1. How effective was Nazi propaganda?

2.  Weltanschauung – world view, philosophy of life
German cultural life during the Third Reich was seen as yet another means of achieving indoctrination
“What we are aiming for is more than a revolt. Our historic mission is to transform the very spirit itself to the extent that people and things are brought into a new relationship with one another"

3.  Weltanschauung
Culture was co-ordinated through the Reich Chamber of Culture
Seven sub-chambers: fine arts, music, theatre, the press, the radio, literature and films
Everyone involved in cultural activity had to be accountable for their creativity
“Whenever I hear the word ‘culture’, I reach for my gun” (Hans Johnst, playwright, 1934)

4.  Key themes Goebbels and the Nazis sought to project key themes
Anti-Semitism
Militarism
Nationalism
Supremacy of the Aryan race
Cult of the Fuhrer
Anti-modernism
Traditional German ‘Volks’ culture

5.  Newspapers
1933 there were 4,700 daily newspapers, 3% controlled by NSDP
daily newspapers, 82% controlled by NSDP

6.  Newspapers
Eventually, directly or indirectly, the Press was controlled by Eher Verlag (Nazi publishing house)
RMVP (Ministry for Enlightenment and Propaganda) told editors where to place articles
Nazi Press Agency supplied estimated 50% of content
From 1933 all editors and journalists had to be accredited by Goebbels

7.  Newspapers
October 1933 new law made editors responsible for infringements of government directives
Clause 14 obliged editors to exclude anything ‘calculated to weaken the strength of the Reich’
Treason to spread false news or rumours

8.  Radio
Radio wardens appointed to report on people’s reactions to specific broadcasts
Provisions made for cheap radios called Volksempfänger (people’s receiver)
Volksempfänger could not pick up foreign broadcasts
Between the number of families with radios rose from 25% to 70%

9.  Radio
Goebbels described radio as “the spiritual weapon of the totalitarian state”
Radio was controlled from 1925 by the Reich Radio Company
In 1934 Goebbels dismissed 13% of RRC on political or racial grounds
All news broadcasts came through the Nazi Office of Propaganda

10.  Film Nazi government bought up shares in 4 major film companies
By 1942 film companies completely state controlled
Unified under the UFI

11.  Film Film going quadrupled between 1933 and 1942
Over 1000 films produced during the Third Reich
Nazis often used newsreels shown before the start of feature films

12.  Music
Germany had a rich classical tradition which suited the Nazi’s cultural propaganda objectives
Jewish composers, e.g. Mahler and Mendelssohn banned
New wave, modernist composers e.g. Stravinsky, Schoenberg were disparaged
New genres, e.g. jazz labelled ‘Negroid’ and ‘degenerate’

13.  Posters
Poster production controlled by the Office for Active Propaganda
Copies of all political material had to be submitted in advance to the office
Unapproved materials were confiscated

14.  Literature
In 1933 there were book burnings at the universities of Berlin and Nuremberg
10 May 1933 central square in Berlin the largest book burning event took place
Raids on public and private libraries
Goebbels wanted eradicate ‘overstated Jewish intellectualism’
Books burned which were Jewish, socialist or pacifist by nature

15.  Literature
2,500 writers left Germany between , including Thomas Mann and Bertolt Brecht
Writers who sympathised with the regime or accepted its philosophy flourished

16.  Rallies
Rallies were a regular feature of Nazi propaganda, with the first official rally in Nuremberg, 1927
As well as attending rallies, Hitler would parade through streets in open-top processions
Many streets were renamed Adolf Hitler Staβe following a visit from the Fuhrer

17.  Rallies Speer specialised in designing and choreographing rallies
Used the ‘architecture of light’ to maximise the effect of gatherings and speakers
Combined effects of uniforms, flags and banners, icons like the eagle and swastika and held meetings at night

18.  Sport Sporting bodies co-ordinated under a Reichssportsführer
Hitler Youth and DAF (German Labour Front, Nazi trade union movement) organised sporting events
Aim was to encourage fitness and health (useful qualities for increasing Germany’s military strength)
Gym displays were also seen as another way of presenting an ordered, regimental society

19.  Sport
Nazis made great efforts to ensure 1936 Berlin Olympics were a propaganda success
New stadium in modernist style
Hitler saw Olympics as an opportunity to show the racial superiority of German people
Ant-semitic propaganda was minimised and the emphasis in posters and speeches was on internationalism
Germany headed gold medals table, despite Black American, Jesse Owens winning 100m
FA ordered footballers to give the Nazi salute before their match against Germany in 1938 (England won 6-3!)

20.  Art
Hitler also said, ‘It’s not the function of art to wallow in dirt for dirt’s sake, never its task to paint the state of decomposition, to draw cretins as the symbol of motherhood, to picture hunchbacked idiots as representatives of any strength.’

21.  Art
Hitler had very strong views on art and they formed the basis of cultural policy
Art critics were answerable to the state, and from 1936 could only provide ‘descriptive reviews’
Certain styles of art were given political labels, e.g. expressionism was described by Alfred Rosenberg, the Culture Minister, as ‘Bolshevik filth’

22.  Art
1937 two parallel art exhibitions held in Munich, one representing what the Nazi regime viewed as the best of German art (Grosse Deutch Kunstausstellung), the other what it deemed ‘degenerate art’ (Entartete Kunst)

23.  Art
18 July 1934, Exhibition of Great German Art was held in a newly built museum of art, Munich
16,000 works submitted but only 6,000 selected for display
Art was rooted in the traditions of the Volksgemeinschaft (the people’s community, the Nazi ideal community)
Exhibition preceded by a Day of German Art, annual pageant in Munich celebrating 2,000 years of German history
600,000 attended exhibition

24.  Art 19 July, Exhibition of Degenerate Art opened
5,000 exhibits labelled as degenerate, Bolshevik or artistically poor
Deemed to reflect cultural decadence of Weimar era
Included works by Emil Nolde, Max Beckmann as well as works by Gaugin, Van Gogh and Picasso
2,000,000 attended exhibition
Works later destroyed, sent abroad or kept by Goering!

25.  Architecture
Hitler was personally interested in architecture as well as art
Rejected decadent architectural styles, e.g. work of Gropius and favoured more traditional neo-classical style of Troost
Albert Speer was Nazi architect who particularly admired the monumentalism of neo-classical art
Local housing was to be inspired by traditional art regional styles

26. What are the problems in assessing the impact of Nazi propaganda on ordinary people?

27.  How successful was Nazi propaganda?
Problems:
quantifying people’s responses
impact of social, political, economic and religious context
effect of Nazi repression

28. How successful was Nazi propaganda?
Mason, sceptical of effect of Nazi propaganda on all groups, for example the working classes
Welch, argues Nazi propaganda was successful in strengthening support for Hitler, but not its policies e.g. anti-Semitism and some propaganda was arguably counter-productive, e.g. anti-Church propaganda
Geary believes Nazi propaganda was most successful when it played on traditional German prejudices, e.g. nationalism, fear of Bolshevism etc.

29.  Go further Useful texts and websites
Geoff Layton, Germany: The Third Reich , p.84-88
John Hite and Chris Hinton, Weimar and Nazi Germany, p