How Did Hitler Use Propaganda To Unify Germany

There is no doubt that propaganda was essential in unifying Germany throughout the 1930s. Propaganda promoted patriotism, unity and ultimately support for the war by glorifying the German population and Hitler himself. However, the New Germany Hitler envisioned did not always correlate with that of the people’s and in many cases simple means such as propaganda was not enough to convince and obtain the needed support, resulting in the accumulation of other approaches including intimidation, violence and deception.

Propaganda by the Germans was created as a means of promoting and disseminating the German expectations and ideals without strictly outlining the means to achieve them. Hitler and his highest party members including Himmler and
Goebbels regarded propaganda and its role to play in the Nazi Party as utmost importance. Propaganda itself as Hitler believes “has to be popular and has to accommodate itself to the comprehension of the least intelligent of those whom it seeks to reach”. German propaganda was experienced in many forms and medias, and was accessible to almost all. As propaganda minister Joseph Goebbels states in his Principles of Propaganda “Propaganda to the home front must create an optimum anxiety level. a. Propaganda must reinforce anxiety concerning the consequences of defeat b. Propaganda must diminish anxiety (other than concerning the consequences of defeat) which is too high and which cannot be reduced by people themselves”. The use of psychology and abusing the general population emotionally was not an uncommon strategy in Propaganda. It is the psychological factors and Goebbels superior knowledge of what was to be considered new scientific knowledge which made German Propaganda so effective.

Propaganda after World War I was used in almost all countries.
What set Germany apart, however, was the blatant deception, calls for redemption and the lack of accurate information: “By the skillful and sustained use of propaganda, one can make people see even heaven as hell or an extremely wretched life as paradise.” – Adolf Hitler. After the ridicule and injustice of World War I Germany was a country
‘ripe

for the picking’. Propaganda played an active role in shaping the people of Germany’s perceptions of the “enemy” and justifying vengeance, intolerance and spite. Propaganda was used to slander oppositions, and voters were ultimately forced to choose between either a communist or fascist government. It can be seen through voting polls that many people Hitler persecuted in the coming years in fact voted for him. For many people this was because the Nationalist Party was the only alternative. Through this display of anarchy within the Reichstag it is easier to understand why propaganda was critical and did allow for the manipulation of Germany to occur.

Despite aiming to unify the country, the propaganda effectively created two divides: those who supported the Nazis and those who didn't.
Those who opposed the Socialist Party generally consisted of Jews, ethnic Germans usually from Czechoslovakia and Poland and communists. There was however minority groups like union workers who opposed Hitler’s regime. The audience for the propaganda was not just true Germans, but also soldiers, major business men and even school children. The key to German propaganda was that everyone knew the ideology, but it is never in detail how it would be achieved. Hitler and his coworkers used the financial and political strife throughout Germany to manipulate and persuade Germans that The Nazi Party was going to fix all. The issue within the party, however, was that with such a strong opposition, persuasion was not a sufficient or certain method of obtaining the required votes. Other methods including deception, intimidation and brute force was employed by the Nazi Party and without these extra measures there is almost no way the Nazi party would have risen to such power and into a dictatorship so
quickly.

The propaganda was enough to keep Hitler in power however a police state was required to keep the country under control. Heinrich Himmler employed the Gestapo, a secret police force, to discipline the people. This police force did as they pleased and were feared by most of the community. In the 1933 election Hitler had the majority of votes however there was a substantial amount of opposing voters. Many of these people could not or would not be persuaded by propaganda or the likes and other methods such as intimidation and eradications were engaged. In the 1933

federal election, Hitler held 33.09% of seats but there were around 17 million opposing voters (McCallum, 28). Although propaganda can be seen as pivotal in the Nazi’s campaign for control, it was not always enough nor a sufficient solution to opposing parties. The people of Germany were not so much as ‘unified’ but more like blackmailed and tormented until those who disagreed either conformed or were suitably punished. It is unreasonable to say that it is propaganda that unified a nation, when in fact it was the forced through laws, intimidation, and militarily run regime which forced a nation into a government that would do almost anything to acquire the necessary support.

Propaganda throughout the 1930s had major effects on Germany’s government. However it was not enough to unify a whole nation. Strategies of deception, aggression and intimidation were employed by the Nazi Party and together the necessary support was attained: willingly or not.