2 - nazi censorship & propaganda

Question 1

Volksgemeinschaft

Answer 1

‘people’s community’

Question 2

Goebbels

Answer 2

minister of public enlightenment & propaganda

Question 3

importance of propaganda

Answer 3

• used to win over public
• glorified war & the Aryan race
• spreading Nazism & Nazi values
• used in wartime to mobilise people, sustain morale & provide practical advice (eg. air raids, recycling food, ‘careless talks’)
• censored all non-Nazi culture & media

Question 4

Nazi party ideology

Answer 4

• maintenance of racial purity
• hierarchy of races (Aryans on top, Jewish & Slavic people at bottom)
• blaming Jewish people for all Germany’s problems
• anti-democratic
• nationalism - TOV had to be reversed & Germany needed ‘living space’ in the east
• German society had to overcome class division, & be socially united and racially pure
• some were anti-capitalist & wanted profit-sharing

Question 5

success of Nazi propaganda

Answer 5

• degrees of success varied according to purpose
• helped to create ‘Hitler myth’ & strengthen Germany
• less successful in creating Nazi culture & winning over working class

Question 6

‘Hitler myth’

Answer 6

belief that Hitler could solve all of Germany’s problems

Question 7

radio propaganda

Answer 7

• Reich Radio Company created (control over broadcasting)
• 25% of Germans owned radios -> govt produced cheap sets (the People’s Receiver) -> by 1939, 70% of people owned radios
• loudspeakers in factories, cafes & offices & ‘radio wardens’ co-ordinated listening
• 2/3 of airtime was popular music to avoid boring people

Question 8

press propaganda

Answer 8

• closed down socialist & communist newspapers, placed others under control of Reich Press Chamber
• Editor’s Law (1933) ensured papers reported Nazi views, punished if not
• daily press conference at Propaganda Ministry (gave editors guidance on what to write)
• news agencies placed under state control to ensure pro-Nazi view

Question 9

drama & music propaganda

Answer 9

• strict control over drama & music
• theatres & plays needed a licence & were subject to police supervision
• banned experimental plays & music
• some classics censored - eg. jazz forbidden (‘degenerate’)
• music by Jewish artists forbidden, Jewish conductors & musicians dismissed

Question 10

literature & art propaganda

Answer 10

• had to be positive about Nazism
• approved themes, eg. early days of Nazism, war & expansion
• Reich Chamber of Literature listed banned books
• libraries & bookshops raided, & banned books burned at rallies
• modernist art banned & modern painting removed from galleries
• acceptable art, eg. German countryside & German warriors

Question 11

film propaganda

Answer 11

• Reich Film Chamber established, & everyone in film industry had to join
• few political films
• Weekly Review contained political information & had to be included in all film programmes

Question 12

ritual propaganda

Answer 12

• rituals used to unite society, strengthen regime, win popularity & glorify Nazi past
• ‘Heil Hitler’ greeting
• Horst Wessel anthem
• uniforms
• public festivals to commemorate seizure of power, party’s foundation, Hitler’s birthday & Munich Putsch