Nazi Propaganda World War II

This statement can be true on one hand due to various factors during the early years of the nazi propaganda regime. There are many things which could be said about the nazi propaganda and the methods which were used. Nazi propaganda provided a crucial instrument for acquiring and maintaining power, and for the implementation of their policies, including the pursuit of total war and the extermination of millions of people in the Holocaust. German propaganda was extremely important to the course of World War II.

By taking control of the media and only printing or broadcasting Nazi material, the Reich was able to effectively flood Germany with its propaganda. There were many different themes of Nazi propaganda during the early regime, one being Volksgemeinschaft which was the idea of a perfect family. This theme of propaganda was to try and persuade the German families that each family should be perfect with a working mother, four children and a family house.

This was probably one of the most persuasive of the German themes of Nazi propaganda as it was ideal for the German nation to have perfect lives in which will help each family grow to be a part of the process of rebuilding Germany, it called upon each German to show unity throughout the country. Also a major theme of which Nazi propaganda was portrayed was eugenics. This came under heavy criticism due to the fact that it was against the Catholic Church which at the time was the biggest religion spread over the world.

Historian, Welch, has argued the point that he believes Nazi propaganda was more successful in putting Hitler over with the German people rather than putting the Nazi policies over. This is a case of the ‘Hitler Myth’ which is what many people believe to be that Hitler was promoted as a saviour to the German nation after all of the disasters of WW1 and the Treaty of Versailles.

Things such as the poster on Germans buying only German goods within the country, it also says German Week/German Goods/German Labor, which is a propaganda method to get across the point that the German’s work for the goods each week and therefore they should buy their own goods as a sign of respect towards the country. It also has a short and catchy slogan which would cause a knockon effect throughout Germany.

This Nazi propaganda poster was published during the 1930’s and was a great part of Nazi propaganda as the majority of Germans took notice of the slogan and what the poster was trying to get across to the German public. Another poster which was published within the 1930’s was a poster which was against handicapped German citizens as the Nazi’s felt that handicapped people were a waste of German goods and a waste in the community. The poster reads ‘This genetically ill person will cost our peoples community 60,000 marks over his lifetime.

Citizens, that i your money. ‘ The point that this message is trying to get across to the German society was that handicaps could not pay back enough sufficient effort to the German nation and were wasting marks. This poster was quite successful as it proved to be another Nazi propaganda method which would make the German people begin to realise that Nazi’s were trying to create a better life for the men and women who could work for the country and support the Nazi reign.

However as the years progressed and the Nazi propaganda methods began to slow down during the war, it became clear to alot of Germans that the Nazi propaganda was just infact lies and methods of making them believe that everything about the Nazi Party was for the greater good of the German nation. It became apparent to the Germans that the Nazi propaganda wasn’t actually putting across the Nazi policies very well to the Germans, more putting Hitler’s views across and that Hitler should be supported in whatever he views to be the right way forward for the German people.

During 1941, a novel named ‘Germany Must Perish! ‘, written and self-published by Theodore N. Kaufman was released. The Nazi’s used this book in a piece of propaganda to allege that the Jews were plotting against Germany. The Nazi’s reacted to the book by calling it an ‘orgy of Jewish hatred’ and then accused Roosevelt of having inspired the book. A controversial point of the book’s effect was on September 8 1941 when the Jews of Hanover were forced from their homes. However the book was claimed not to have had a real impact for propaganda on Nazi genocide policies and was ignored by many Germans.