HOW HITLER AND THE NAZI USED PROPAGANDA (Research Paper Sample)

RESEARCH ESSAY: HOW HITLER AND THE NAZI USED PROPAGANDA Name Course Date Research Essay: How Hitler and the Nazi Used Propaganda Introduction Arguably, propaganda was the primary tool that virtually controlled Germany during Adolf Hitler’s reign. Historical studies affirm that Hitler’s party, the Nazi Party dictated over everything including politics, military, education, and economy. Promotion of anti-Semitism was the strategy that enhanced the success of the party. However, it is worth mentioning that the implementation of propaganda was not a technique discovered by the Nazis. The strategy to communicate and convince large masses of people has been apparent throughout history. Most Western countries used a similar strategy during World War I to appeal to civilians to take part in the war. Hitler’s effectiveness in implementing this approach was palpable in the transformation of German citizens to harbour hatred for the Jews. Through propaganda, Hitler intensified animosity that triggered the genocide of over six million Jews. The purpose of this paper is to present an argument in the manner that Hitler and the Nazi Party implemented propaganda to transform the hatred perception of the Germans towards the Jewish people. The paper investigates how the Nazi Party used societal organisations including education centres, churches, and media to convey their propaganda against the Jews. Overview Adolf Hitler rose to power after his appointment as Fuhrer in 1934. The first mission of Hitler was to increase the power and popularity of the Nazi party in the country. Hitler established a plan identified as the coordination of society. The notion meant that the country was to be subject to transformation to nationalist, socialist, and the political ideology of the Nazi Party. In other words, Germany was to be a totalitarian state. The structuring of the German Society was on specific building blocks. First, Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party promoted the development of Nationalist Socialist organisations in the societal platform, in addition to, outlawing any other alternatives. The regime governed the country through elimination. The elimination was by secret execution and deployment of police forces. Besides, propaganda was the backbone of the Nazi Party political success because of promoting their ideologies. For Hitler and the Nazi party to acquire popularity in Germany, Hitler had to facilitate effective propaganda. For this reason, Adolf Hitler was able to use propaganda to facilitate his ideology of creating hatred between the Germanys and the Jews in the following ways. At the outset, Adolf Hitler achieved his propaganda mandate using language and repetition. The first objective of Hitler and the Nazi Party was to promote propaganda and convince people. Use of language was among the most relevant component of deploying propaganda to suit their ideology. The latter entailed the development of a language form for the crowd and masses. The effectiveness of the propaganda was enhanced by simple diction as well as direct messages that were accessible to the people. The simple message to be delivered to the people was agreeable. The language used compromised the information that the people were subject to through developing extreme and vivid lies, which created a new reality of hatred. Additionally, Nazis established propaganda with the aim of creating a subconscious action on the people. Hitler developed effective propaganda that facilitated notable transformations and coordination of society. The Blut and Boden were among the most important Nazi terms that were based on race and ethnicity. In German during the era, the term meant blood and soil. The Nazi Party used these terms repeatedly in their speeches to motivate Germans to fight for their land and well-being. Hitler used this repetition technique to remind Germans that they needed to hate the Jews along with eliminating them. The Nazi Party used the art of repetition to convince the people that Germany had to expand its territory. The notion meant that Germans needed more space to live hence contributing to hatred towards the Jews. The strategy convinced the people that the Jews had to pave way to create space for Aryan people and restore Germany’s glory. The use of specific words such as Blut and Boden played a defining role in influencing the emotional orientation of the people. The term ‘Blut’ distinguished between the superior and inferior race. To Hitler, an individual from a superior race was either Aryan or Nordic, illustrating blonde hair, fair skin and blue eyes. In contrast, the inferior race entailed non-Aryans such as Jews, gipsies, and slaves. This inferior race included individuals with genetic disorders, and homosexuals. In spite of harbouring the perception that many groups were inferior, the Jews were the primary target. Specifically, the Jewish people were the primary recipients of the Nazi Party discrimination. The target for the Jewish people was because of their religious orientations, and the notion of Jews being the murderers of Jesus. A number of myths surrounding the religious beliefs of the Jews enhanced the effectiveness of the Nazi propaganda against them through language and repetition. Among the common myths that encouraged propaganda was the allegation of Jews performing ritual killings such as Passover. Hitler and the Nazi Party alluded that the Jews were stealing hard-earned money from industrious citizens. Another instance of use of language to propel propaganda was evident in Hitler writing a book called Mein Kampf. In the book, Hitler used propaganda to spread the ideals of the National Socialism, which was anti-Semitism. Headed by John Goebbels, the Reich Ministry of Public Enlightenment and Propaganda was to ensure the communication of this message. Through propaganda, the Nazi Party reminded the people of the struggle against foreign enemies and the Jews. Films were medium of disseminating racial anti-Semitism. The Hitler administration using language and repetition based this propaganda on the fact that the Jews were financially stable despite the early 1930s depression and recession hence labelling them as Shylocks and greedy individuals who illegally acquired wealth. Clearly, Hitler used propaganda to implicate the Jews as the cause of Germany’s problems. The allegations were misconceptions constructed and propagated using language to manipulate the truth. Through using language and repetition effectively as a tool of propaganda, Hitler successfully rallied the German people against the Jews. Secondly, the Hitler administration and the Nazi Party were able to capitalise on propaganda to achieve their hatred ideology against Jews through using education system in the country. The use of education was to direct propaganda to the young generation. Hitler and the Nazi Party had to convince the entire society including children. For that reason, the administration incorporated the propaganda ideology in the German education system. This technique was significant in brainwashing children and students at young age. For instance, Hitler and the Nazi encouraged the publication of books and literary works that promoted their propaganda. A compelling example of such works was by Julius Streicher writing a book with a title that meant ‘the toadstool’ aimed at educating the Aryan children about the ‘sub-human’ Jewish neighbours. This propaganda manifested on the young and encouraged the German citizens from a tender age to develop an enormous hatred for the Jews. Therefore, the education system manipulated the young Germans to believing that money was the God of the Jews. The education system entailed many books with this propaganda, which were distributed to both the Germans and the Jews. To ensure that this propaganda was effective based on the education system, Hitler blamed all the economic and social problems of Germans to the Jews. The inclusion of these biased allegations in the education curricula across all levels created the perception that the Jewish earned money through crimes. Moreover, the education system involved the use of images in spreading the false propaganda in the classes. A persuasive example of use of images in books to spread the propaganda was apparent in the book Der Giftpilz by Ernst Hiemer. Through this, German children and young adults started drawing images of curved noses to underscore their perception of the Jewish people validating the fact that the manipulation was effective through the education system. It is worth noting that the propaganda about gained prominence throughout the world. Propaganda also entailed the fabrication of Christ’s statement to the Jews. The book by Ernst Heimer had figures that portrayed the Jews as the murderers of Christ. Primarily, the use of education as a tool for propaganda brainwashed the citizens into believing that the Jews were the basis of their problems. This brainwash explains the success of this strategy. In addition, anti-Semitism ideology was through the Nazi student organisation in Hamburg. At this stage, the custom of strong political anti-Semitism was strong. The local German student organisation in their support for the Hitler administration opposed Judaism and the ‘Jewish finance capital.’ Lastly, the Hitler administration achieved its propaganda ideology against the Jews using the church, societal organisations and the media. The church played a significant role towards the propagation of the Nazi anti-Semitism. In spite of the Roman Catholic Church forbidding the radical anti-Semitism, the church was sympathetic for the nationalistic camp. Based on its actions, the church was ambivalent on the anti-Semitism ideology from the Nazi Party. Various instances were observable where the priests used anti-Semitic images and prejudice expressions during sermons, services and ritual festivals....