the scale of terror and however systematically it was used, it necessarily had to have limits. Some National Socialist were certainly aware of the counter-productive effects of too much brutality; the materials success of the regime depended in the final analysis on the goodwill of large sections of the German community, whose technical expertise was indispensable. As we already know, terror was applied on a far greater scale once war broke out, especially when losing the war became a distinct !

rtant as high strategy were influenced by public opinion, but nonetheless his perceptions of it may well have affected the timing of some of his maneuvers. Public opinion and propaganda were intimately connected in the Third Reich, as in any political system. What Hitler told the masses were in it self partly conditioned by his awareness of how they already felt.

age were increasingly haunted by the specter of another 1918 as the war progressed.

ip the scales in favor of terror as a means of social control, particularly once the possibility of defeat became apparent to the Nazi's. On this level, ideological persuasion had proven ineffective in the short term. This judgment needs to be qualified, however, by reference to the stoic endurance of the German people during the six years of war and the way in which their belief in Hitler apparently remained unshaken to the very end. There were of course other reasons for reasons for such tenacity, but it is difficult not to be impressed by the fact that the will of the German people did not break even when it was apparent Allied forces were gaining momentum. Faced with this evidence, the possibility has to be admitted that National Socialist indoctrination also played its part in the moral of the German people. Its impact on the younger generation in particular, has been well attested by Allied observers in postwar o

Some common words found in the essay are:
National Socialist, Third Reich, National Socialism, Hitler's Germany, National Socialists, SS Wehrmacht, Mason Labor, Neumann Marxist, Papen Jung, national socialist, Mein Kampf, third reich, german people, national socialism, public opinion, german society, national socialists, national socialist ideology, socialist ideology, sections german, socialist ideas, national socialist ideas, public opinion third, national socialist propaganda, german language literature,
Approximate Word count = 4069
Approximate Pages = 16 (250 words per page double spaced)