By Alexandra Murzin
• Born on October
29th 1897 in
Rheydt, Germany
• The Goebbels
family was Catholic
• He had Four
siblings
• He had a deformed
right leg, the result
of club foot
•Attended a
boarding school
• Studied literature
and Philosophy in
University
• He worked as a
journalist and tried
to become a
published author
• Goebbels
came into contact
with the Nazi Party in 1923
• Officially joined the Nazi party
in late 1924
• “National and Socialist! What
goes first, and what comes
afterwards?”
• Hitler recognized his talents
and brought Goebbels with him
to Munich
• Goebbels offered Hitler his
full loyalty, a pledge that he
adhered to until the end of his
life
I love him ... He has thought through everything, Such a
sparkling mind can be my leader. I bow to the greater one, the
political genius. Adolf Hitler, I love you because you are both
great and simple at the same time. What one calls a genius.” –
Joseph Goebbels speaking of Adolf Hitler.
• October 1926- Hitler made Goebbels the Party Gauleiter for the
Berlin section
• Discovered his talent as a Propagandist
• 1927- Founded and became editor of the official National Socialist
periodical Der Angriff (The Attack)
• Discovered his talent for Public speaking
• Elected to the Reichstag in 1928
•March 13th 1933 Goebbels was appointed Reich
Minister of Public Enlightenment and Propaganda
by Hitler
• He now had power over all German radio, press,
cinema and theater
• Commercials urging people to follow Hitler and
hate Jews would air before movies at the Cinema
• "We are the masters of Germany.“
• Propaganda Posters flourished in Germany
•Once war began in September
1939, Goebbels began a steady
process of extending his influence
over domestic policy
• Goebbels increasingly became
the face and voice of the Nazi
regime for German People
• Goebbels viewed Hermann
Göring, in charge of the economy,
as his main political enemy as he
aimed to become the chief of all
domestic matters
•Feb 1943 changing political
atmosphere following the major
defeat at the Battle of Stalingrad
forced the two to form an alliance
to put a stop to a bid for power by
Martin Bormann
• He was a supporter of sending
Jews to concentration camps and
ghettos to the east
• 1944- Goebbels and Speer again
attempted to overthrow Göring and
Hitler finally agreed making
Goebbels the title of Reich
Plenipotentiary for Total War
• The decision was made to deport the German and Austrian Jews to
unspecified destinations "in the east” Goebbels immediately pressed
for the Berlin Jews to be deported first
• 1942- Goebbels continued to press for the "final solution to the
Jewish question" to be carried forward as quickly as possible
• It was a constant annoyance to Goebbels that, at a time when
Germany was fighting for its life on the eastern front, there were still
40,000 Jews in Berlin
• Goebbels wrote in his Diary- “They should be carted off to Russia,
it would be best to kill them all at once.”
•Kept a diary from 1923-1945
• His early entries show little
interest in politics
• After meeting Hitler he became a
central figure in his entries
• By July 1941 the diaries had
grown to fill twenty thick volumes
• Goebbels realized that his diaries
were too valuable to risk being
destroyed in air raids and so he
moved them from his home in
Berlin to an underground vault in
central Berlin
• By November 1944 Goebbels
knew that Germany was going
to lose the war
• He knew that he would not
survive the fall of the Third
Reich and ordered his diaries
copied for safekeeping
• April 10th 1945- Last entry
• His Diaries were discovered
after the war, however, were
not published until recently
• Married Magda Behrend on
December 19th 1931
• They had 6 Children
1. Helga Susanne Goebbels
2. Hildegard Traudel
Goebbels
3. Helmut Christian
Goebbels
4. Holdine Kathrin Goebbels
5. Hedwig Johanna Goebbels
6. Heidrun Elisabeth
Goebbels
•Magda Goebbels had an
older son from a previous
marriage named Herald
Quandt
• He became attached to
his step father
• Goebbels had many
affairs while married to
Magda
• Beginning of 1945- Goebbels knew that defeat was inevitable
• Moved his family and himself into the Vorbunker
• Hitler named Goebbels as the Chancellor of Germany in his will
• Chancellor of Germany- April 30th – May 1st 1945
• Killed himself and family on May 1st 1945- Late evening (47 years
old)
• Killed his children by injecting them
with morphine and then, when they
were unconscious, crushing an
ampoule of cyanide in each of their
mouths
• Goebbels and his wife walked up to
the garden above the bunker where
they killed themselves, Magda took
Cyanide and Goebbels shot himself
• Their bodies were burned in a shell
crater
• Goebbels' remains, with his metal
leg brace, NSDAP badge only partially
destroyed, and the shape of his head
were easily identifiable
1.His Love for Hitler
3. He was
2.His hatred of Jews
unconfident
and wanted
acceptance
4.Desired to be a
part of
something big