How Successful Was Nazi Propaganda in the Period 1933-39?
<b>How is Success of Propaganda Gauged?</b>
<br>The Nazi propaganda machine is at times impressive, at times unusual, at times terrifying.
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<br>"...Everything is propaganda."
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<br>The Nazis understood human psychology. It was Goebbels' simple realisation that, for instance in cinematic propaganda, there was a need for the viewer to be entertained. Otherwise, there would be no interest in watching at all. This is simply a single instance of the successfulness of Nazi propaganda. Goebbels realised this and corrected it.
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<br>How can success be gauged? Maybe by considering the theories and practices of propaganda such as with the cinema - but how can one know how much propaganda was reaching people? - Therefore how successful it was? There was no market research, very few non-Gestapo conducted opinion polls to look at... and even if there were many others, the information would not be accurate - the opinions affected. Who would, in Nazi Germany 1933-39, tell a street researcher that they believed "Triumph of the Will" to be contrived and blatantly self-indulgent propaganda? If there had been polls conducted, the results would have shown exactly what Goebbels and Hitler wanted people to think - this was achieved by making sure that only certain things were safe to think and more importantly safe to say.
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<br>Goebbels, in his 1934 New Year speech:
<br>"Only he who thinks he is lost is lost."
<br> The penalty for telling Hitler jokes was death.
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<br>Alternatively, one could look at how much opposition (i.e. resistance) there was to the Nazi regime and to Nazi propaganda. Was there absolute opposition? There really was not very much - there was in some circles a feeling of acquiescence to the Nazi regime, neutral emotion towards the treatment of Jews for instance. This is a very general, and lies in broad public opinion, from interviews made after the fall of the Nazis... between 1933 and 45 the people of Germany, no matter how indifferent would
<br>The Nazi propaganda machine is at times impressive, at times unusual, at times terrifying.
<br>
<br>"...Everything is propaganda."
<br>
<br>The Nazis understood human psychology. It was Goebbels' simple realisation that, for instance in cinematic propaganda, there was a need for the viewer to be entertained. Otherwise, there would be no interest in watching at all. This is simply a single instance of the successfulness of Nazi propaganda. Goebbels realised this and corrected it.
<br>
<br>How can success be gauged? Maybe by considering the theories and practices of propaganda such as with the cinema - but how can one know how much propaganda was reaching people? - Therefore how successful it was? There was no market research, very few non-Gestapo conducted opinion polls to look at... and even if there were many others, the information would not be accurate - the opinions affected. Who would, in Nazi Germany 1933-39, tell a street researcher that they believed "Triumph of the Will" to be contrived and blatantly self-indulgent propaganda? If there had been polls conducted, the results would have shown exactly what Goebbels and Hitler wanted people to think - this was achieved by making sure that only certain things were safe to think and more importantly safe to say.
<br>
<br>Goebbels, in his 1934 New Year speech:
<br>"Only he who thinks he is lost is lost."
<br> The penalty for telling Hitler jokes was death.
<br>
<br>Alternatively, one could look at how much opposition (i.e. resistance) there was to the Nazi regime and to Nazi propaganda. Was there absolute opposition? There really was not very much - there was in some circles a feeling of acquiescence to the Nazi regime, neutral emotion towards the treatment of Jews for instance. This is a very general, and lies in broad public opinion, from interviews made after the fall of the Nazis... between 1933 and 45 the people of Germany, no matter how indifferent would