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How the Nazis sold hate
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| Steven Luckert shows how the Nazis aimed messages to children with figurines, games and appeals to join Hitler youth. Photo by Robyn Lydick |
By Robyn Lydick
In a time when the words Nazi and propaganda are tossed like confetti to label anyone or anything the speaker dislikes, getting a lesson on how the National Socialist party rose to power in Germany using a systematic program of propaganda puts hate into perspective.
Steve Luckert, a speaker from the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum, lectured to two packed rooms at Classic Residence by Hyatt retirement community June 22.
Close to 200 people attended two sessions.
“Propaganda is a biased message used to shape public opinion or behavior,” Luckert said.
It is, at its heart, advertising, as novelist Aldous Huxley wrote.
“The message might be true,” Luckert said. “But propaganda omits certain information. All the facts might be true but information is left out that puts the facts in perspective.”
Propaganda, Luckert said, simplifies the message and plays on emotions to advance a cause, party or movement. It also brands opposing views negatively.
The Nazi party used all the hallmarks of efficient advertising to brand the party in the early 1930s and tailored its message to multiple audiences. Not every message was anti-Semitic, although that hatred was the center of the party platform. Some messages appealed to the need for work and food during the worldwide Great Depression.
The swastika illustrates the power of branding.
Luckert explained how the bold colors, the single graphic element and the simplicity of the Nazi flag pulled Germans together.
The colors — red, black and white — echoed the German imperial flag and attracted nationalists who remembered the empire.
But the hallmark is the swastika. Once and still a holy sun symbol in India, China, some Native American cultures, and even found on ancient synagogues, today, the symbol, no matter which direction it faces, is inexorably linked with the Nazis and the holocaust.
“Today this symbol is associated with one group,” Luckert said. “This shows how simple branding can work.”
The party positioned itself as inclusive and representing all Germans, regardless of religion of social class. With the notable exception of Jews and the Romani, called Gypsies, who also perished in large numbers in the Holocaust, called the devouring in Romani history.
Neither group were considered Germans, despite the fact that Jews had lived and worked in Germany since the days of the Roman Empire.
Graphic representations of party symbols and leaders built an almost religious following.
The united States Army owns a painting captured in World War II called “in the Beginning was the word” that portrays Adolf Hitler as a messianic figure.
The painting has light emanating from Hitler in the same way light emanates from Jesus figures in Renaissance art.
Posters and newspapers presented Nazi views succinctly and repeatedly. So powerful was the press that in the Nuremburg trials, a man behind disseminating anti-Jewish ideas, Hans Fritzche, was acquitted while the publisher of the newspaper was sentenced to death.
Julius Streiker, publisher of the Der Stuermer, was hanged because his paper called for direct action to kill Jews.
Hate speech was protected, until it crossed the line into incitement, similar to United States free speech law.
Party officials aimed at the future of the nation with Nazi messages through toys and games as well as Hitler Youth chapters.
But the triumph of the Nazi propaganda machine was the spoken word.
Aldous Huxley wrote in “Brave New World Revisited” that Hitler’s oratorical skills won him the presidency.
Nazis ran oratory academies for leaders, knowing the power of speech.
Leonard Shlain, author of “The Alphabet versus the Goddess” theorizes that Germans were so educated and so literate that taking ideas and delivering them in a novel way allowed them to catch hold faster.
The same would hold true for printed words in a verbal culture, during the first generations of literate members.
What happened in Germany was that speeches and rallies, along with novel ways of campaigning, such as fly-in appearances that put Hitler in three cities in a single day, won the party control of the government.
Within 30 days, civil rights in Germany were rescinded and the first death camps were opened.
Six months before, Germany had 30 political parties. After the rise of Hitler, the National Socialist party stood alone. All opposition was wiped out.
Joseph Goebbels, the minister of propaganda, brought television from the theater, where people would gather to watch, and made the telly equivalent to the radio, launching a move to put television in every home, so that official information could be disseminated to the populace. Germany was the first nation to have regular television broadcasts in 1935.
Much of the message was veiled. Citizens were told that the Jews, their neighbors, teachers and local merchants, were being resettled. One children’s game was called “Off to Palestine!” suggesting that the Jews were being resettled in todays Israel.
But the Nazi propaganda machine was there, too, Luckert said.
In 1933, Nazi broadcasts could be heard in the United States. In 1936, those broadcasts were across the Middle East in several languages.
“They hid the fact that Jews were being killed from the world population,” Luckert said.
At the same time, cartoons were distributed blaming Jews for the new war, inciting more anti-Jewish feeling.
Steve Luckert, a speaker from the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum, lectured to two packed rooms at Classic Residence by Hyatt retirement community June 22.
Close to 200 people attended two sessions.
“Propaganda is a biased message used to shape public opinion or behavior,” Luckert said.
It is, at its heart, advertising, as novelist Aldous Huxley wrote.
“The message might be true,” Luckert said. “But propaganda omits certain information. All the facts might be true but information is left out that puts the facts in perspective.”
Propaganda, Luckert said, simplifies the message and plays on emotions to advance a cause, party or movement. It also brands opposing views negatively.
The Nazi party used all the hallmarks of efficient advertising to brand the party in the early 1930s and tailored its message to multiple audiences. Not every message was anti-Semitic, although that hatred was the center of the party platform. Some messages appealed to the need for work and food during the worldwide Great Depression.
The swastika illustrates the power of branding.
Luckert explained how the bold colors, the single graphic element and the simplicity of the Nazi flag pulled Germans together.
The colors — red, black and white — echoed the German imperial flag and attracted nationalists who remembered the empire.
But the hallmark is the swastika. Once and still a holy sun symbol in India, China, some Native American cultures, and even found on ancient synagogues, today, the symbol, no matter which direction it faces, is inexorably linked with the Nazis and the holocaust.
“Today this symbol is associated with one group,” Luckert said. “This shows how simple branding can work.”
The party positioned itself as inclusive and representing all Germans, regardless of religion of social class. With the notable exception of Jews and the Romani, called Gypsies, who also perished in large numbers in the Holocaust, called the devouring in Romani history.
Neither group were considered Germans, despite the fact that Jews had lived and worked in Germany since the days of the Roman Empire.
Graphic representations of party symbols and leaders built an almost religious following.
The united States Army owns a painting captured in World War II called “in the Beginning was the word” that portrays Adolf Hitler as a messianic figure.
The painting has light emanating from Hitler in the same way light emanates from Jesus figures in Renaissance art.
Posters and newspapers presented Nazi views succinctly and repeatedly. So powerful was the press that in the Nuremburg trials, a man behind disseminating anti-Jewish ideas, Hans Fritzche, was acquitted while the publisher of the newspaper was sentenced to death.
Julius Streiker, publisher of the Der Stuermer, was hanged because his paper called for direct action to kill Jews.
Hate speech was protected, until it crossed the line into incitement, similar to United States free speech law.
Party officials aimed at the future of the nation with Nazi messages through toys and games as well as Hitler Youth chapters.
But the triumph of the Nazi propaganda machine was the spoken word.
Aldous Huxley wrote in “Brave New World Revisited” that Hitler’s oratorical skills won him the presidency.
Nazis ran oratory academies for leaders, knowing the power of speech.
Leonard Shlain, author of “The Alphabet versus the Goddess” theorizes that Germans were so educated and so literate that taking ideas and delivering them in a novel way allowed them to catch hold faster.
The same would hold true for printed words in a verbal culture, during the first generations of literate members.
What happened in Germany was that speeches and rallies, along with novel ways of campaigning, such as fly-in appearances that put Hitler in three cities in a single day, won the party control of the government.
Within 30 days, civil rights in Germany were rescinded and the first death camps were opened.
Six months before, Germany had 30 political parties. After the rise of Hitler, the National Socialist party stood alone. All opposition was wiped out.
Joseph Goebbels, the minister of propaganda, brought television from the theater, where people would gather to watch, and made the telly equivalent to the radio, launching a move to put television in every home, so that official information could be disseminated to the populace. Germany was the first nation to have regular television broadcasts in 1935.
Much of the message was veiled. Citizens were told that the Jews, their neighbors, teachers and local merchants, were being resettled. One children’s game was called “Off to Palestine!” suggesting that the Jews were being resettled in todays Israel.
But the Nazi propaganda machine was there, too, Luckert said.
In 1933, Nazi broadcasts could be heard in the United States. In 1936, those broadcasts were across the Middle East in several languages.
“They hid the fact that Jews were being killed from the world population,” Luckert said.
At the same time, cartoons were distributed blaming Jews for the new war, inciting more anti-Jewish feeling.
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