Why Did Nazi Use Of Propaganda

The Nazi’s made use of a variety of methods to enforce their will on the people of Germany. One of these methods was aggressive use of the media for their own political means. Propaganda is a means of advertising a political idea. In the case of the NSDAP in its early days this took the form of posters, public meetings / speeches and a conscious decision to present the party in a particular manner. It could be argued that Propaganda was central to Nazi Germany. Many Historians stress the importance of Propaganda organised to appeal to the emotions, especially mass meetings and rallies. "National Socialist ideology and propaganda are often referred as two sides of the same coin and justifiably so". It is through Propaganda that many parties

In Nazi Germany, Dr Joseph Goebbels was in charge of propaganda. Goebbels official title was Minister of Propaganda, he argues "Propaganda was our sharpest weapon in conquering the state, and remains our sharpest weapon in maintaining and building up the state." This suggests that Propaganda was extremely significant in stressing the power of the Nazis and that it was possible to some extent to make excuses for Germans who were indeed manipulated. However, the recent work of Noakes has introduced a different viewpoint stating that the Nazis had major electoral successes in some areas where there was little propaganda. Therefore Propaganda was more successful in reinforcing existing sympathies and feelings than in creating them. Goebbels developed extremely successful campaigns using simple slogans and images repeated over and again in order to win public support for the party. The Nazis spent huge sums on newspapers, leaflets and poster campaigns, they used skilful

Each department issued instructions as to the themes and styles that were acceptable and unacceptable to be produced. In all areas the only material that was allowed to be produced was that which promoted Nazi ideals. The radio was a great potential for spreading Nazi message as the loudspeakers were installed in factories and public places. The Radio had been state regulated since the 1925 creation of the Reich Radio Company. It was 51% owned by the Ministry of posts, and 40% by nine regional broadcast companies. These controlled the content. In 1933 they were taken over by Reich governors, and in April 1934 the Nazis established a unified radio system and purged it of hostile elements. Radio became one of the most powerful tools for indoctrination. Goebbels described it as the 'Spiritual weapon of the Totalitarian state'. It was significant as there was great extension of the audience, helped by the mass production of the subsided basic 'people’s receiver'. This had just one station and a limited range. However by 1935 there was 7 million sets. By 1939 70% of households owned a