Hitler and Propaganda
The Nazi regime in Germany implemented itself swiftly and effectively - the National Socialists had only three Nazis in a cabinet of twelve in January 1933, yet within two months Hitler had consolidated his political power by entirely legal means. With this, came the need for support from the German public. For a regime to 'consolidate' its power people could be too afraid to rebel against it, or they could be convinced of the value of the regime, or a combination of both. In the National Socialist era, the latter was used. In the period of 1933-1939, this was achieved by a number of methods, notably the use of propaganda, the various legislative and administrative changes, Hitler's personal charisma, the achievement of economic recovery and the 'reign of terror'. The extent to which each contributed to the consolidation of National Socialist regime is an issue that has remained in discussion, and is to be addressed in this essay. Although the relative importance of factors is in debate, it is certain that propaganda was one of the major causes of consolidation of power. As the historian Ian Kershaw emphasises, "It was plain from the beginning that the regime would attach a high priority to the steering
· http://www.ushmm.org/outreach/propag.htm If historians generally agree about the impact of the radio, there is more debate over the usefulness of the press. Stephen J. Lee describes the press as 'problematic' as a propaganda tool, whilst Richard Gruberger places heavier emphasis on it's power, citing Goebbel's opinion that it had a similar effect to the radio - "The reader should get the impression that the writer is in reality a speaker standing behind him. " However, both highlight the lack of imagination and creativity in the press under Nazi rule that was not so much the case with radio. Between 1933 and 1945 the number of state owned newspapers increased from 2.5% to a staggering 82% . Because of this, a bland style of writing consequently followed due to the amalgamation of the press and led to a decline in readership. Any increase in certain newspapers in reality could be blamed on compulsory subscriptions due to being members of the Nazi Party or the Hitler Youth. Overall, the press was never hugely successful in generating support for the party, or in the consolidation of power on a large scale, due to its oppressive censorship which led to a decline in popular interest. The quality of the new 'Nazi culture' that had been created is also an issue. SJ. Lee raises the interesting question that any negative reactions to Nazi propaganda were not due to the public disagreeing with the principle and ideologies that were being put forward, but feeling that "the vacuum produced by preventive censorship was filled with mediocrity." This would suggest that the 'Nazi culture' became less influential as the regime progressed. This tactic was used once again with the 'legal' revolution that occurred between 1933-1934 that resulted in people having no choice but to conform to the Nazi regime. Following the introduction of the Enabling Act in March 1932 the states, the trade unions and the political parties were all brought into line, as a result of the 'Gleichschaltung' in Nazi Germany. On March 1933 Hitler closed down all the state parliaments, which resulted in the Nazi Party being the largest in the Reichstag. On 7th April Hitler appointed Nazi state governors to each state, but soon abolished state parliaments completely, in 1934. On 2nd May 1933 Nazis broke into trade unions offices and arrested thousands of union officials. The unions were then merged into the 'German Labour Front', which had a Nazi leader. Political parties suffered the same fate - on 10th May Nazis occupied the Social Democrat offices and confiscated its funds, and then did the same with the Communist party - with all their leaders arrested. This 'Gleichshaltung' culminated on the 14th July when a law was passed forbidding the creation of any other party - thus Germany became a one-party state. Therefore, propaganda still permeated the issue of fear, as it accentuated the fear of not conforming and reassured those within the German Reich that actions were justified. An example of where this was successfully achieved is illustrated in Elizabeth von Stahlenberg's diaries, which were written under the Nazi regime. As Goebbels was largely responsible for bringing Hitler to the centre of the political stage, he was rewarded on 13 March 1933, with the position of Reich Minister for Public Enlightenment and Propaganda, which gave him total control of the communications media - which was the radio, press, publishing, cinema and the other arts. From this, a new generation of manipulation was brought forth. Once the takeover was complete, the propaganda ministry was split up into seven different departments - administration and organization, propaganda, radio, press, films, theatre, and adult education. · "Life in the Third Reich", R. Bessel, Oxford, 1987, Joseph Goebbels, master propagandist of the Nazi regime was seen as man who represented the propaganda campaign. As he said himself on 25th March 1933 "The Ministry has the task of achieving a mo
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Approximate Pages = 12 (250 words per page double spaced)
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