How Could This Happen?“Lying is the worst of all evils. Everything else that is diabolical comes from it.”
― Wilm Hosenfeld PropagandaOk, so what exactly is propaganda?
- It's public messages that uses truths, half-truths or lies. Most importantly, it selectively omits important information. This means that if there is information that would prove their message wrong (Jews were NOT to be blamed for the war, as they played absolutely no part in attempting "world domination"). - Propaganda messages play on emotions that are felt by the general public. Usually promotes messages that are led by fear and/or anger for those who are reading it. - It targets a very specific audience. Usually propaganda is intended to energize a targeted population of people. Nazi ideology defined Jews as a separate, unwelcome, and "alien race" That must be eliminated. |
Propaganda in GermanyThe Nazi Party did extensive research to evaluate the needs, hopes, and the fears of "ordinary" German citizens. This way, Hitler was able to hire talented graphic artists (example above) to create attention-catching posters with appealing posters (used from the research they did) for people to read.
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"national Community"
A staple of Nazi ideology was that the future of Germany would consist of only "Aryan" citizens. Nazi messages continuously stressed that new Germany would have no class, religious, or regional differences. That everyone would be treated equally. In theory, nothing would be a barrier for social, military, or even political advancement. Anyone could become what they aspire to be.
However, it didn't explicitly state the fine details in this vision. As time passed, the messages became more clear in that there were specific populations of people who would not be welcome: Jews, African Germans, Roma. Additionally, anyone with a physical or mental disability were considered "undesirable" and therefore also unwelcome. Nazi propagandists contributed to the success of Nazi German policies of exclusion by publicly identifying the unwanted groups, justifying their pariah (outcast) status, and inciting (encouraging) active hatred throughout the country. |
Many Germans, positively impacted by the "positive" message of unity, overlooked the glaring inequalities and abuses in Nazi Germany, which became known as the "Third Reich."
Placing the Blame
Let's go back to this image for a bit. As mentioned before, the poster reads "He is to blame for the war!" During the war (When Germany had successfully expanded all across Europe), millions of Jews were brought under German control. The early discussion on what to do with Jewish citizens revolved around expulsion. This basically meant that anyone who was Jewish would be kicked out of German occupied countries. It evolved, however, as it switched from expulsion to mass murder. To get support in this, propaganda that placed Jews as the "enemy" instilled a growing sense of fear and deep resentment toward non-Jewish residents. The "Jewish enemy" aimed at world domination and enslavement of the non-Jewish population. Furthermore, propagandists placed the blame on Jews for starting the war and demanded "extreme action" to save Germany. It's important to note propagandists never directly called for citizens to murder Jewish neighbors, but rather to not interfere with the German military as it carried out measures to "protect the nation from the Jewish enemy." |
Summary pgs. 19-22
What we see is that the entirety of the process of getting to this point was organized, and planned. Everything was laid out amongst a group of people who felt such disdain towards specific populations of people that they were on a mission to kill as many as possible. However, there is a big question that must be addressed:
"How in the world did eleven million people allow themselves to be killed?"
I mean, if a single terrorist were to go into a local area and shoot an automatic weapon with the intention of harming 300 total people, the likelihood of the shooter accomplishing it is extremely low. Why? Because when the shooting started, most of anyone in the surrounding area would hide, fight, or run.
So we must address the question above. Why, for month after month and year after year, did millions of intelligent human beings willingly load their families into tens of thousands of train cars to be transported into one of the many death camps scattered across Europe? The answer is simple:
So we must address the question above. Why, for month after month and year after year, did millions of intelligent human beings willingly load their families into tens of thousands of train cars to be transported into one of the many death camps scattered across Europe? The answer is simple:
Lie to them.
Citations:
https://www.arcgis.com/apps/Cascade/index.html?appid=6ec555d29de74456a9cf4a9727369a54
https://www.tate.org.uk/research/publications/in-focus/orthodox-boys-bernard-perlin/anti-semitism-propaganda-modernism
https://www.un.org/en/holocaustremembrance/EM/pdf/State%20of%20Deception%20The%20Power%20of%20Nazi%20Propaganda.pdf
ANDREWS, ANDY. HOW DO YOU KILL 11 MILLION PEOPLE?: Why the Truth Matters More than You Think. THOMAS NELSON PUB, 2020.
https://www.arcgis.com/apps/Cascade/index.html?appid=6ec555d29de74456a9cf4a9727369a54
https://www.tate.org.uk/research/publications/in-focus/orthodox-boys-bernard-perlin/anti-semitism-propaganda-modernism
https://www.un.org/en/holocaustremembrance/EM/pdf/State%20of%20Deception%20The%20Power%20of%20Nazi%20Propaganda.pdf
ANDREWS, ANDY. HOW DO YOU KILL 11 MILLION PEOPLE?: Why the Truth Matters More than You Think. THOMAS NELSON PUB, 2020.