Winning people over

• Winning people over

  • Fear of arrest and imprisonment by the Gestapo or the SS meant that many Germans kept their heads down and didn't complain
  • But Hitler and the Nazis knew that they didn't have to instill fear in all Germans; many supported them
  • To make sure that as many people as possible continued to support them, the Nazis used two clever methods of control - propaganda and censorship
• Propaganda

  • Hitler employed a leading Nazi, Joseph Goebbels, to persuade large numbers of Germans to think and believe what Hitler wanted them to think and believe
  • Goebbels' official title was the Minister of Enlightenment and Propaganda
  • He understood that propaganda worked best if people were repeatedly given some basic ideas with short messages and powerful images
  • Blaming Jews for Germany's problems, criticising the Treaty of Versailles, and making Germany strong and powerful again were identified as key messages, and they continously appeared all over Germany, on posters, in newspaper, speeches, films on the radio
• Propaganda and censorship

  • Propaganda is the art of persuading other people that your version of the story is correct
  • However, Goebbels knew he couldn't rely on propaganda to do this
  • He needed to control and limit other ideas and beliefs too, so he used censorship
  • This meant that the government tightly controlled or censored what German people heard, read or saw
  • So, anything was banned, such as books, films, news articles, even jokes, if it was viewed as harmful to the Nazi or Hitler
• Newspapers

  • Only stories that showed the Nazis doing good things were allowed to be printed
  • There were also many negative stories about Jews
  • Newspapers that printed stories that Goebbels hadn't approved were closed down
• Films

  • All film plots were shown to Goebbels before the actual film was made
  • All films had to show the Nazis in a good way, and their 'enemies' in a bad way
• Radio

  • The Nazis controlled all radio stations, which were used to put across Nazi ideas
  • Cheap radios were produced that could only tune in to Nazi-controlled stations; more Germans owned radios in the 1930s than Americans
  • Loudspeakers were placed in the streets, in factories and cafes to air radio broadcasts
• Books, theatre and music

  • Writers were forced to write books, plays and songs that praised Hitler and the Nazis
• Mass rallies

  • Spectacular parades called mass rallies were held often in celebration of Hitler
  • Special arenas were built that could hold half a million people
  • Choirs, bands, speeches, fireworks and air shows were performed to showcase how impressive and well organised the Nazis were