How did the Nazis use propaganda? OCR: History GCSE

in history •  6 years ago  (edited)

I would just like to point out that this is for revision as my exam is in a month, it's a 105-minute paper, and it's under the title "living under Nazi rule". Hope this helps anyone else who may be studying GCSE history :)

The use of Nazi propaganda was one of the key fundamentals which got them into power.

Hosting the Olympics

The Nazis possessed power, leadership, and strength. But they only did this through brute force, manipulation, and violence. In 1936 Germany hosted the Olympics in Berlin. Hosting the Olympics provided the Nazi party with an ideal opportunity for them to showcase their power. A humongous new stadium was built specifically so more people could see the new German leaders, its maximum capacity was built for 110,000 people. Germany won the majority of the medals, and overtook all the other nations, proving to Hitler the superiority of his ideal Aryan ( Blonde hair, Blue eyed ) race. One black athlete named Jesse Owens won 4 gold medals and disapproved of the Nazi idea of "Aryan superiority". This is a form of propaganda as Hitler was showcasing to his audience of followers, that his Nazi ideas were 'accurate' and proved it through the German athlete's performances within the Olympics. This lead to a turning point within the Nazis regime.

Posters

Posters provided viewers with visual and striking effects, the messages implied, easily reached the viewer, as they were often very colourful as well as simple to look at. They were very difficult to avoid as they were plastered in the streets, schools and copied into newspapers. As well as this, they were very cheap to manufacture on a mass scale, which was ideal as the German economy was still recovering from world war one. All images produced were made by Nazis, and had the goal in mind to depict them as superheroes ( especially Hitler ). The Hitler Youth was depicted as being god-like as well as the SS. This was particularly manipulating, as young children are much more impressionable, the Nazis used this to their advantage and radicalised children from a young age. A lot of posters were anti-semitic (anti-jewish) making Jews look greedy and evil, another hugely warped perception that the Nazis possessed.

Rallies

If people see things, they believe it. This was the exact purpose of rallies. People believed Hitler was making Germany strong and united because of the level of passion and sophistication that he presented in his speeches. Joseph Goebbels was a German Nazi politician and Reich Minister of Propaganda for Nazi Germany, as well as being one of Hitler's close associates. He was the guy who was responsible for organising huge rallies which indicated to rival parties the Nazis power as well as their threat of terror. Every August in Nuremberg Nazis gathered to see Hitler talk in person, arenas were built to hold up to 400,000 people, showcasing to the world the 'might' of the Nazi nation.

Radio

This was an incredibly smart move from Goebbels. The use of radio allowed the Nazis into the homes of ordinary people. Radio would've been one of the main sources of entertainment as a very few people had ownership of a television. Goebbels even said himself that: "I consider radio to be the most crucial instrument that exists​ for influencing the masses". By 1939 over 70% of German​ homes had a radio as he ( Goebbels ) ordered the mass production of cheap radios. Radio use was encouraged in factories, bars, and cafes, so the Nazi ideals could be rammed down the throats of people every day​. Loudspeakers were even installed into streets to relay Nazi messages as well​ as broadcasting Hitler's​ famous speeches.

Cinema

The Nazis​ even crept​ their messages into films, understanding the cinema's​ value and using this to their advantage. During their time of power, the Nazis produced around 1300 high-quality​ films. With only 200 of those being Nazi propaganda as Goebbels realised people would get bored of this. The 200 films that were propaganda were very subtle, discussing ideas such as national sacrifice, the Aryan race, and anti-Semitism. To top it all off, with every single film produced there was a 45-minute​ break, just talking about the success of the Nazi party.

Thank you very much for reading, as I​ said before I'm​ doing this as a form of revision. It helps me practice how to word essays which I​ will have to produce when answering questions in my exam. I will definitely​ be doing some more of these soon. Cheers everyone.

Cody :)

Authors get paid when people like you upvote their post.
If you enjoyed what you read here, create your account today and start earning FREE STEEM!