Introduction
National campaigns are conducted to influence public opinions. Critiques of these national historic campaigns are beneficial. By undertaking a critique, I can be able to analyze how past leaders or events have shaped the present lives. Through this analysis, I can be can be able to identify historical injustices. The article below is my critique of Hitler’s racial ideology. In the critique, I seek to highlight how Adolf Hitler used stories of German past and propaganda to manipulate Aryan Germans into believing they were higher in rank compared to other communities.
Leaders of the campaign, their power positions, and their communication objectives
Racial ideology was a campaign spearheaded by Adolf Hitler and Joseph Gobbles in Germany between the years 1929 and 1945.1 In my analysis of racial ideology, I noted that Hitler was able to develop interest at propagandist activity after analyzing past political events in his country. Through his investigation, he realized how Socialist-Marxist adopted and applied propaganda with amazing proficiencies.
The racial ideology campaign was undertaken when Hitler was the leader of Nazi Germany. At the time, Gobbles had been appointed the frontrunner of propaganda. As a leader, Goebbels was required to ensure that no one produced defamatory messages against the Aryans and Nazi party. He was also required to guarantee that the opinions of the Nazis were publicized in the most convincing method possible.
I also noted that racial ideology campaign enabled Hitler to gain and retain power. Before gaining power, racial ideology’s major communication objective was to win the patriotism of a number of Germans and lure them into joining Nazi.2 In his campaigns, Hitler launched several defamatory messages against the Jew communities. Through propaganda, Hitler linked most of the German’s past misfortunes with the presence of Jews in Europe.
During the same period, Hitler mentioned of International Jewry. International Jewry referred to a political subject that was unfriendly to Germany. According to Hitler, the German’s defeat in the First World War, the Bolshevik Revolution, German’s post war inflation, and the economic crisis of the year 1929 were accredited to International Jewry. I believe that through propaganda he was able to brainwash many Germans into believing that he was actually reacting to the plans, injustices, and threats of others against the Germans.
By the year 1933, his campaigns had made him popular among the Germans. In the same year, he became the chancellor of Germany. When he became the chancellor, he intensified his racial ideology leading to the holocaust. During this era, their main communication objectives were to enhance the perception that Aryans were more superior to other communities and to eliminate minority communities like the Jews in Germany.
The message that was being promoted in the campaigns
In my analysis, I found out that in the campaign the Jews were illustrated as greedy, ugly, filthy individuals who had sided with the Germans’ enemies. The Nazis propaganda activists were very calculative. They were able to identify relatively unpleasantly prejudices held against Jews communities.3 I believe that through these initiatives the activists were able to apply selection bias to bring out numerous cascading biases against the Jews.
I also believe that by taking advantage of these prejudices the Nazis were able to represent unpleasant Jewish images in the Aryan Germans’ minds. As such, through propaganda the Aryans were able to see repulsiveness in the Jewish community despite the fact that these repulsiveness never existed. All these propagandas together with Nazis’ depiction Aryans as non-Jewish, manipulated the Germans into believing they were a higher in rank than other races. As a result, the Nazis were able to associate their past successful events to the Germans and all the letdowns to the minority populations in Germany.
Based on my inquiry, I noticed that over time the propaganda enhanced an environment, which discarded any proof opposing the perception that Aryans were more superior to other communities. I was astonished to note that Nazis propaganda against the Jewish as inferior compared to Aryans was accepted by the Germans without query even in some cases where the propaganda contradicted logics. It is surprising that several Germans accepted Hitler’s ideas without queries to the point that they ignored the fact that millions of people had disappeared because of persecution.
Technologies utilized and how they were used
In my studies, I realized that in their campaign Nazis made use of the available media, cinema, and radio to create and propagate propaganda aimed at undermining the minority communities in Germany. The effectiveness of Nazis propaganda largely depended on the methodologies implemented by Hitler and Joseph Gobbles.
To enhance superiority in the Aryan community, Hitler’s team adopted the US Verses Them theme. Through this campaign, posters portraying perfect Aryan mothers and children were printed and contrasted with other posters portraying emaciated Bolshevik family. The portraits were so effective that they were later used in justifying the enactment of laws that prohibited Jewish communities and other minority communities from intermingling with Aryan German communities.
Through similar tactics, the Nazis were able to combine Bolsheviks and Jews’ images in single portraits to formulate a notion that the Jews were to blame for communism. Equally, when Germans opponents such as England and the USA were portrayed the Nazis ensured that Jewish artistic elements were attached to these portraits to enhance the feeling that Jewish were responsible for Germans misfortunes.
Similarly, through media censorship Hitler’s propaganda managed to brainwash the Aryan Germans into believing that they were a perfect race. During the early 20th century, radio and film were the only form of media technologies available. The Nazis censored these forms of media and determined what were to be broadcasted. As such, they were able to broadcast anti-Semitic messages to its population. Over time, the masses were brainwashed and were made to believe in Hitler’s propaganda. In schools, Nazis dispersed Hitler’s articles and books to German children for learning purpose. Through this, the youth were indoctrinated. The initiatives brainwashed the youths’ minds into believing that that Germans were perfect compared to other communities.
The effectiveness of the campaign
I believe that the racial ideology campaign was effective because it achieved its objectives. Before Hitler took over the country’s leadership in the year 1933, the country was faced with several economic challenges. In the year 1919, Germany signed Treaty of Versailles. Through the treaty, the country lost much of its iron ore reserves plunging the country into economic crisis. Before Hitler took over, Germany’s unemployment had increased to 6 million.
With no hope, people believed in Hitler’s propaganda and associated their misfortunes with the Jewish communities. When Hitler became the Country’s chancellor in the year 1933, he formulated and implemented tough economic policies that saw a reduction of unemployment rate by 95% in the year 1939.4 With this economic miracle, Aryan Germans were made to believe that Hitler was the answer to their solutions hence accepted his propaganda without questions.
Similarly, the campaign was successful because it succeeded in spearheading racial purity and anti-Semitic campaigns. The success of this propaganda was eminent in the way Germans perceived and treated other races. By censoring the media, use of intimidation, and political arrests, Hitler ensured that his propaganda was believed by the masses without questions. After he entered into power, Hitler shut down several newspaper presses to ensure that his leadership style and propaganda was unchallenged through the media. Equally, German’s economic and social conditions before Hitler took over the country’s power made them vulnerable to his propaganda. Therefore, Hitler having been aware of these conditions took advantage of the Germans desperation and made them to believe in his propaganda.
Conclusion
In conclusion, it should be noted that national campaigns have always been utilized in influencing the public opinions. In history, the Nazis under the leadership of Adolf Hitler are believed to have been the masters of propaganda. For instance, through Nazis racial ideology Hitler used stories of German past and propaganda to manipulate the Germans into believing they were higher in rank than other communities were. I noted that racial ideology campaign enabled Hitler to gain and retain power. In my studies, I realized that in their campaign Nazis made use of the available media, cinema, and radio to create and propagate propaganda aimed at undermining the minority communities in Germany.
Reference List
Bachrach, Susan. State of Deception: The Power of Nazi Propaganda. Washington, D.C.: United States Holocaust Memorial Museum, 2009. Web.
Domarus, Max. The Essential Hitler Speeches and Commentary. Wauconda, Ill.: Bolchazy-Carducci Pub., 2007. Web.
Herf, Jeffrey. The Jewish Enemy Nazi Propaganda during World War II and the Holocaust. Cambridge, Mass.: Belknap Press of Harvard University Press, 2008. Web.
Footnotes
- Susan Bachrach,. State of Deception: The Power of Nazi Propaganda. (Washington, D.C.: United States Holocaust Memorial Museum, 2009). 25.
- Max Domarus. The Essential Hitler Speeches and Commentary. (Wauconda, Ill.: Bolchazy-Carducci Pub., 2007). 123.
- Max Domarus. The Essential Hitler Speeches and Commentary. (Wauconda, Ill.: Bolchazy-Carducci Pub., 2007). 145.
- Jeffrey Herf. The Jewish Enemy Nazi Propaganda during World War II and the Holocaust. (Cambridge, Mass.: Belknap Press of Harvard University Press, 2008). 78.