Images Of Control Progaganda In Nazi Germany

And Soviet Russia Essay, Research Paper

One of the greatest revolutions in the twentieth century was not political in nature. It however aided in many different political revolutions. This revolution was the communications revolution. The twentieth century has experienced one of the greatest changes in mean of communication including technologies such as radio, television, motion pictures, advanced telecommunications and the Internet. These technologies have been used to fulfill the purposes of many. Some who wished to use this technology to influence other people. A term commonly used to describe the use of media to convince or persuade other people of a certain idea or cause is propaganda. Political leaders often use techniques of propaganda, as the goal of politicians is to convince people that their ideas supercede those of others. Two examples of propaganda being used extensively during the twentieth century is by the National Socialist German Workers Party (Nazi) in Germany from 1933 1945 and by the Communist government led by Josef Stalin in the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics from 1929 1953. In examining these two states and their use of propaganda, it can be seen that although both state had radically different ideologies, certain trends in their use of propaganda can be found to be in common. These primarily being: the glorification of individuals or groups as heroes, the glorification of the leader of the state, and the dehumanizing of the state s enemies.

After Adolf Hitler was proclaimed Chancellor of Germany in 1933 he started to establish a Nazi government. It became immediately apparent that the new government would have to get the people s unquestioned support. Although the Nazi party had been relatively popular before Hitler became Chancellor, there was still opposition to be found in some people. One tactic that was used by the Nazi propagandists was to use a hero to symbolize all that could be accomplished under the new National Socialist government. A hero is also useful to rally the people behind something that they can relate to and have sympathy for. The obvious example of this is the Nazi glorification of Horst Wessel. Considered a Nazi martyr, he was in reality murdered and was not really a hero at all. He was however used by Nazi Propaganda minister Goebbels to be seen as a National Socialist hero who was murdered by Communists (Welch, 1983, p. 75). Horst Wessel was an extremely honored figure in Nazi Germany. An example of this opinion was stated in Der Br nnen, January 2, 1934, How high Horst Wessel towers over that Jesus of Nazareth that Jesus who pleaded that the bitter cup should be taken from him. High unattainably high all Horst Wessels stand about Jesus! (Welch, 1983, p. 75) A film that was produced in Germany, in 1933, by the Nazis also glorifies this hero. The film is called Hans Westmar: Einer Von Vielen (Hans Westmar: One of Many). The film was renamed because Goebbels believed the film was not worthy of a hero such as Horst Wessel (Welch, 1983, p. 77). The film does however succeed in glorifying the Nazi party and particularly the SA and their struggle against the Communists in Germany at the time. In having the character Hans Westmar murdered by Communists; the film creates sympathy for the SA who are viewed as heroes. It also creates a negative view of the Jews and Communists, especially Communist Jews, as the hero Westmar is of course murdered by Communists. The film also attempts to initiate a movement to carry on the work of Hans Westmar (the SA) in order to rid Germany of the Communist Jew (Welch, 1983, p. 80). This film uses a well-honored hero of the National Socialist movement to promote other causes of the party; namely anti-Semitism and anti-Communism.

The Soviet Union also had its heroes to promote. One of the most important heroes in the USSR was the worker, who was always a key element in Bolshevik ideology. In creating an icon out of the worker the Bolshevik leaders could motivate the working classes. If it were seen that harder workers were more glorified than those who did not work hard; then the workers would consequently work harder. This was important for the goals of Soviet leader Stalin who wanted to industrialize Russia during the 1930s with two successive Five Year Plans. During the 1930s, Soviet propaganda artists shifted focus from the single image of a blacksmith, used in the early days of Communist Russia, to represent the worker to a new image of many workers working together for the common good (Bonnell, 1997, pp. 34 35). This was often presented in photomontages of actual soviet workers. Actual photographs took away the feeling of this is what things could be like and now presented the public with the way things are today (Bonnell, 1997, pp. 39 – 40). However, this dominant image of the worker began to loose importance in Soviet propaganda during the 1930s. Other heroes were then becoming more important such as aviators, explorers and geologists (Bonnell, 1997, p 44). This also led to glorifying the ultimate hero of all, Stalin himself.

In a totalitarian state it is very useful to have the leader viewed as a god. If the people of the nation idolize their leader then they will probably support him or her in their efforts and they will also become very nationalistic. An example of this is in footage taken in Berlin in 1940 when Adolf Hitler returns to his capital after successfully