How Successful Was Nazi Propaganda from 1933 to 1939?
How successful was Nazi propaganda from1933 to 1939?
How is Success of Propaganda Gauged? The Nazi propaganda machine is at times impressive, at times unusual, at times terrifying.
"...Everything is propaganda."
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.
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.
Goebbels, in his 1934 New Year speech: "Only he who thinks he is lost is lost." ...The penalty for telling Hitler jokes was death.
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
How is Success of Propaganda Gauged? The Nazi propaganda machine is at times impressive, at times unusual, at times terrifying.
"...Everything is propaganda."
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.
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.
Goebbels, in his 1934 New Year speech: "Only he who thinks he is lost is lost." ...The penalty for telling Hitler jokes was death.
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