Hitler's Propaganda

Hitler’s Propaganda: Indoctrinating the Youth

Germany in the 1930s was a toxic combination of racism and nationalism. Adolf Hitler and the Nazi party gained the support of numerous Germans, rapidly becoming a dominating far-right political party. Claiming the title of “Führer” or “Leader” Hitler acknowledged the necessity of indoctrinating the young minds of Germany using propaganda. Propaganda is a media tool to promote a particular political cause or point of view with a biased or misleading nature. Hitler’s propaganda emphasized racial superiority, anti-Semitism, and Germany’s central role in the world. Using targeted media, Hitler hoped to ensure the continuation of his radical teachings into future generations by thoroughly conditioning

By imposing Nazi curriculum in schools, Hitler programmed the knowledge, habits, and attitudes of children, creating young Nazis pledging their loyalty to Hitler. “Whoever has the youth has the future” is one of Hitler’s famous quotes according to sociologist Edward J. Kunzer’s “Education Under Hitler” (342). Kunzer continues by noting that education not only alters the mindset of the individual child, it alters the youth as a group, and entire social constructs, due to human interaction and the desire to conform. Therefore, education can be viewed as a form of social control (140). Germany was a closed world, with knowledge being extremely restrained and limited to education only produced by Germany. Due to these confines, Hitler led his nation into a mindset in line with his doctrines which emphasized loyalty to the state of Germany and obeying Hitler’s rule (141). Judy Monhollen describes the anti-Semitic curriculum found in schools throughout Nazi Germany as racist and proving Aryan superiority in her article “The Effect of Nazi Propaganda on Ordinary Germans”. Monhollen demonstrates that, “history classes focused on the Nazi revolution and reinterpreted history based on racial principles, especially the significance of the Aryan race in world history. Biology centered on the laws of heredity, racial breeding, and

The majority of the youth became brainwashed with ideas of racism and Aryan superiority. Due to the formation of the Hitler Youth group, education which taught hatred towards Jews, and media, including movies, books, and theatre, the mind of Germany’s youth were shaped according to Hitler’s convictions. Hitler’s captivity of the youth’s spirit created a poisonous atmosphere in Germany in which Nazi propaganda completely dominated the perspective of society. Ultimately, Nazi propaganda enabled Hitler to mobilize German society to willingly participate in a lengthy and bloody war in which the German people remained loyal until the end. Only the bitter defeat and occupation of Germany’s capital Berlin, and Hitler’s suicide finally broke the spell that dominated Germany for twelve