Power And Propaganda The Nazi Rise To

Power And Propaganda, The Nazi Rise To Power Essay, Research Paper

Power and Propaganda: The Nazi Rise to Power

While Germany struggled under the massive social and economic burdens left by defeat in World War I, a new political ideal began to take hold – one that would eventually rebuild a crumbled economy and motivate a disparaged people. Through the use of media and propaganda, Adolf Hitler created a totalitarian state unparalleled in the twentieth century. “His was the first dictatorship in the present period of modern technical development, a dictatorship which made complete use of all technical means for domination of its own country”(p.355).

At the end of World War I, Germany was punished harshly by the Allies. Under the Treaty of Versailles, a humiliated Germany was forced to pay heavy reparations to France. These payments, combined with the economic collapse of the Great Depression, opened politics to totalitarian movements (such as communism and socialism) that began to emerge in the early 1920s. Competing with the right-wing communist party, “it was the skill of Hitler and the National Socialist Workers Party (Nazis) in the new politics and propaganda that allowed them to exploit most effectively Germans’ fears and hope to gain power”(p.358). As stated in the text, the Nazis’ extreme nationalist message capitalised on the Young Plan of 1929, which had failed to reduce the war reparation payments to the Allies so deeply resented by Germans. The severity of the Depression also encouraged Germans to look to the strong leadership Hitler claimed to offer (p.359).

As the Nazis climbed to power from the mid-1920s, Hitler increasingly monopolised the use of technology for propaganda. Much of the funding for the Nazi party came from wealthy opponents of the Young Plan, and the Nazis had sufficient funds to exploit modern media completely. Through the use of propaganda, Hitler became omnipresent, dominating German politics. Hitler created an image of organisation and leadership. He identified the party to voters by adopting the swastika as its symbol, and creating the Sturmabteilung (S.A.) as a symbol of new strength for Germany. In doing so, Hitler was able to give voters concrete evidence of his intention to pull Germany out of its current situation, and won wide appeal from people frustrated by national defeat and economic woes.

Hitler recognised that the fundamental theory behind propaganda is that, “it must be addressed always and exclusively to the masses” (source 1, p.364). Much of the resounding success with German voters, evident in 1933 when Hitler became chancellor, can be attributed to his successful use of propaganda. Hitler argued in Mein Kampf that: “the more modest its (propaganda) intellectual ballast, the more exclusively it takes into consideration the emotions of the masses, the more effective it will be (source 1, p.364).

Hitler’s success with the voting public was also a result of the propaganda-created ‘Fuhrer (leader) Myth.’ Nazi political propaganda was so powerful that Hitler came to be seen as the embodiment of the German ideal – a strong, courageous, and brilliant Hitler that personified a restored Germany. As Otto Dietrich wrote on Hitler’s campaign by plane, in which Hitler flew through a rainstorm to attend a rally. Dietrich alluded that Hitler was even more powerful than nature, and therefore god-like:

And yet, what a feeling of security is in us in the face of the elements! The Furher’s absolute serenity transmits itself to all of us. In every hour of danger he is ruled by his granite-like faith in his world-historical mission, the unshakeable certainty that Providence will keep him from danger for the accomplishment of his great task (source 13, p. 374).

The emotional appeal that Hitler engendered was largely due to the Nazis ability to exploit German fears through propaganda. The lack of nationalism was chided in poster campaigns, and radio and film ads that targeted the unmotivated German people. One example (source 9, p.372) targets women, and the Nazi emphasis on true German families. Another poster (source 10, p.372) depicts the ideal image of German strength; fighting men. Effective ad campaigns created an atmosphere of fear mixed with hope – the posters depicting what the German people should be doing to strengthen their country. By manipulating media, the Nazis proved that effective propaganda combined with brute force won elections. As an American observer wrote on the Nuremburg rallies, he noticed how easily Hitler commanded attention:

He (Hitler) is restoring pageantry and colour and mysticism to the drab lives of twentieth century Germans. In such an atmosphere no wonder, then, that every word dropped by Hitler seemed like an inspired word on high (source 18, p.379).

Often, Nazi propaganda was aimed at groups Hitler blamed for Germany’s economic woes. Much early propaganda from the 1920s portrayed communists and Jews as standing in the way of German re-mobilisation. All the posters shown in the text make reference to what was wrong with Germany and the Nazi solutions to German problems. One poster depicts the German workers stifled by a Jewish elite (source 8, p.371); targeted because Jews were predominantly involved in signing the Treaty of Versailles, which forced Germany into economic depression.

The effectiveness of propaganda at encour