Joseph Goebbels Propaganda Essay
Joseph Goebbels: Minister of Propaganda Joseph Goebbels was the minister of Nazi propaganda. Most of the propaganda that you see used to make the party look good and the propaganda used against the Jews or anyone that the Nazis hated and wanted to get rid of came from him. Goebbels was the most skillful propagandist of all time, and was the main reason why the Nazi party was able to accomplish as many of their goals as they did. Joseph Goebbels was a true genius, and because he had a physical disability, he spent most of his time learning. With all of that free time he was able to hone his academic skills, and was eventually able to put them to use as a propagandist for the Nazi party. He knew precisely how to spread propaganda, so that people would hear what he had to say and listen to it. Hitler saw this, and he moved Goebbels up through the ranks very quickly, and he eventually
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appointed Goebbels minister of propaganda. Goebbels was now in a position where he could better spread his propaganda, so that the people might know the intentions of Hitler and the party. He spoke to huge audiences and spread even better propaganda than Hitler himself, which is why he was put in the position of minister of propaganda to begin with. Without Goebbels, Hitler would have had a lot more trouble skillfully spreading propaganda to get support for the Nazi party. Jospeh Goebbels was born October 29, 1897 (Roberts 12). His birth took place in the Rhine District of Rheydt, Germany. His family was a Catholic family with financial struggles (Cochavi 591). Joseph’s mom was named Katarina and his dad’s name was Fritz. Goebbels had three sisters, one of whom died during infancy, and two brothers (Roberts 12-13). Joseph was not a very healthy child. He had pneumonia, which almost cause his death. He even got a fever once that caused hallucinations. The worst of all of Goebbels illnesses came when he was 4. He got an uncommon and painful disease that sapped his ability to walk. This disease was diagnosed as osteomyelitis, which is a bone infection that can cause a permanent disability in some cases. The doctors couldn’t cure heal Goebbels right leg and it stayed crippled for life. When they finished final attempt to heal him when he was ten, they knew he would never be normal and would have clubfoot forever (Roberts 12-13). Because of Goebbels’ clubfoot he was rejected from being able to join the service in WWI (Cochavi 591). Because Goebbels was unable to do a lot physically, he substituted physical activity with reading. Goebbels did not get much assistance in his reading from his parents or teachers. Even when Goebbels was home from school, he would seclude himself from others and read. The book “Konversationslexikon”, was how he learned most about the world. It even got him feeling that he could get far in life if he was smart. Goebbels got respect from his father because of his intelligence, and it was decided that because he was so smart they would send him through more years of school. Goebbels was sent to the Gymnasium in Rheydt, which is similar to English Grammar school. He was not liked at the Gymnasium. Eventually, Goebbels took up the art of playing the piano, as he liked music. His father got him a piano, but it was very expensive for him (Manveli 33-37). Although Goebbels was made fun of for his deformations, he was very smart, which made some of his teachers unhappy (Roberts 13). Instead of joining the army Goebbels went to the University of Heidelberg where he obtained a doctorate in literature and philosophy. Goebbels was unsuccessful when he tried to make a career in writing, but he was able to use his talents in speaking as a propagandist for the Nazis (Cochavi 591). Goebbels became a member of the Nazi party in 1924. He started working with Gregor Strasser who was a huge rival of Adolf Hitler, but Goebbels quickly came to admire Hitler (Cochavi 591). After reading and studying literature, the arts, and religion he was made sure that the people needed a leader to take them forward. He found his hero in Adolf Hitler (Roberts 21). Nobody knows exactly how Goebbels began hating Jews. He actually went out with a half Jewish girl at one point and seemed to have respect for Jews. Some theories for Goebbels’ hatred toward the Jews include: the Germans were falsely blaming the Jews for the 1920s economic failure, or he might have felt little and upset because of his disability (Roberts 17). Other reasons include that Goebbels may have hated the Jews because he held mob values (“Joseph Goebbels”). He might have turned these things into hatred of the Jews. Goebbels was influenced by Wilhelm Nietzsche who created the “superman” myth to show the human race was looking for a higher goal. The main point of this myth was to make people think that the Germans were the best race for greatness. It was also used to show that the Jews weren’t as good as them. Oswald Spengler also influenced Goebbels. He made “The Decline of the West”, which said that all nations went through an up and down cycle, and right now the West was decaying (Roberts 20). Along with the Jews, Goebbels hated Communists, but spoke to them to achieve the Nazis’ goals. Many people in the audience of his speeches just though he was a rich capitalist, but as a response he just showed them he was poor like them by taking out his wallet. They than began to like him because they saw he was like them. These speeches got many people to come to the Nazi party, and they obtained Hitler’s attention. Goebbels liked the Nazi party because it was like socialism, hated communists, hated Jews, and were not happy with the settlements after WWI with the other countries because they wanted to make Germany awesome (Roberts 22-25). Hitler and Goebbels had a common enemy in the Jews. Goebbels used violence to get attention for the party and punish the Jews and Communists whom he saw as foes. Goebbels and the Nazis used the Jews as scapegoats for their struggles (Roberts 25 and 37). August 3, 1925- October 16, 1925 is the most important part of Goebbels career because that is when he met Hitler for the first time (Manvell 54). Later in 1925 he became the Ruhr District business manager of the Nazi party. Goebbels was the main reason why people listened to Hitler. He thought that he had to be the one to make the Germans approve of Hitler. Goebbels and Hitler were brought close because of the anti-Semitism they both shared, and Hitler had a great respect for Goebbels’ propagandist skills and decisions in politics (“Joseph Goebbels”). Goebbels began speaking everywhere for the Nazi Party, and Hitler thought he was a brilliant speaker. He made a speech in Stuttgart and Hitler was very pleased. Goebbels believed Hitler thought highly of him. While Hitler was very fond of Goebbels speeches, Karl Kauffman, the Rhine Ruhr District Gauleiter from 1922-1929, was very critical of Goebbels’ speeches. Kauffman criticized a speech in Hamburg saying Goebbels didn’t have the amount of required toughness. Goebbels realized that Kauffman had a bad mood about him, and believed that meeting Hitler and getting into politics ruined Kauffman who he thought highly of. He felt that how you act in politics defines what kind of person you are. (Manvell 70-71). Goebbels was hopeful for the status of Germany, and it was Hitler who gave Goebbels this hope. It was suggested that Goebbels should go to Berlin, but he didn’t want to because he knew the organization of the capital wasn’t good and he wanted to be closer to Hitler. Goebbels finally agrees to go to Berlin, and because his interest, Else, dumped him, he now only wanted to serve Hitler (Manvell 72-74). Goebbels went over to Berlin to be its Gauleiter with his main being to win the capital over for the Nazis (Cochavi 591). Hitler looked back on the Berlin situation saying, “Dr. Goebbels was gifted with two things without which the situation in Berlin could not have been mastered: verbal facility and intellect…” He would now remain in Berlin until he died. At Berlin he got the Nazis to rally at Pharus Hall, which was a huge Communist meeting place. He provoked a fight here, and then started a speech. During his speech he talked about the loyalty of the Storm Troopers and how they suffered for the cause, and he did this again at another meeting with men who were just pretending to suffer (Manvell 74 and 82-83). Over time Goebbels began to take his speeches more seriously. He made it a point to write his speech to best fit the crowd that he was speaking to. He said that Hitler talked very well, and he began to follow some of Hitler’s method’s of speaking. He would have some sort of event before his speeches to captivate his audience before he began talking. He would wait to speak until he could speak to a full crowd. Because of these techniques, the audience’s emotions were well prepared before the speech, and his allowed him to make better use of his propaganda (Manvell 84-85) Because Goebbels knew that violence demonstrations in Berlin would let the public know about the party, he began to get them going. Eventually, a little while after Hitler returned for a speech on May 1, 1927 the police department banned the Nazi party from greater Berlin, but Goebbels refused and sent the letter with the request back sealed shut. Goebbels felt the most detrimental ban to him by the police was his public speaking ban because that was how he could stay in touch with his counterparts in the Nazi party and spread the Nazis propaganda. The only people who could speak publically in the Nazi party were members of the Reichstag, so Goebbels got up at the meetings and would talk for a while. Goebbels had to deal with being charged and fined when it was found out that he was speaking at the Reichstag meetings (Manvell 85-86) In 1927 Goebbels began and edited his own newspaper, which came out with a new copy every week. He called the paper “Der Angriff”, which translates to “The Attack” (“Joseph Goebbels”). This was his way of communicating to the public (Manvell 87). In the beginning of January in 1928 Goebbels spoke to the people about propaganda. He said that the best way to spread propaganda was by speaking (Manvell 90). Later in 1928 the Nazis got 12 seats in the Reichstag (Manvell 92) in 1928, and one of those seats was given to Goebbels (Cochavi 591). Even though there weren’t many ways that the Nazis could spread propaganda, Goebbels found a way to spread propaganda pretty efficiently. Goebbels would say anything that Hitler wanted him to say (Manvell 93 and 103). Goebbels was able to sell Hitler to the people by making himself look like Hitler’s most supportive guy, and making Hitler look religious by saying Hitler would save the Germans from the Jews, Profiteers, and Marxists. Because Hitler was impressed with Goebbels making the little Berlin part of the party a huge powerhouse in North Germany, he made him Reich Propaganda leader of the Nazi Party in 1929 (“Joseph Goebbels”) After he was made Reich Propaganda leader in 1929, he was made chief of propaganda in 1930 (Cochavi 591). In 1930 Goebbels also met his wife who was already once divorced. Her name was Magda Quandt. Her dad was Jewish, but she became a member of the Nazis (Roberts 37). Hitler was happy that Goebbels was marrying someone with a lot of money and a high social rank. This really made their friendship big (Manvell 591). Goebbels was the one who ran the intense election campaigns from 1930-1933 (Cochavi 591). During the campaign in 1932 one could truly see how much Goebbels hated humanity, and loved causing chaos and intoxication within society. He showed how much he desired power, and that he could win it (“Joseph Goebbels”) Hitler wound up losing the presidential election in February 1932, but he didn’t get upset about it and that gave Goebbels a lot of confidence. Hitler did get power on January 30 1933 and quickly after he made Goebbels the Minister of Propaganda for the Nazis on March 13 1933 (Cochavi 591). The only person who was higher in the area of propaganda than Goebbels was Hitler. A lot of the ideas that Goebbels had for propaganda were in his diary (Manvell 107). Because he was minister of propaganda Goebbels had complete control over the media which included: radio, press, publishing, cinema, and the other arts. He ousted all Jews from places of political power (“Joseph Goebbels”). Goebbels was the one who gave the command to burn the books that were considered to be books that were not German books on May 10, 1933 (Cochavi 591). At the “burning of the books” works that were Jewish Marxist or in some way “ubversive” were burned for everyone to see (“Joseph Goebbels”). Goebbels modified Germany’s artistic life by Nazifying it. He also is one of the people credited with starting the fuhrer myth, which was a huge part of the Nazis trying to get the support of the people and get them to believe that Hitler was the most powerful person in the world, which is basically what a fuhrer was supposed to be because it was a combination of Reich Chancellor and Reich President (Cochavi 591). Another thing that Goebbels did as Minister of Propaganda, was put editors and journalists under state control. In 1933 at the Party Day of Victory, Goebbels attacked the “Jewish Penetration of Professions” with the reason being, there was a foreign Jewish boycott of Germany and that was the German’s counter. (“Joseph Goebbels”). To make his political influence stronger, Goebbels: made posters, showed his propaganda to the world, put on amazing parades, etc. Goebbels was one of the men who really tried to help the Nazi regime join together. He was able to do this with the Crystal Night Pogrom, which was from November 9-10 in 1938 because of an inspiring speech he gave to the Nazi leaders. Goebbels said that Jews and gypsies should be viewed as people that they could get rid of no matter what. He said that Jews would pay for the war with the death of their people and more people possibly. He purposely avoided talking about the treatment of the Jews in the death camps when he was talking about killing the Jews as payback (“Joseph Goebbels”). When the president, Hindenburg, died, Hitler took over his spot, and Goebbels announced over the radio Hindenburg’s death and asked the people to take a half hour of silence. He then told the people that Hitler would become a combination of the Reich Chancellor and president, known as the fuhrer (Manvell 139). Goebbels made the Jounalists’ Law in 1933, which required all journalists to be state servants and obtain a license from Goebbels. He also put laws on films to make sure that they didn’t go against the Germans. He even gave an award out to the best film. It was for these and many other countless reasons that the British Ambassador thought that Goebbels was the smartest Nazi leader. He was a big fan of the way he spoke saying, “He never speechified; he always stuck to the point” (Manvell 43, 47, 50) Eventually, Goebbels developed a rival who was called Ribbentrop who rose to be the first foreign Minister for the Nazi party in 1938, and he got Hitler to give him the right to all of the foreign propaganda that was spread. Goebbels was infuriated with this when he found out, and when officers came to get his foreign propaganda stuff, he wouldn’t turn it over. Goebbels appealed to Hitler who forced them to try to work it out, but when they couldn’t he took back most of the Ribbentrop Foreign Propaganda Minister decision even though Ribbentrop didn’t listen. In the end, Ribbentrop and Goebbels stayed rivals, and competed in the spread of propaganda, each with a group of people supporting one or the other. Goebbels would use propaganda campaigns to attack nations who were against the Reich progressing and getting stronger (Manvell 165,166,169). As previously stated, Goebbels would eventually marry a woman named Magda Quandt, and when he did he thought it was Nazi like to have kids to continue their people, so he made sure they had a child every year. They wound up having six children (Manvell 164). Hitler welcomed them all to his Alpine retreat of Berchtesgarden. Hitler ven helped Goebbels fix a situation between Goebbels and his wife when she was trying to divorce him in 1938 for being involved in too many affairs with pretty actresses (“Joseph Goebbels”). Overall, Hitler and Goebbels got closer during WWI, and the bonds between the two only got closer when the state of the war got worse. Goebbels told the Germans to strengthen their efforts. He saw the Allies pushing for an unconditional surrender as an advantage because he though that he could now persuade the Germans into believing it was a victory or destruction situation. Goebbels won over those who heard his famous speech on 18 February 1943 to want to go to war by making the atmosphere chaotic. Because Goebbels was able to control what happened, he never went crazy or lost the will to fight, and he just kept getting more and more people ready to fight. Goebbels was given a ton of authority over the people and was able to redistribute manpower within the armed forces. He made an austerity programme and tried to get more sacrifice from the people. Germany was pretty much done, and the only possible things to accomplish were dislocations and confusion, and so Goebbels asking for citizen sacrifice meant nothing (“Joseph Goebbels”). Goebbels stayed with Hitler and his family for their last days, in the Fuhrerbunker, which was under the Chancellery, the office of the chancellor. He knew that the Nazis were done and his last words to Hitler were, “When we depart, let the earth tremble!” Hitler appointed Goebbels Reich Chancellor as one of his wishes before he committed suicide. Goebbels decided not to be Reich Chancellor, and instead walk in Hitler’s footsteps and commit suicide too. Before his death, Goebbels said, “We shall go down in history as the greatest statesmen of all time or as the greatest criminals”. Goebbels had himself and his wife shot by an SS Orderly. This took place May 1, 1945. He also had his children killed, but instead by getting them poisoned with lethal injection given by an SS doctor (“Joseph Goebbels”). In Goebbels’ diary there is an entry from May 1943, when the amount of Polish kills was at its highest point; he says, “The nations that were the first to reveal the true face of the Jew will be the ones that will take the Jews place ruling in the world”.
Goebbels propaganda held a high amount of lies, damaging statements, and defamations. He worked hard to make the Jews look like terrible things who were the main enemies of the Germans. He had a general hatred for the Jews. He was an anti-Semite, but he also hated the Jews to make his own propaganda better. Goebbels’ propaganda always had hate for some enemy in it, and he thought the bigger the lies in his propaganda were, the more easily they would be believed. He also thought that lies became more believable if you kept saying them, and kept trying to pass them off as true. This sentence from Cochavi Yehoyakim basically sums up Goebbels’ political career in one sentence, “Goebbels was the father of modern propaganda in a totalitarian state (a term he coined), in which he made use of available means” (Cochavi
592). Overall, Goebbels was the biggest contributor to the Nazis success. He had the ability to be just as charismatic and clever as Hitler along with the asset of being much smarter than Hitler. He spread and thought up a great part of the propaganda that convinced the people to side with the Nazi party. Goebbels knew exactly what he was doing and always executed all the propaganda he spread perfectly. Hitler couldn’t have done this by himself because he wasn’t as smart as Goebbels, and couldn’t come up with propaganda that could even tie Goebbels’. This is why Goebbels was the greatest propagandist of all time and the biggest contributor to the Nazi party.
Works Cited
Cochavi, Yehoyakim. “Goebbels, Joseph.” Encyclopedia of the Holocaust Volume 2. Ed. Israel Gutman. New York: Macmillan Publishing Company, 1990. 591-592. Print.
“Joseph Goebbels.” JewishVirtualLibrary. The American-Israeli Cooperative Enterprise, 2013. Web. 18 March 2013.
Manvell, Roger, and Heinrich Frankel. Doctor Goebbels, His Life and Death. London: Heinemann, 1960. Print.
Roberts, Jeremy. Joseph Goebbels Nazi Propaganda Minister. Irvine, CA: Saddleback Publishing-Inc., 2000. Print.
appointed Goebbels minister of propaganda. Goebbels was now in a position where he could better spread his propaganda, so that the people might know the intentions of Hitler and the party. He spoke to huge audiences and spread even better propaganda than Hitler himself, which is why he was put in the position of minister of propaganda to begin with. Without Goebbels, Hitler would have had a lot more trouble skillfully spreading propaganda to get support for the Nazi party. Jospeh Goebbels was born October 29, 1897 (Roberts 12). His birth took place in the Rhine District of Rheydt, Germany. His family was a Catholic family with financial struggles (Cochavi 591). Joseph’s mom was named Katarina and his dad’s name was Fritz. Goebbels had three sisters, one of whom died during infancy, and two brothers (Roberts 12-13). Joseph was not a very healthy child. He had pneumonia, which almost cause his death. He even got a fever once that caused hallucinations. The worst of all of Goebbels illnesses came when he was 4. He got an uncommon and painful disease that sapped his ability to walk. This disease was diagnosed as osteomyelitis, which is a bone infection that can cause a permanent disability in some cases. The doctors couldn’t cure heal Goebbels right leg and it stayed crippled for life. When they finished final attempt to heal him when he was ten, they knew he would never be normal and would have clubfoot forever (Roberts 12-13). Because of Goebbels’ clubfoot he was rejected from being able to join the service in WWI (Cochavi 591). Because Goebbels was unable to do a lot physically, he substituted physical activity with reading. Goebbels did not get much assistance in his reading from his parents or teachers. Even when Goebbels was home from school, he would seclude himself from others and read. The book “Konversationslexikon”, was how he learned most about the world. It even got him feeling that he could get far in life if he was smart. Goebbels got respect from his father because of his intelligence, and it was decided that because he was so smart they would send him through more years of school. Goebbels was sent to the Gymnasium in Rheydt, which is similar to English Grammar school. He was not liked at the Gymnasium. Eventually, Goebbels took up the art of playing the piano, as he liked music. His father got him a piano, but it was very expensive for him (Manveli 33-37). Although Goebbels was made fun of for his deformations, he was very smart, which made some of his teachers unhappy (Roberts 13). Instead of joining the army Goebbels went to the University of Heidelberg where he obtained a doctorate in literature and philosophy. Goebbels was unsuccessful when he tried to make a career in writing, but he was able to use his talents in speaking as a propagandist for the Nazis (Cochavi 591). Goebbels became a member of the Nazi party in 1924. He started working with Gregor Strasser who was a huge rival of Adolf Hitler, but Goebbels quickly came to admire Hitler (Cochavi 591). After reading and studying literature, the arts, and religion he was made sure that the people needed a leader to take them forward. He found his hero in Adolf Hitler (Roberts 21). Nobody knows exactly how Goebbels began hating Jews. He actually went out with a half Jewish girl at one point and seemed to have respect for Jews. Some theories for Goebbels’ hatred toward the Jews include: the Germans were falsely blaming the Jews for the 1920s economic failure, or he might have felt little and upset because of his disability (Roberts 17). Other reasons include that Goebbels may have hated the Jews because he held mob values (“Joseph Goebbels”). He might have turned these things into hatred of the Jews. Goebbels was influenced by Wilhelm Nietzsche who created the “superman” myth to show the human race was looking for a higher goal. The main point of this myth was to make people think that the Germans were the best race for greatness. It was also used to show that the Jews weren’t as good as them. Oswald Spengler also influenced Goebbels. He made “The Decline of the West”, which said that all nations went through an up and down cycle, and right now the West was decaying (Roberts 20). Along with the Jews, Goebbels hated Communists, but spoke to them to achieve the Nazis’ goals. Many people in the audience of his speeches just though he was a rich capitalist, but as a response he just showed them he was poor like them by taking out his wallet. They than began to like him because they saw he was like them. These speeches got many people to come to the Nazi party, and they obtained Hitler’s attention. Goebbels liked the Nazi party because it was like socialism, hated communists, hated Jews, and were not happy with the settlements after WWI with the other countries because they wanted to make Germany awesome (Roberts 22-25). Hitler and Goebbels had a common enemy in the Jews. Goebbels used violence to get attention for the party and punish the Jews and Communists whom he saw as foes. Goebbels and the Nazis used the Jews as scapegoats for their struggles (Roberts 25 and 37). August 3, 1925- October 16, 1925 is the most important part of Goebbels career because that is when he met Hitler for the first time (Manvell 54). Later in 1925 he became the Ruhr District business manager of the Nazi party. Goebbels was the main reason why people listened to Hitler. He thought that he had to be the one to make the Germans approve of Hitler. Goebbels and Hitler were brought close because of the anti-Semitism they both shared, and Hitler had a great respect for Goebbels’ propagandist skills and decisions in politics (“Joseph Goebbels”). Goebbels began speaking everywhere for the Nazi Party, and Hitler thought he was a brilliant speaker. He made a speech in Stuttgart and Hitler was very pleased. Goebbels believed Hitler thought highly of him. While Hitler was very fond of Goebbels speeches, Karl Kauffman, the Rhine Ruhr District Gauleiter from 1922-1929, was very critical of Goebbels’ speeches. Kauffman criticized a speech in Hamburg saying Goebbels didn’t have the amount of required toughness. Goebbels realized that Kauffman had a bad mood about him, and believed that meeting Hitler and getting into politics ruined Kauffman who he thought highly of. He felt that how you act in politics defines what kind of person you are. (Manvell 70-71). Goebbels was hopeful for the status of Germany, and it was Hitler who gave Goebbels this hope. It was suggested that Goebbels should go to Berlin, but he didn’t want to because he knew the organization of the capital wasn’t good and he wanted to be closer to Hitler. Goebbels finally agrees to go to Berlin, and because his interest, Else, dumped him, he now only wanted to serve Hitler (Manvell 72-74). Goebbels went over to Berlin to be its Gauleiter with his main being to win the capital over for the Nazis (Cochavi 591). Hitler looked back on the Berlin situation saying, “Dr. Goebbels was gifted with two things without which the situation in Berlin could not have been mastered: verbal facility and intellect…” He would now remain in Berlin until he died. At Berlin he got the Nazis to rally at Pharus Hall, which was a huge Communist meeting place. He provoked a fight here, and then started a speech. During his speech he talked about the loyalty of the Storm Troopers and how they suffered for the cause, and he did this again at another meeting with men who were just pretending to suffer (Manvell 74 and 82-83). Over time Goebbels began to take his speeches more seriously. He made it a point to write his speech to best fit the crowd that he was speaking to. He said that Hitler talked very well, and he began to follow some of Hitler’s method’s of speaking. He would have some sort of event before his speeches to captivate his audience before he began talking. He would wait to speak until he could speak to a full crowd. Because of these techniques, the audience’s emotions were well prepared before the speech, and his allowed him to make better use of his propaganda (Manvell 84-85) Because Goebbels knew that violence demonstrations in Berlin would let the public know about the party, he began to get them going. Eventually, a little while after Hitler returned for a speech on May 1, 1927 the police department banned the Nazi party from greater Berlin, but Goebbels refused and sent the letter with the request back sealed shut. Goebbels felt the most detrimental ban to him by the police was his public speaking ban because that was how he could stay in touch with his counterparts in the Nazi party and spread the Nazis propaganda. The only people who could speak publically in the Nazi party were members of the Reichstag, so Goebbels got up at the meetings and would talk for a while. Goebbels had to deal with being charged and fined when it was found out that he was speaking at the Reichstag meetings (Manvell 85-86) In 1927 Goebbels began and edited his own newspaper, which came out with a new copy every week. He called the paper “Der Angriff”, which translates to “The Attack” (“Joseph Goebbels”). This was his way of communicating to the public (Manvell 87). In the beginning of January in 1928 Goebbels spoke to the people about propaganda. He said that the best way to spread propaganda was by speaking (Manvell 90). Later in 1928 the Nazis got 12 seats in the Reichstag (Manvell 92) in 1928, and one of those seats was given to Goebbels (Cochavi 591). Even though there weren’t many ways that the Nazis could spread propaganda, Goebbels found a way to spread propaganda pretty efficiently. Goebbels would say anything that Hitler wanted him to say (Manvell 93 and 103). Goebbels was able to sell Hitler to the people by making himself look like Hitler’s most supportive guy, and making Hitler look religious by saying Hitler would save the Germans from the Jews, Profiteers, and Marxists. Because Hitler was impressed with Goebbels making the little Berlin part of the party a huge powerhouse in North Germany, he made him Reich Propaganda leader of the Nazi Party in 1929 (“Joseph Goebbels”) After he was made Reich Propaganda leader in 1929, he was made chief of propaganda in 1930 (Cochavi 591). In 1930 Goebbels also met his wife who was already once divorced. Her name was Magda Quandt. Her dad was Jewish, but she became a member of the Nazis (Roberts 37). Hitler was happy that Goebbels was marrying someone with a lot of money and a high social rank. This really made their friendship big (Manvell 591). Goebbels was the one who ran the intense election campaigns from 1930-1933 (Cochavi 591). During the campaign in 1932 one could truly see how much Goebbels hated humanity, and loved causing chaos and intoxication within society. He showed how much he desired power, and that he could win it (“Joseph Goebbels”) Hitler wound up losing the presidential election in February 1932, but he didn’t get upset about it and that gave Goebbels a lot of confidence. Hitler did get power on January 30 1933 and quickly after he made Goebbels the Minister of Propaganda for the Nazis on March 13 1933 (Cochavi 591). The only person who was higher in the area of propaganda than Goebbels was Hitler. A lot of the ideas that Goebbels had for propaganda were in his diary (Manvell 107). Because he was minister of propaganda Goebbels had complete control over the media which included: radio, press, publishing, cinema, and the other arts. He ousted all Jews from places of political power (“Joseph Goebbels”). Goebbels was the one who gave the command to burn the books that were considered to be books that were not German books on May 10, 1933 (Cochavi 591). At the “burning of the books” works that were Jewish Marxist or in some way “ubversive” were burned for everyone to see (“Joseph Goebbels”). Goebbels modified Germany’s artistic life by Nazifying it. He also is one of the people credited with starting the fuhrer myth, which was a huge part of the Nazis trying to get the support of the people and get them to believe that Hitler was the most powerful person in the world, which is basically what a fuhrer was supposed to be because it was a combination of Reich Chancellor and Reich President (Cochavi 591). Another thing that Goebbels did as Minister of Propaganda, was put editors and journalists under state control. In 1933 at the Party Day of Victory, Goebbels attacked the “Jewish Penetration of Professions” with the reason being, there was a foreign Jewish boycott of Germany and that was the German’s counter. (“Joseph Goebbels”). To make his political influence stronger, Goebbels: made posters, showed his propaganda to the world, put on amazing parades, etc. Goebbels was one of the men who really tried to help the Nazi regime join together. He was able to do this with the Crystal Night Pogrom, which was from November 9-10 in 1938 because of an inspiring speech he gave to the Nazi leaders. Goebbels said that Jews and gypsies should be viewed as people that they could get rid of no matter what. He said that Jews would pay for the war with the death of their people and more people possibly. He purposely avoided talking about the treatment of the Jews in the death camps when he was talking about killing the Jews as payback (“Joseph Goebbels”). When the president, Hindenburg, died, Hitler took over his spot, and Goebbels announced over the radio Hindenburg’s death and asked the people to take a half hour of silence. He then told the people that Hitler would become a combination of the Reich Chancellor and president, known as the fuhrer (Manvell 139). Goebbels made the Jounalists’ Law in 1933, which required all journalists to be state servants and obtain a license from Goebbels. He also put laws on films to make sure that they didn’t go against the Germans. He even gave an award out to the best film. It was for these and many other countless reasons that the British Ambassador thought that Goebbels was the smartest Nazi leader. He was a big fan of the way he spoke saying, “He never speechified; he always stuck to the point” (Manvell 43, 47, 50) Eventually, Goebbels developed a rival who was called Ribbentrop who rose to be the first foreign Minister for the Nazi party in 1938, and he got Hitler to give him the right to all of the foreign propaganda that was spread. Goebbels was infuriated with this when he found out, and when officers came to get his foreign propaganda stuff, he wouldn’t turn it over. Goebbels appealed to Hitler who forced them to try to work it out, but when they couldn’t he took back most of the Ribbentrop Foreign Propaganda Minister decision even though Ribbentrop didn’t listen. In the end, Ribbentrop and Goebbels stayed rivals, and competed in the spread of propaganda, each with a group of people supporting one or the other. Goebbels would use propaganda campaigns to attack nations who were against the Reich progressing and getting stronger (Manvell 165,166,169). As previously stated, Goebbels would eventually marry a woman named Magda Quandt, and when he did he thought it was Nazi like to have kids to continue their people, so he made sure they had a child every year. They wound up having six children (Manvell 164). Hitler welcomed them all to his Alpine retreat of Berchtesgarden. Hitler ven helped Goebbels fix a situation between Goebbels and his wife when she was trying to divorce him in 1938 for being involved in too many affairs with pretty actresses (“Joseph Goebbels”). Overall, Hitler and Goebbels got closer during WWI, and the bonds between the two only got closer when the state of the war got worse. Goebbels told the Germans to strengthen their efforts. He saw the Allies pushing for an unconditional surrender as an advantage because he though that he could now persuade the Germans into believing it was a victory or destruction situation. Goebbels won over those who heard his famous speech on 18 February 1943 to want to go to war by making the atmosphere chaotic. Because Goebbels was able to control what happened, he never went crazy or lost the will to fight, and he just kept getting more and more people ready to fight. Goebbels was given a ton of authority over the people and was able to redistribute manpower within the armed forces. He made an austerity programme and tried to get more sacrifice from the people. Germany was pretty much done, and the only possible things to accomplish were dislocations and confusion, and so Goebbels asking for citizen sacrifice meant nothing (“Joseph Goebbels”). Goebbels stayed with Hitler and his family for their last days, in the Fuhrerbunker, which was under the Chancellery, the office of the chancellor. He knew that the Nazis were done and his last words to Hitler were, “When we depart, let the earth tremble!” Hitler appointed Goebbels Reich Chancellor as one of his wishes before he committed suicide. Goebbels decided not to be Reich Chancellor, and instead walk in Hitler’s footsteps and commit suicide too. Before his death, Goebbels said, “We shall go down in history as the greatest statesmen of all time or as the greatest criminals”. Goebbels had himself and his wife shot by an SS Orderly. This took place May 1, 1945. He also had his children killed, but instead by getting them poisoned with lethal injection given by an SS doctor (“Joseph Goebbels”). In Goebbels’ diary there is an entry from May 1943, when the amount of Polish kills was at its highest point; he says, “The nations that were the first to reveal the true face of the Jew will be the ones that will take the Jews place ruling in the world”.
Goebbels propaganda held a high amount of lies, damaging statements, and defamations. He worked hard to make the Jews look like terrible things who were the main enemies of the Germans. He had a general hatred for the Jews. He was an anti-Semite, but he also hated the Jews to make his own propaganda better. Goebbels’ propaganda always had hate for some enemy in it, and he thought the bigger the lies in his propaganda were, the more easily they would be believed. He also thought that lies became more believable if you kept saying them, and kept trying to pass them off as true. This sentence from Cochavi Yehoyakim basically sums up Goebbels’ political career in one sentence, “Goebbels was the father of modern propaganda in a totalitarian state (a term he coined), in which he made use of available means” (Cochavi
592). Overall, Goebbels was the biggest contributor to the Nazis success. He had the ability to be just as charismatic and clever as Hitler along with the asset of being much smarter than Hitler. He spread and thought up a great part of the propaganda that convinced the people to side with the Nazi party. Goebbels knew exactly what he was doing and always executed all the propaganda he spread perfectly. Hitler couldn’t have done this by himself because he wasn’t as smart as Goebbels, and couldn’t come up with propaganda that could even tie Goebbels’. This is why Goebbels was the greatest propagandist of all time and the biggest contributor to the Nazi party.
Works Cited
Cochavi, Yehoyakim. “Goebbels, Joseph.” Encyclopedia of the Holocaust Volume 2. Ed. Israel Gutman. New York: Macmillan Publishing Company, 1990. 591-592. Print.
“Joseph Goebbels.” JewishVirtualLibrary. The American-Israeli Cooperative Enterprise, 2013. Web. 18 March 2013.
Manvell, Roger, and Heinrich Frankel. Doctor Goebbels, His Life and Death. London: Heinemann, 1960. Print.
Roberts, Jeremy. Joseph Goebbels Nazi Propaganda Minister. Irvine, CA: Saddleback Publishing-Inc., 2000. Print.