How Did Hitler Use Propaganda To Control German Citizens

The Nazi Government were very effective in controlling German citizens. Once Hitler rose to power in 1933 he needed to control the German people and to make them believe in the Nazi philosophies. Hitler did this in several different ways (United States Holocaust Memorial Museum, 2015). Propaganda was one of the most focused on ways in how the Nazi government could change the views of people and control them as all newspapers and films were censored and controlled by the Nazis as all as radio broadcasts. The Nazi government also change the education system so that schools taught Nazi values and history was taught in a way which glorified Germany and Hitler Youth was made compulsory which trained boys up for war. The SS was a big factor in keeping

the German population under control because the SS would send anti-Nazi supports to concentration camps so they could not share and spread their views with others. The SS were also fear by most German people, helping the Nazis keep their citizens under control. Hitler and the Nazi government had very effective control over the German citizens because of their use of propaganda, changing the education system to teach Nazi beliefs and the SS sending people who were against Hitler to concentration camps.

One of the several ways the Nazi government controlled the German citizens was by the propaganda that the government produced.

The Nazi Propaganda Ministry worked hard to ensure that people were persuaded to adopt the Nazi point of view, such as the idea of the Aryan race and that Germany was in danger from Communists and Jews (BBC, 2014). Joseph Goebbels was the Minister of Propaganda and his and the Propagandas Ministry’s job was to censor all opposition to Hitler and present him and the Nazi Party in the most positive light possible while stirring up hatred towards the Jewish people and also the communists. To do this Joseph Goebbels censored all newspapers, films were controlled and only films that glorified war, making people what to support the war effort, and ridiculed and persecuted the Jews were allowed to be shown and also the Nazi government installed loudspeakers in public places which blared out Nazi propaganda (History.com, 2015). The Nazis also made radios that were sold very cheaply so that more of the population could listen to the radio, but all radio broadcasts were controlled by the Propaganda Ministry. This meant that more people could easily listen to Nazi propaganda. These steps were taken so that the Nazi government could manipulate the German citizens think making more easily controlled (BBC,

2014).

As well as the Nazis producing propaganda, a group of the Nazis called the SS produced fear in the German people. The Nazi state intimidated and terrorised those who were opposed to it, using SS and Gestapo investigators who were always on the lookout for suspicious activity done by the German public. People who were found out to be finding something or people who were in opposing political parties or people who publicly spoke out against the Nazi party were taken away to concentration camps (United States Holocaust Memorial Museum, 2015). NOT DONE

Another way the Nazi government controlled the German citizens was through the education system, they made sure all schools and youth groups became ‘Nazified’.

The Nazis did this to ensure that children were raised in a Nazi way and taught the Nazi beliefs so they would do what they were told. In order to achieve this teachers and university lecturers who were not in the Nazi Party were sacked and replaced. Teachers also had to join the National Socialist Teachers' League. All of the textbooks were re-written to include Nazi political and racial ideas and history was changed and taught in a way to glorify Germany. As well as doing this in all the schools the Nazi government made The Hitler Youth compulsory which indoctrinated boys and prepared them for war and The Nazi Girls' youth organisation - the League of German Girls – was made compulsory which prepared them for children and taught them cooking. All of these thing were done in the education system by the Nazis to make children from a young age believe in the Nazi ideology, such as the idea of the Aryan race and that Germany was in danger from Communists and Jews, making them much easier to control (BBC,

2014).

Hitler and the Nazi Government were very effective in controlling German citizens. His use of propaganda was one of the most focused on ways in how the Nazi government could change the views of people and control them as all media was Nazi controlled. The Nazi government also change the education system so that schools taught Nazi values. The SS was another contributing factor in keeping the German population under control because the SS would send anti-Nazi supports to concentration camps so they could not share and spread their views with others. All of this made how the Nazi’s controlled the German citizens quite effective.