During the Second World War, in order to mobilize German soldiers and ordinary citizens to participate in a bloody war, as well as to misinform the enemy's armed forces and the population of the occupied lands, Nazi Germany deployed various propaganda technologies. To create the “Aryan nation” it was necessary not only to conquer new space and raise the economy, but also to change the very way of thinking of people.
Propaganda fell on the consciousness of the Germans around the clock, almost all spheres of life were saturated with it, and it tried to influence all human senses, from hearing and sight, through radio and television, and ending with taste and tactile, and in the latter they tried to give a new patriotic meaning. "Real Germanic …" anything became the new symbol of the Third Reich. And the pills of pervitin sold on every corner - a psychostimulant containing drugs, made the mind even more malleable and less critical.
The entire process was "orchestrated" by the propaganda minister Joseph Goebbels, one of Hitler's closest associates. The processing of the population achieved high success, for example, eyewitnesses testified that the overwhelming number of Germans in the spring of 1945 were confident that the victory of the Third Reich was approaching, although in fact the German army had already suffered a crushing defeat by that time.
Internal propaganda
Every German family had a radio at home. Therefore, the basic concept developed by Goebbels was to inform and influence the minds of the people of Germany through radio broadcasts.
"The spoken word is much more effective than the printed word," he said when he was appointed to the post and first of all subordinated all radio stations to the state.
Video propaganda was also important. Candidate of Historical Sciences Arina Polyakova in her book "Propaganda of War in the Cinema of the Third Reich" notes that the directors released about 150 films of war subjects (in total, more than 1200 films were shot at that time). When going to the cinema, to any film, before each session, the German viewer was shown propaganda videos - during the years of the beginning of the war they lasted about ten minutes, and by the end - up to half an hour.
Promotional video:
Propaganda films (including speeches by Adolf Hitler) explained to the population the reasons for the conflict with America, drawing parallels between overseas authorities and Soviet politicians, using anti-Semitism. The audience was told that the capital of the United States is Jewish in nature, and the policy has a "Jewish Bolshevik orientation." President Roosevelt was called a Jew, and the United States was portrayed as a country with low morals. The well-being of its population was explained by the game on the stock market, in other words, by speculation.
External propaganda
The use of loud-speaking horn installations, propaganda bombs, shells and mines filled with leaflets - was the main instrument of the Germans for the development of collaborationist sentiments in the enemy ranks. To deliver disinformation material to the territory of the Soviet Union, the Third Reich used aviation, artillery, saboteurs.
In the front-line zone, the Germans threw out special leaflets-passes, in which they promised the surrendered Red Army soldiers good treatment, food and care. Campaign broadcasts were often conducted through loudspeakers.
When significant figures of the USSR were captured or died (children of Soviet party leaders or major military leaders), the German propaganda machine immediately began to distribute leaflets with falsified information (photographs, statements, etc.)
In the unoccupied territories, with the help of the same leaflets, rumors were spread that the Jewish population was not participating in the battles, that the German government was arranging them for safe supply jobs. In other words, they tried to deceive the Jews so that they would not resist the Germans and go over to their side. But in reality, things were different: people of Jewish origin in Nazi Germany were subjected to systematic destruction.
Propaganda in the occupied lands
During the war, the Germans and their allies occupied large and heterogeneous densely populated areas. In this case, the Third Reich gained vast experience in managing the occupied lands with the help of propaganda. From the book "Anti-Semitic Propaganda in the Occupied Territories of the RSFSR" you can learn that Hitler's accomplices had their own special attitude towards various occupied countries and peoples, hence the difference in the propaganda techniques used. For example, the captured Scandinavia was considered an "Aryan" country, so its population was treated as full-fledged citizens of the millennial Reich, who had the right to take an active part in its life. The Germans considered the French civilized, but strangers. They were instilled with a loyal attitude towards the Hitlerite government and its army.
There are photographs in which French stars from the Second World War pose next to Joseph Goebbels. Thus, the German politician tried to instill a positive attitude towards the occupiers among the French.
With regards to the behavior of Germany on the eastern front, on the lands of Poland and in the occupied territories of the USSR, it is worth noting the different attitude of the Germans towards the local population than towards the Scandinavians and the French. The Slavs were considered second-rate people - they were destroyed or Germanized.
First of all, the technology of disinformation consisted in pursuing a policy of destroying traditional culture and disuniting people. Propaganda flirted with local nationalists and those dissatisfied with the Soviet regime willingly met halfway. A large number of pro-government groups were created, for example, the Belarusian Central Rada, and military formations, here you can recall the Belarusian regional defense or Kiev kuren. In various propaganda museums created in the territories of the USSR occupied by Hitler, they published anti-Semitic literature, and also published newspapers of the same meaning, for example, the newspaper Za Rodinu, made by order of the German side.
Goebbels pursued a cunning policy in the eastern lands: he tried to create a sense of a calm life among the local population - people could watch films in cinemas, read newspapers or spend time at cultural events. The people were told that the power of the Bolsheviks had come to an end, so they were shown photographs in which German soldiers were depicted against the background of Moscow and Leningrad streets and landmarks. People were told that the remnants of the Red Army were dying in the Urals region.
All these photos were edited, and had nothing to do with the truth. The occupants carried out serious work in terms of imposing a negative attitude towards the partisan movements. The propaganda materials portrayed Hitler's opponents as thieves and murderers. For helping such groups, people faced the death penalty.
Christina Rudic