Evaluation of The Holocaust Propaganda (Research Paper Sample)

The Holocaust Propaganda
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Introduction.
The Jews holocaust can be described as a period of mass genocide of European Jews that occurred between 1941 and 1945 CITATION Sto19 \l 1033 (Stone). An estimated 5.8 million Jews were murdered by Nazi Forces and its sympathizers led by Adolf Hitler who was fueled by hatred for Jews CITATION Sto19 \l 1033 (Stone). The Jews holocaust then can be defined as the ideological and systematic state- sponsored prosecution and mass killings of European Jews. Hitler believed that Jews were an inferior race and a threat to Germany’s racial purity. He also believed in Germany as the superior race above all others. He believed in racial purity and spatial expansion of Germany that motivated him to start the Nazi revolution of 1933-1939. The holocaust was mainly focused on Anti-Semitism but it also had other victims including gypsies, homosexuals and the intellectually disabled.
Anti-Semitism however was not a concept that began with Hitler but he is the one who idealized and spearheaded the holocaust as a final solution to Germany’s woes which he blamed on Jews. There has been historical evidence on hatred and excommunication of Jews even before the Holocaust. The 17th and 18th centuries were marked with an enlightenment period that focused to promote religious tolerance as a means of combating anti-Semitism. Napoleon and other European leaders also enacted laws that illegalized long-standing restrictions on Jews during the 19th century. Anti- Semitism thus had become a malignant problem in Europe from ancient times that only exploded towards the end of the first half of the 19th century in what later came to be termed as the Jews Holocaust. The holocaust serves as a case study reference in teaching humanities for better conceptualization according to CITATION Lan16 \l 1033 (Landau). Propaganda was a major tool used to fuel anti-Semitism ideologies. This paper will explore the role of newspapers, speeches and posters and art in propelling anti-Semitism ideologies in Germany and the importance of this topic.
Role of Newspapers in fueling Anti-Semitism
Print media has been used as a tool to popularize political ideologies in history since it has the capacity of reaching large masses efficiently and it played such a role during the holocaust. In an era pre-dating audiovisual media, newspapers acted as the primary means of spreading information to masses and Nazi sought to use this to propel propaganda CITATION Tru20 \l 1033 (Trueman). Prior to the Nazi takeover, Germany had close to 4,700 papers of which less than 3 percent were state controlled. Elimination of multiparty resulted in demise of a majority of this paper and the remaining ones were seized by Hitler’s Nazi Party and used to propagate their ideologies CITATION Tru20 \l 1033 (Trueman). Joseph Gobbels, minister of popular enlightenment and Propaganda was tasked with controlling all newspapers. He set up a completely separate department for this purpose.
Jews. Thus, by establishing control of newspapers and proceeding to report hate inspired journalism; Nazi used newspapers as a tool for propaganda.
Role of Speeches in fueling Anti-Semitism
A number of speeches were made by political leaders in Germany such as Hitler and Rudolf Hess to brainwash citizens and motivate then into conforming to Nazi ideologies. Speeches served as a powerful tool in one of the most politicized societies in contemporary European History CITATION Wel14 \l 1033 (Welch). Hitler, understanding the power of speech, called for his political leaders to employ their oratory skills in attaining citizen’s empathy during the holocaust. In one such speech, “To the old Guard in Munich: 1941”, Hitler is quoted referring to spoken word as “The power which has always started the greatest and political avalanches in historyCITATION Byt04 \t \l 1033 (Bytwerk). The role of speech in propelling anti-Semitism ideologies can therefore not be ignored.
Speeches disguised the Anti-Semitism wars as geared towards peace hence achieved a lot of empathy and affirmation from citizens. In his speech; “To the front fighters of the world (1934)”, Rudolf Hess portrays the killings as a heroic struggle for German soldiers. This speech reviewed the sufferings of East Prussia as result of previous wars blamed on Jews hence motivated a lot of soldiers to aid the state in seeking a remedy to the situation. It also preached on the importance of unity of Germans, as a superior race in ending racial impurity.
Speeches were also used to portray the holocaust as a struggle for survival situation between Jews and Germans thus attaining a majority of sympathizers. Robert Ley in 1937 delivered a speech titled ‘Us or Them’ in which he called for people of German descent to rise against Jews or face extinctionCITATION Byt04 \t \l 1033 (Bytwerk). This resonated with a majority of citizens who had for quite some time blamed their economic woes such as unemployment on Jews. He also put through the idea that from basic laws of human existence and leadership, an individual or nation must rise to subjugate others where he called for Germany to aim to be the world’s super power. Speeches hence could be analyzed to serve as a call to Germans to aim towards seizure of world power.
Speeches also portrayed German as a superior race thus found favor and affirmation with a majority of citizens on German descent. Gertrud Scholtz’s speech of 1936, “To be German is to be Strong”, is pitiably one of such speeches. In this speech, Scholtz called for Germans to reawaken their faith in superiority and responsibility to their dependents and transform such faith into actionCITATION Byt04 \t \l 1033 (Bytwerk). Speeches thus motivated Germans to strive for racial purity in their land with a promise that such struggle would earn them respect years on end.
Role of Posters and painting in fueling Anti-Semitism
Since time immemorial art has been employed by man as a visual tool of expressing ideas. During civil unrest art has found a significant role in aiding to promote political ideologies and realize mass revolution. Painting was used to portray Hitler as a savior for Germany and cement his position as a leader of his people. Hitler, realizing the power of image gave his approval for photographs of him to be used in political pamphlets and magazines to cement his position as Germany’s leaderCITATION Byt041 \t \l 1033 (Bytwerk). Nazi’s party political magazine, “Die Kunst im Deutshen Reich”, for example had portraits of Hitler on its front-page that popularized the leader according him both fear and approval- essential tools of subjugation. The use of images and portraits therefore, served to cement Hitler’s leadership which was critical in influencing the holocaust as Hitler was the face of anti-Semitism.