Joseph Goebbels

Joseph Goebbels is one of the most infamous Nazi politicians due to his masterminding of the intense Nazi propaganda programme that influenced an entire nation to the Nazi cause. But what did he do that made the propaganda programme so effective? Let's look at Joseph Goebbels and propaganda!

Key terms

Below is a list of key terms that we need to understand for this explanation.

Biography of Joseph Goebbels

Joseph Goebbels was born in 1897 to a strict Roman Catholic family. When the war broke out, he tried to join the army but was rejected on account of his deformed right foot, which meant he was not medically fit to join the army.

Fig. 1 - Joseph Goebbels

He attended the University of Heidelberg and studied German literature, gaining a doctorate in 1920. He worked as a journalist and writer before he joined the Nazi party.

Goebbels married Magda Quandt in 1931, with whom he had 6 children. However, he also had numerous affairs with other women during his marriage, which was a cause of tension between Goebbels and Hitler.

Career in the Nazi party

Goebbels joined the Nazi party in 1924 having become interested in Adolf Hitler and his ideology during the Munich Beer Hall Putsch in 1923. His organisational skills and clear talent for propaganda soon brought him to the attention of Hitler.

From there, Goebbels' rise in the Nazi party was meteoric. He became Gauleiter of Berlin in 1926, was elected to the Reichstag in 1928, and was appointed Reich leader for Propaganda in 1929.

When Adolf Hitler became Chancellor in January 1933, Goebbels was given the official position 'Minister of Propaganda and Public Enlightenment', a position he retained until the end of the Second World War.

Joseph Goebbels Propaganda Minister

In his role as propaganda minister, Joseph Goebbels was responsible for some vital aspects of the Nazi regime. He was in charge of the public image of the Nazi party and its senior leaders, which affected the opinions regarding the regime and recruitment. There were two prongs that Goebbels worked on: censorship and propaganda.

Censorship

Censorship was a fundamental aspect of the Nazi regime. Censorship in the Nazi state meant the removal of any media that the Nazis did not approve. Joseph Goebbels was at the heart of organising censorship efforts throughout the Nazi dictatorship - but how was this done?

• Newspapers: Once in power, the Nazis took control of all newspapers circulating in Germany. All those employed in journalism had to become members of the Reich Press Chamber - and anyone with 'unacceptable' views was not permitted to join.
• Radio: All radio stations were brought under state governance and were controlled by the Reich Radio Company. The content of programmes on the radio was strictly controlled, and radios made in Germany were unable to pick up broadcasts from outside Germany.
• Literature: Under the supervision of Goebbels, the Gestapo regularly searched bookshops and libraries to seize banned material from a list of 'unacceptable' literature. Millions of books from schools and universities were banned and burned at Nazi rallies.
• Arts: Art, music, theatre, and film were also victims of censorship. Anyone who worked in the arts had to join the Reich Chamber of Commerce, so their production could be controlled. Anything that did not fit Nazi ideology was labelled as 'degenerate' and banned - this mainly applied to the new styles of art and music like Surrealism, Expressionism, and Jazz music.

Essentially, Goebbels ordered the destruction or suppression of any media that did not fit or opposed Nazi ideology.

Fig. 2 - The burning of thousands of banned books by Berlin University students, organised by the Nazis

He also implemented strict systems of certification to ensure that only people deemed 'appropriate' by the Nazi state could be involved in the production of media in Germany.

Joseph Goebbels Propaganda

Now we know what the Nazi state banned, what image and ideology did they want to promote?

Focuses of Propaganda

The Nazis had several key parts of their ideology that they wanted to promote to the German people, with the aim of fulfilling the policy of Gleichschaltung.

They wanted to encourage the aspiration of a society that was filled with strong, Aryan men and women who were proud of their heritage and free from 'degeneracy'. Here are the key focus points of the propaganda:

• Racial supremacy - The Nazis promoted a proud, Aryan society and demonised minorities, Jewish people, and Eastern Europeans as a big feature of their propaganda.
• Gender roles - Nazis promoted traditional gender roles and family structures. Men should be strong and hard-working, while women should remain in the home with the goal of raising their children to be proud members of the Nazi state.
• Self-Sacrifice - The Nazis promoted the idea that all Germans would have to suffer for the good of the nation and that this was an honourable thing to do.

Tools of Propaganda

The Nazis had many ways of spreading propaganda to the German people. Goebbels theorised that the Germans would be more receptive to propaganda if they weren't aware that what they were consuming was propaganda.

Radio was Goebbels' favourite propaganda tool, as it meant messages from the Nazi party and Hitler could be broadcasted directly into people's homes. Goebbels set out to make radios cheap and easily available by producing the 'People's Receiver', which was half the price of the average radio set in Germany. By 1941, 65% of German households owned one.

Another subtle propaganda tool was newspapers. Although second to the radio in Goebbels' eyes, he still realised the benefits of planting particular stories in the newspapers to influence the public. It should be noted that since the newspapers were under strict state control, so it was easy for the Propaganda Ministry to plant stories that portrayed the Nazis well.

Fig. 3 - A Nazi propaganda poster promoting the National Socialist German Students' Organisation. The text reads 'the German student fights for Fuhrer and people'

Of course, propaganda posters were used to promote a variety of causes, from dehumanising Jewish people to encouraging young people to join Nazi organisations. The youth was a key target for propaganda, as they were impressionable and would form a new generation of people who had grown up solely in a Nazi state.

Joseph Goebbels Role during WW2

During the Second World War, Nazi propaganda only intensified and broadened to include slandering Allied countries. Goebbels put even more focus on promoting the ideology of self-sacrifice for the nation and encouraging young people to put all their faith in the Nazi party.

Joseph Goebbels Death

As it became clear that Germany could not win the Second World War, many senior Nazis began to contemplate what the loss of the war would mean for them. Goebbels saw that there was no chance of him escaping punishment after the war.

In April 1945, the Russian army was quickly nearing Berlin. Goebbels decided to end his life and the lives of his family, so they would not be punished by the Allies. On 1 May 1945, Joseph Goebbels and his wife, Magda, poisoned their six children and then took their own lives.