How effective was Nazi propaganda?
 Weltanschauung – world view,
philosophy of life
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German cultural life during the Third Reich was
seen as yet another means of achieving
indoctrination
“What we are aiming for is more than a revolt.
Our historic mission is to transform the very
spirit itself to the extent that people and things
are brought into a new relationship with one
another"
 Weltanschauung
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Culture was co-ordinated through the Reich
Chamber of Culture
Seven sub-chambers: fine arts, music, theatre,
the press, the radio, literature and films
Everyone involved in cultural activity had to be
accountable for their creativity
“Whenever I hear the word ‘culture’, I reach for
my gun” (Hans Johnst, playwright, 1934)
 Key themes
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Goebbels and the Nazis sought to project key themes
Anti-Semitism
Militarism
Nationalism
Supremacy of the Aryan race
Cult of the Fuhrer
Anti-modernism
Traditional German ‘Volks’ culture
 Newspapers
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1933 there were 4,700 daily newspapers, 3%
controlled by NSDP
1944 997 daily newspapers, 82% controlled by
NSDP
 Newspapers
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Eventually, directly or indirectly, the Press was
controlled by Eher Verlag (Nazi publishing
house)
RMVP (Ministry for Enlightenment and
Propaganda) told editors where to place articles
Nazi Press Agency supplied estimated 50% of
content
From 1933 all editors and journalists had to be
accredited by Goebbels
 Newspapers
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October 1933 new law made editors responsible
for infringements of government directives
Clause 14 obliged editors to exclude anything
‘calculated to weaken the strength of the Reich’
Treason to spread false news or rumours
 Radio
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Radio wardens appointed to report on people’s
reactions to specific broadcasts
Provisions made for cheap radios called
Volksempfänger (people’s receiver)
Volksempfänger could not pick up foreign
broadcasts
Between 1932-9 the number of families with
radios rose from 25% to 70%
 Radio
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Goebbels described radio as “the spiritual
weapon of the totalitarian state”
Radio was controlled from 1925 by the Reich
Radio Company
In 1934 Goebbels dismissed 13% of RRC on
political or racial grounds
All news broadcasts came through the Nazi
Office of Propaganda
 Film
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Nazi government bought up shares in 4 major
film companies
By 1942 film companies completely state
controlled
Unified under the UFI
 Film
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Film going quadrupled between 1933 and 1942
Over 1000 films produced during the Third
Reich
Nazis often used newsreels shown before the
start of feature films
 Music
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Germany had a rich classical tradition which
suited the Nazi’s cultural propaganda objectives
Jewish composers, e.g. Mahler and Mendelssohn
banned
New wave, modernist composers e.g. Stravinsky,
Schoenberg were disparaged
New genres, e.g. jazz labelled ‘Negroid’ and
‘degenerate’
 Posters
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Poster production controlled by the Office for
Active Propaganda
Copies of all political material had to be
submitted in advance to the office
Unapproved materials were confiscated
 Literature
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In 1933 there were book burnings at the
universities of Berlin and Nuremberg
10 May 1933 central square in Berlin the largest
book burning event took place
Raids on public and private libraries
Goebbels wanted eradicate ‘overstated Jewish
intellectualism’
Books burned which were Jewish, socialist or
pacifist by nature
 Literature
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2,500 writers left Germany between 1933-45,
including Thomas Mann and Bertolt Brecht
Writers who sympathised with the regime or
accepted its philosophy flourished
 Rallies
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Rallies were a regular feature of Nazi
propaganda, with the first official rally in
Nuremberg, 1927
As well as attending rallies, Hitler would parade
through streets in open-top processions
Many streets were renamed Adolf Hitler Staβe
following a visit from the Fuhrer
 Rallies
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Speer specialised in designing and
choreographing rallies
Used the ‘architecture of light’ to maximise the
effect of gatherings and speakers
Combined effects of uniforms, flags and
banners, icons like the eagle and swastika and
held meetings at night
 Sport
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Sporting bodies co-ordinated under a
Reichssportsführer
Hitler Youth and DAF (German Labour Front, Nazi
trade union movement) organised sporting events
Aim was to encourage fitness and health (useful
qualities for increasing Germany’s military strength)
Gym displays were also seen as another way of
presenting an ordered, regimental society
 Sport
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Nazis made great efforts to ensure 1936 Berlin Olympics were a
propaganda success
New stadium in modernist style
Hitler saw Olympics as an opportunity to show the racial
superiority of German people
Ant-semitic propaganda was minimised and the emphasis in
posters and speeches was on internationalism
Germany headed gold medals table, despite Black American,
Jesse Owens winning 100m
FA ordered footballers to give the Nazi salute before their match
against Germany in 1938 (England won 6-3!)
 Art
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Hitler also said, ‘It’s not the function of art to
wallow in dirt for dirt’s sake, never its task to
paint the state of decomposition, to draw cretins
as the symbol of motherhood, to picture
hunchbacked idiots as representatives of any
strength.’
 Art
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Hitler had very strong views on art and they
formed the basis of cultural policy
Art critics were answerable to the state, and
from 1936 could only provide ‘descriptive
reviews’
Certain styles of art were given political labels,
e.g. expressionism was described by Alfred
Rosenberg, the Culture Minister, as ‘Bolshevik
filth’
 Art
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1937 two parallel art exhibitions held in Munich,
one representing what the Nazi regime viewed
as the best of German art (Grosse Deutch
Kunstausstellung), the other what it deemed
‘degenerate art’ (Entartete Kunst)
 Art
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18 July 1934, Exhibition of Great German Art was
held in a newly built museum of art, Munich
16,000 works submitted but only 6,000 selected for
display
Art was rooted in the traditions of the Volksgemeinschaft
(the people’s community, the Nazi ideal community)
Exhibition preceded by a Day of German Art, annual
pageant in Munich celebrating 2,000 years of German
history
600,000 attended exhibition
 Art
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19 July, Exhibition of Degenerate Art opened
5,000 exhibits labelled as degenerate, Bolshevik or
artistically poor
Deemed to reflect cultural decadence of Weimar era
Included works by Emil Nolde, Max Beckmann as well
as works by Gaugin, Van Gogh and Picasso
2,000,000 attended exhibition
Works later destroyed, sent abroad or kept by Goering!
 Architecture
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Hitler was personally interested in architecture
as well as art
Rejected decadent architectural styles, e.g. work
of Gropius and favoured more traditional neoclassical style of Troost
Albert Speer was Nazi architect who particularly
admired the monumentalism of neo-classical art
Local housing was to be inspired by traditional
art regional styles
What are the
problems in
assessing the impact
of Nazi propaganda
on ordinary people?
 How successful was Nazi
propaganda?
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Problems:
quantifying people’s responses
impact of social, political, economic and
religious context
effect of Nazi repression
How successful was Nazi
propaganda?
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Mason, sceptical of effect of Nazi propaganda on all
groups, for example the working classes
Welch, argues Nazi propaganda was successful in
strengthening support for Hitler, but not its policies e.g.
anti-Semitism and some propaganda was arguably
counter-productive, e.g. anti-Church propaganda
Geary believes Nazi propaganda was most successful
when it played on traditional German prejudices, e.g.
nationalism, fear of Bolshevism etc.
 Go further
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Useful texts and websites
Geoff Layton, Germany: The Third Reich 1933-45, p.8488
John Hite and Chris Hinton, Weimar and Nazi Germany,
p.244-275
www.calvin.edu/academic/cas/gpa/ww2era.htm
www.activehistory.co.uk/worksheets/a2/lme/nazi_pro
paganda.pdf
www.spartacus.schoolnet.co.uk/GERnazigermany.htm
www.bbc.co.uk/history/war/wwtwo/nazi_propaganda
_gallery.shtml