Essay On The Mask Behind The Holocaust

Addie Lindman

Mr. Wiest

ELA 8

1 March 2023

The Mask Behind the Nazis

Propaganda was at its peak when Nazis came into power, causing many people to hate Jews. Propaganda is something that sneaks into your lives and takes control of your brain and makes you think a certain way. It still exists today in many different countries, and it has existed for a very long time. Before the Holocaust, when Hitler came into power is when the bulk of the lies started. Hitler blamed Jews for Germany's demise in World War One. They had been targeted by different cultures many times in the past, making it easy to blame them for Germany´s loss. Many would say that the lies spread by the German Dictatorship were at large for the World War. That´s when the Nazis

They portrayed Jews and the other targets of the Nazis as criminals and vile people. These kinds of articles filled all productions of movies, art, posters, and newspapers, and slowly this would start changing everyone´s perspectives because this is what was forced into their mind every day by the Nazis. There would be big signs outside in neighborhoods with anti-semitism newspapers in big bold letters. Movies like The Eternal Jew (1940), directed by Fritz Hippler, only showed Jews as people who were just asking for war, consumed by money and lust (United States Holocaust Memorial Museum). Other films would glorify the Nazis and the Hitler movement as good things pushing for a good cause. The truth obviously gets deeper and darker. Studies have shown that the bright colors and specific art types are what caused many people to start supporting the Nazi´s

Goebbels was in the position of being in control of all of the propaganda. This specific position holds him very high in the government and very close to Hitler. He would create posters and newspapers that would go into the media and would go out to everyone every day. This propaganda shows things that would cause World War 2. Goebells is most famously known for his horrifying quotes, which just shows how twisted he really was. Some quotes include things like, ¨If you repeat a lie often enough, people will believe it, and you will even come to believe it yourself¨ and ¨Propaganda works best when those who are being manipulated are confident they are acting on their own free will¨ (Joseph Goebbels). These quotes show how psychotic these people were. The government was well aware of what they were doing. To convince the people, so many things were forced into the population's brains in a day. A website talking about propaganda in art states, ¨While the troops were equipped with new tanks, airplanes and submarines, the people on the home front were fed endless newsreels in movie theaters, heard a deluge broadcasts on the radio, and saw propaganda posters wherever they turned¨( DW Made for Minds). Propaganda is largely the main cause of the war and the hatred towards Jews. Many don´t know that Goebbels was