Two Primary Sources in Nazi Germany - Essay Example

?An Evaluation of Two Primary Sources in Nazi Germany ‘The First Press Conference in the Ministry of Popular Enlightenment and Propaganda’ was written by Dr. Josef Goebbels who was the ‘propaganda minister’1 The article is dated 15 March 1933, Goebbels had been appointed Minister of Popular Enlightenment on the 13th March. In this speech, directed at the German press, Goebbels sets out the intentions of the newly formed ministry. This primary source was created at the time of the events described this gives the source significant value for historians, as it captures a key momentous speech in history from a significant figure. Goebells can be trusted to paint an accurate and reliable picture of the Ministry’s aims. Goebbels was knowledgeable on the media/manipulating press, in the full speech Goebbels points out that he is ‘from the press’2 and goes on to say that he wants the press to be involved in the ministry. Goebbels is persuasive, he claims alignment to the press, suggesting he’s one of them; then stresses the high importance and value of their role; essentially bolstering the troops and thus he comes across as an informed authority on the subject. The speech is represented slightly differently in different textbooks; presumably due to the translation from German to English. Whereas the Noakes and Pridham version says: ‘work on people until they have capitulated to us’3 – the David Welch version says: ‘work on people until they are addicted to us.’4 There is a subtle difference in meaning between these two translations, the first suggesting surrender, the latter suggesting devoted, and this must be borne in mind when interpreting the source. The final line of the document gobbet states: ‘tell the masses what they want,’5 this applies Antonio Gramsci’s term ‘hegemony,’ whereby the masses of society give their consent to the ‘direction imposed on social life by the dominant fundamental group.’6 It’s highly significant to the way in which propaganda works and influences. Goebbels is keen to make the distinction between enlightenment and propaganda, by defining propaganda in more positive terms as being active, something that persuades people to believe; whereby enlightenment is more of a passive process. The source has a wider significance when the events that occurred afterward are considered in hindsight. In March 1933 the Nazi’s were beginning to gain a political foothold, they’d achieved 288 seats, but had still failed to win a majority vote7. Propaganda was intended to forge Nationalism, so that people would put aside any other separate defining social groups such as class or religion and instead focus upon the Nation. Goebbels was effective in setting up and directing the Nazi propaganda Ministry. In Goebbels’ speech he talks of wanting to put across propaganda in a current fashionable manner, radio was a key factor in this. Dr. Brian Currid in his chapter called ‘Radio, Mass Publicity and National Fantasy’ explains how German radio had begun 10yrs earlier than Goebells article, in 19238, and at that time mostly consisted of music and songs. Currid charts the change or reform of radio’s usage by the Nazis into something nationalized and states: ‘After the so-called Gleichschaltung, or consolidation, of the radio – the power of the Nazis to manipulate public opinion had reached unimaginable heights seemingly overnight.’9 Nanny Dreschler also suggests that the radio meant that ‘indoctrination and entertainment [could] be extended into the private sphere without difficulty.’10 On the 30th June, following Goebell’s speech, Hitler himself gave a speech which is a very similar source. This served to corroborate the Nazi party’s stance and lend support to Goebells, stating that as Minister, Goebell’s was: ‘responsible for all influences on the intellectual life of the nation, public relations for state culture’11 The second source is a local newspaper report from March 16 1934, a primary source from the time of the events described, which again gives the historian an excellent indication of what was happening in 1934 Germany. The article can be trusted as documenting what it was required to by the Nazi party at the time, and so in this manner is valuable. However, it probably would have had other stories and viewpoints censored or restricted, thus may give a bias account in favour of the Nazi party. The tone of the newspaper article is very authoritarian – it is commanding, it is most definitely instructing that Hitler’s speech on the 21 March 1934 must be listened to. Hitler is called ‘The Fuhrer’ in this article, which means ‘a leader, esp. a tyrannical one – part of the title assumed in 1934 by Hitler.’12 There is the expectation that the command will be followed with the statement: ‘expects this order to be obeyed without exception,’13 there is no choice in the matter. Goebbels and Hitler were keen for German homes to have the radio, but the newspaper article is focussed upon public places such as factories, shops, so that everyone could participate. In the 1933 Election campaign, Hitler had promised that if he gained power he would abolish unemployment. Labour saving machines were banned creating more work for manual workers, particularly for the governments massive motorway programmes. The Source refers to Adolf Hitler’s speech that took place at the construction site of the Imperial Highway in Unterhaching near Munich. In the speech: ‘Hitler stresses that the highway construction project is a great aid to unemployment’14 Brian Currid comments on the public manner that the newspaper article refers to stating that community listening was key: ‘placing speakers in all sorts of public and semi-public environments (from the public squares – occupied by so called Reichslautsprechersaulen [imperial loudspeaker columns] – to the factory’15 By broadcasting to the workers, Hitler was demonstrating he’d met his campaign promise, and would be gaining their approval. Richard Varhenkamp also discussed the unemployed who were gathered too, to listen to this, with banners still showing their support for Hitler suggesting that Hitler would find them employment.16 Whilst the newspaper article suggests everyone listened dutifully to Hitler’s speech, Brian Currid suggests that: ‘The overpowering commonplace assertion of the omnipresence of the radio and Hitler’s voice in the Nazi period in fact reflects more Hollywood’s imagination of what Nazi Germany was like than the reality of 1930s life.’17 This seems to be demonstrated further by a primary source by an English journalist Sir. Phillip Gibbs. Gibbs worked for America, and was in Germany at the time of Hitler’s speech. He recalls being in a cafe in Berlin and hearing the radio announcement that Hitler would speak: Next to me was a group of German businessmen. They went on talking in low voices. At another table was a woman writing a letter. She went on writing. The only man who stood up was a small man with his tie creeping over his collar at the back of his neck. No one else in the crowded cafe listened to Adolf Hitler.18 Gibbs view is that of an outsider which is clearly different to belonging to the Nazi party, his portrayal appears to demonstrate lack of interest in Hitler’s speech from the public; the one man who does listen is described in disparaging terms as a ‘small man’ who is poorly dressed. Whilst Gibbs’ account could be useful in showing that despite the Nazi party trying to enforce participation in listening to the speech; it was not always practical to achieve. However it must be taken into account that as an Englishman working for the American Ministry, his intent could be to some extent counter-propaganda, to suggest that Hitler did not hold such sway over his audience, and that the Nazi propaganda was not having an impact on the audience, in the way that they intended. Many Germans tolerated the Nazi regime because it seemed preferable to the Weimar republic. Opposition would have been difficult. Whilst many Germans did not belong actively to the Nazi Party, at times it may have been difficult to avoid public meetings, parades and performances. It is important to consider both the Goebbels and newspaper article together. In the full Goebbels speech he suggests that the press should ‘not merely inform; it must also instruct.’19 Certainly the newspaper article appears to be instructing in a very forceful manner, following the guidelines that Goebells sets out in his initial speech a year earlier. Radio and newspapers were used as a vehicle for propaganda – manipulating the masses through mass media. Goebbel himself was an effective manipulator. There does seem to be a tendency for Goebbels to have adopted a superior stance, assuming the masses will gullibly follow instructions. Gibb’s although possibly bias, does offer an alternative view to this. The sources taken in conjunction illustrate Nazi propaganda during Hitler’s regime, whilst they both portray the Nazi party beliefs from their perspective, they are useful to examine what Nazi beliefs were. Hitler and Goebbels had a long history of propaganda. Hitler himself had been a propaganda manager in 1919 for the German Worker’s Party. In Hitler’s Mein Kampf there are two sections devoted to the use of propaganda, they both wanted to use radio technology as a modern medium to good effect. Historian Stephen J. Lee states that: ‘the success of the Nazi movement is inevitably associated with the highly skilled use of propaganda,’20 these two sources give the student or historian insight into how the propaganda was achieved. Word Count: 1542 Bibliography Collier, Martin and Philip Pedely. Hitler and the Nazi State. London: Heinnemann, 2005. Print. Currid, Brian. A National Acoustics: Music and Mass Publicity in Weimar and Nazi Germany. Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press, 2006. Print. Dreschler, Nanny. Die Function Der Musik Im Deutschen Rundfunk 1933 – 1945 Pfaffenweiler: Centaurus-Verlagsgesellschaft 1998. Print. Gibbs, Philip. European Journey: Being the Narrative of a Journey in France, Switzerland, Italy, Austria, Hungary, Germany and the Saar in the Spring and Summer of 1934; with an authentic record of the ideas, hopes and fears moving in the minds of common folk and expressed in wayside conversation W. Heinemann Ltd, 1934. Print. Goebells, Josef. ‘The First Press Conference in the Ministry of Popular Enlightenment and Propaganda’ in J. Noakes and G. Pridham (eds) Nazism 1919-1945: A Documentary Reader Vol. 3 Foreign Policy, War and Racial Extermination. Exeter: Exeter University Press, 1988. Print. Gramsci, Antonio, Selections from the Prison Notebooks [edited and translated by Quintin Hoare and Geoffrey Nowell Smith] London: Lawrence and Wishart, 1971. Print. Lagrou, Pieter, Legacy of Nazi Occupation: Patriotic Memory and National Recovery in Western Europe, 1945-1965. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1999. Print. Thompson, Della. The Concise Oxford Dictionary of Current English, 9th Ed, Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1995. Print. Vahrenkamp, Richard. The German Autobahn 1920-1945: Hafraba Visions and Mega Projects, Books on Demand 2010. Print. Welch, David. Modern European History 1871-2000: A Documentary Reader. Print. D. Welch, The Third Reich: Politics and Propaganda London: Routledge, 1993. Print. Read More