Unit 3 - The State and the People: Change and Continuity
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History essay: Nazi propaganda
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Unit 3 - The State and the People: Change and Continuity
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AQA
History essay on Nazi propaganda in Germany. It answers the question: To what extent was propaganda and the ‘Hitler Myth’ important to the success of the Nazi administration 1933-43?
Unit 3 - The State and the People: Change and Continuity
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NAZI GERMANY HISTORY CLASS ESSAY: NAZI PROPAGANDA 1933-1943
Gloucestershire College
A-LEVEL HISTORY
Source of the essay: Whitfield, R. & Waller, S. (2015). Oxford AQA History for A Level: Democracy
and Nazism: Germany 1918-1945 (Oxford A Level History for AQA). OUP Oxford.
To what extent was propaganda and the ‘Hitler Myth’ important to the success of the Nazi
administration 1933-43?
‘I see in the newly established Ministry for Popular Enlightenment and Propaganda a link
between government and people’. These are the words of the Minister of propaganda Goebbels
when he gave a speech at a press conference in 1933. As it has already been established,
propaganda was one of the great strengths of the Nazi Party for the consolidation of power in
Germany and it still played a role in the time of their administration (1933-43). But how
significant was propaganda and the ‘Hitler Myth’ to Nazi success while they were in power?
Nazis had numerous methods of propaganda, mainly, because they wanted to reach all groups of
society. However, the most effective ones could be considered radio, newspapers, and films.
Newspapers had a significance, because more and more of them were bought by Nazis (by 1944,
82% were owned by Nazi publishing houses). Since the content was strictly controlled, people
had to read about the ‘great’ ideology of the Nazi Party every day and that, psychologically,
might have pushed people to welcome the regime. On the other hand, newspapers were not read
by all age groups and sometimes people could decide to throw them away without reading,
especially people who were strongly against Nazis. Radio was, possibly, the most effective
propaganda of all. The speakers were in every public place and Hitler’s speeches were
broadcasted. In addition, with only one radio station available and with broadcasts reaching
everyone, people HAD to listen.
Films were a very clever way of how to spread the message. Propaganda was combined with
entertainment, which seemed to be efficient. Demonstration of anti-Semitism and anti-
Communism was the most popular. Jud Süss was a film with anti-Semitic message. Films could
make people pay attention to the issue because of the visual and entertainment aspects.
Additionally, films were not pressuring people to accept Nazi ideology, but to support the
regime. The issue with films may have been that people, who watched them, might not have
taken the message seriously or worried more about having a good time. The effectiveness of
propaganda depended on many factors: people’s subjective opinion on politics, anti-Semitism,
ideology, and on person’s age too. With each method of propaganda, excluding radio, there
seems to be an issue. For example, parades or spectacles were not attended by many people.
Furthermore, it also depends on WHAT is being encouraged. For instance, the difficult economic
times had a massive effect on propaganda’s success. At the same time, anti-Semitism was the
reason for supporting the Nazi regime only for the minority of people and some were even
against the concept. Thus, it leads to the point that the Nazi dictatorship had widespread
opposition and resistance to some extent, which suggests that the propaganda could have had
only a minor or even no effect on some of the individuals. It also should have been very
expensive and the government could have invested the money in more essential areas e.g.
education or housing. Nazis, themselves, with the help of propaganda aimed to turn people into
‘committed members of the Volksgemeinschaft’.
In 1941, Goebbels created another part of Nazi propaganda – The Hitler Myth. The main idea of
it was to show people that Hitler is a ‘man of the people’ and to persuade people that the Nazi
Party was the ‘bad one’, which created opposition and chaos, whilst Hitler is the ‘good one’. The
one who cares for the country and the prosperity of the German people. It was done by
separating Hitler as a political figure from the party. It seems like this idea was, truly, successful.
Every social group, except the army, held a grudge not against Hitler, but the Nazis. The
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