The Media

• Who was Hitler's Minister for Propaganda?

  Joseph Goebells was the Minister for Propaganda.
• How did Nazi's control the media through the use of Newspapers?

  • Non-Nazi newspapers and magazines were closed down.
  • Journalists who didn't support Hitler would be fired.
  • By 1935, Nazis closed down more than 1600 newspapers and thousands of magazines.
  • The Reich Press Law 1933 removed Jewish and left-wing newspapers.
• How did Nazi's control the media through the use of Rallies?

  • They held an annual mass rally in Nuremburg which lasted several days and over a million people would come to see it each year.
  • Parades would be held on special days (eg on Hitler's birthday).
  • Local rallies and marches would also be held.
• How did Nazi's control the media through the use of Radio?

  • Cheap radios were sold and placed in public places; these radio shows were Nazi controlled and sometimes Hitler made his own radio broadcast.
  • By 1939, 70% of Germans had a radio. From the early 1930s, Germans had 4 million radios in total and by 1939 they had 16 million.
  • Public places were legally oblidged to play Nazi messages and speakers were put in the street that blasted said messages and Hitler's speeches.
• How did Nazi's control the media through the use of Film?

  • 100 films were made by the Nazis each year and each of them would have a pro-Nazi slant and in 1933, 250 million people visited the cinema.
  • Anti-semetic films were produced frequently after 1940.
  • Before a film began, there was a 45 minute reel showing Nazi Germany's achievments.
  • Filmmakers had to send every new film to Goebbels for it to be approved, and Jewish filmmakers were banned.
• How did Nazi's control the media through the use of Posters?

  • Posters with simple, direct and memorable messages were everywhere in Germany.
  • These posters primarily targeted the younger generation in order to indoctrinate younger people first so they would grow up with only pro-Nazi ideology.
• How did Nazi's control the media through the use of Literature?

  • All books, poems and plays were carefully censored so that only literature the Nazis approved of would remain.
  • On May 1933, after encouragement by Goebbels, students of Berlin University burnt 20,000 books written by Jews, Communists and anti-Nazi university professor.
  • Millions of books ended up being burnt on bonfires.
  • About 2500 writers left Germany in the years up to 1939.
  • Mein Kampf was the most influential book in 3rd Reich with 6 million copies sold by 1940.
• How did Nazi's control the media through the use of Music and Theatre?

  • Jazz was banned because it was 'black music' and German folk music and classical music encouraged.
  • Theatre tickets were made cheap for political dramas and shows about German history.
  • Musicians, actors, writers and artists had to join the Reich Chamber of Culture to ensure that only the kind of media that was pro-Nazi was being produced.
• How did Nazi's control the media through the use of Art and Architecture?

  • 'Modern' art (the art developed in the Weimar Republic) was banned and older art styles were heavily encouraged.
  • Protest art was made illegal.
  • Art would glorify Hitler, Germany and the 'perfect' Aryan family.
  • After 1934, all new public buildings had to have sculptures which demonstrated Nazi ideas and Greek/Roman style buildings were made.
  • Albert Speer was Hitler's chief architect and made a stadium that held 340,000 for Hitler's rallies.
• How did Nazi's control the media through the use of Sport?

  • In the 1936 Berlin Olympics, anti-semetic posters were taken down and pro-Aryan posters were put up.
  • Nazis used the success of Aryans in the Berlin Olympics to prove pro-Aryan superiority.
  • Sport was encouraged at school and in the Hitler Youth to develop soldiers for the future army.
• What films were produced to show pro-Nazi ideology?

  • The film called 'Eternal Jew' was a Nazi film that compared Jewish people to an out of control rat species.
  • The film called 'Hitlerjunge Quex' was created in 1933 and was made to show a Communist boy join the Hitler Youth.
• What were Goebbels the 3 goals that he wanted to show with propaganda?

  • Superiority of Aryan Race
  • Greatness of Germany
  • Rule of Fuhrer