How did Hitler consolidate his power and continue to gain support, using propaganda, after taking power?

"Propaganda attempts to force a doctrine on the whole people... Propaganda works on the general public from the standpoint of an idea and makes them ripe for the victory of this idea." These were the words of Adolf Hitler himself, written in his book Mein Kampf of 1926, on the use of propaganda as a political tactic. Propaganda, defined as "a specific type of message presentation aimed at serving an agenda", was enthusiastically used by the Nazi Party to advocate themselves and their philosophies, especially after Hitler's appointment to chancellorship in January 1933. The Nazis utilized propaganda to ensure that the public had no access to anything that would damage the Nazi image, and to spread the beliefs of the Nazis as effectively as possible. In charge of Nazi propaganda was Josef Goebbels, given the official title "Minister of Propaganda and National Enlightenment", who headed the Reich Ministry of Public Enlightenment and Propaganda, established in 1933 after Hitler's rise to power. Hitler used propaganda to consolidate his power and to continue to gain support after becoming chancellor by targeting the youth of the country, knowing and expanding his propaganda's audience, and successfully infiltrating himself into his public's eyes through his total control of all forms of communication.

The Nazi Party, led by Hitler, consolidated their power by including the country's youth in their propaganda campaigns, thereby ensuring support in the future from the next generation. Firstly, the Nazi Party targeted schools in the country, molding the curriculum and the teaching materials to their liking. For example, beginning in 1933, textbooks and books were removed by censors due to "inappropriate" content relating to the Nazi Party's beliefs and ideals, and new textbooks and reading materials were integrated into the classroom, advocating deference to the party, worship for Hitler, and Anti-Semitism. Schools were forced to implement holidays that celebrated occasions such as Hitler's birthday and the anniversary of his accession to chancellorship. The Nazi Party made an effort to control all aspects of the youth's lives, even religious rituals. The transition from age 14 to 15 traditionally called for a church ritual; the Nazi Party eventually introduced their own system of indoctrination into the youths' 15th year. The Nazi Party then led adolescents into the Hitler Youth for boys, and the League of German Girls for girls, training them to develop an all-consuming love for the Nazi Party. At a young age, children were taught to become Hitler Youth Speakers, learning to communicate Nazi beliefs. In 1933, membership in the Hitler Youth stood at 100,000. This quickly rose to 4 million in 1936, when it became practically compulsory to join. The members of the Hitler Youth were forced to engage in activities such as marching, bayonet drill, grenade throwing, trench digging, map reading, gas defence, use of dugouts, how to get under barbed wire and pistol shooting. Basically, Hitler was building his future army under the guise of a youth movement. Students were also provided with pamphlets filled with Nazi ideology that emphasized the children's duty to the Party. These were simply a few methods employed by the Nazi Party in their campaign to ensnare their generation's youth. Hitler effectively used propaganda and other campaigns to focus on the youth, as he knew that they were his future people, his future soldiers, and his future workers. By molding the youth at a most vulnerable age, Hitler was able to create a massive group of unthinking followers already conforming to his every whim and wish. He realized that by targeting the young when they could be most effectively brainwashed, the population of the next generation would need no coercion to comply to the Nazi Party rule--in contrast, they would already be in a position to support Hitler and his decisions. His tactic of creating a militaristic youth movement also was a way for him to build an army without overtly defying the Treaty of Versailles; his need for an army was significant, considering his plans for the future of Germany. Through his inclusion of the youth in his propaganda campaigns, Hitler further consolidated his power after becoming chancellor.

The Nazi Party utilized propaganda most effectively to gain further support, especially through the careful familiarization of themselves with their audience, and their decision to include a large variety of groups in the population as their campaign targets. Overall, the Nazi Party intended to reach as many groups as possible, conveying as many messages as possible, and thereby spreading their influence to maximum effect. For example, potential enemies such as France and Britain, were given the message that the Germans had no issues with the people of those nations, but just that their governments were attempting to go to war with Germany. This was in an effort to alienate Germany's neighbors from their governments. The Ethnic Germans residing in countries such as Czechoslovakia, Poland, the Soviet Union, and the Baltic states were told that their blood ties to Germany were more important than their citizenship in those states-- the Nazis' aim being the reminder of German supremacy and the Nazis' representation of that superiority. Finally, audiences in Germany were reminded of the Nazi Party's struggle against foreign enemies and internal enemies, such as Jews. This was in an effort to tell the German people about the way the Nazis "protected" them, and the lengths to which they went to keep a stable German state. Within the Germans, the population was composed of a variety of different groups: skilled workers, unskilled workers, intellectuals, nobles, soldiers, etc. When the Nazi Party launched their campaign, all groups within the German population were addressed, so as to ensure the complete integration of Nazi beliefs into the entire society. Visual forms of propaganda catered to all these groups, making certain that no demographic in the German population was left untargeted. Hitler and the Nazi Party were able to successfully reach all of their population because of the methodical and meticulous familariazation with their audience, to learn how to best communicate their objectives to the intended audience. The Nazis developed a highly efficient propaganda office system which collected regionally based information which was then used in formulating the propaganda. Gau offices were regional Nazi divisions, whereas Kreis offices were county-based. Local groups and neighborhood groups had to inform the central offices of their activities and plans, and these offices had detailed election statistics, election plans, and reports. The Nazis kept a very close watch on the different groups within their population, in order to best learn how to reach the different groups most effectively. Through their targeting of a variety of different groups, and their familiarization with those groups, the Nazis used propaganda to further consolidate their power after Hitler's appointment to chancellor.

One of the most forceful manifestations of Hitler's propaganda campaign in gaining support among his people was his infiltration of the Nazi Party into all forms of media and communication, becoming a constant presence in his public's subconscious. The Nazis took over all aspects of life at the time, all medias and public arenas. Literature, art, music, radio, film, newspapers, public spaces, were all taken over by the Nazis. From the start of Hitler's reign as chancellor, during the spring of 1933, Nazi student organizations, professors and librarians composed a list of banned books. On May 10th, 1933, Nazis conducted a raid on libraries and bookstores, and proceded with a massice bonfire, burning over 25,000 books, both from Jewish and non-Jewish writers. To produce any form of media, one had to be a member of the Reich Chamber, and the Nazis were in charge of whether someone would be allowed the credentials. The Nazis also controlled film production; films were only allowed to focus specific issues such as the Jews, Hitler's greatness, the Nazi way of life, especially for children, and how badly Germans in other countries were oppressed. As films were controlled, so were cinemas, and what could be viewed in them. Anything shown in public had to be first approved by the Nazis. Furthermore, Goebbels engineered an ingenious plan to place the Nazi party in every home in Germany. He organized the sale of inexpensive radios called the "People's Receiver", which cost only 76 marks--35 marks for a smaller version. His notion was that if Hitler made speeches, everyone should be able to listen to them. Loudspeakers were also erected in public spaces such as streets and cafes, and other establishments were ordered to play speeches by Hitler and promote him through other forms. One of the most impressive forms of Hitler's prominence were the "cathedral of light" demonstrations. Every August, rallies at Nuremberg accomodated 400,000 people and had light displays consisting of 150 powerful search lights pointing vertically into the sky. These were in celebration of Hitler and the Nazi Party. This materialization of the Party in every aspect of life meant that Hitler was in the public's eyes and mind at all times; there was barely a moment when the public was not reminded of the Nazi Party's presence and prominence. This type of subliminal message led to subconscious manifestations in the public, eventually leading to Hitler's mass support. Goebbels realized that if Hitler were forced into the public eye and made to remain there, the public would eventually accept Hitler as a way of life; this came to be the case when the standard greeting became "Heil Hitler!". Through the Nazi's integration of themselves into every aspect of the media and public communication, their support from the public strengthened.

"The essence of propaganda consists in winning people over to an idea so sincerely, so vitally, that in the end they succumb to it utterly and can never escape from it." This comes from the Minister of Propaganda himself, Josef Goebbels, and explains the passion with which he carried out his job. After Hitler became chancellor in 1933, the Nazi Party launched an enthusiastic propaganda campaign. Through the use of propaganda, the Nazi Party consolidated their power and gained further support through the targeting of the youth, the inclusion of all groups in the campaign and familiarization of the Party with the audience, and the gradual infiltration of the Nazi Party into the public eye to become a constant fixture in society.