How Did Hitler Romanticize The Nazi Party?

Due to Germany’s internal political social, and economic struggles following World War I, the country was left in a very vulnerable position. This led to the fall of the Weimar Republic and the rise of the Nazi party and Adolf Hitler. There are varied opinions on how exactly Hitler was able to bring the population together as his followers. In 1936, Walter Benjamin attributed Hitler’s success in politics to his ‘aestheticization of politics.’ Some agree with Benjamin while others believe that his statement itself is romanticizing the Hitler and the Nazi party. Others also believe that Benjamin’s statement can be applied to our media today. In order to examine Walter Benjamin’s statement, we must first talk more about Hitler as a leader and

Hitler positioned himself as an expert on everything and was also known to simplify everything. By doing this, he made the population believe that they had been overthinking everything. He had extreme opinions on everything. For example, “People were either his followers or his enemies,” (Spielvogel and Redles, 129.) However, he surrounded himself with people that seemed inferior to him, therefore solidifying his position as a great leader. Hitler was also seen as a messianic leader who was sent to free Germany. According to Spielvogel, “Hitler likened himself to Jesus, “Just like Christ, I have a duty to my people.” (Spielvogel and Redles (130). Hitler was also a very good orator. He was able to sense the mood of an audience and tell them exactly what they wanted to hear. In my opinion, this skill was probably one of his most instrumental in the building of his

His famous statement about the ‘aestheticization of politics’ has grown to be the phrase that describes the Nazi party and propaganda. This means that the Nazi party was creating a sort of false reality for their followers. Benjamin also went on to say that the Nazi and fascist aesthetics were a different kind of aestheticization. According to University of Missouri Online, Benjamin explains his statement saying, “[fascist aesthetics] grants the masses their (aesthetic) self-expression but not their (politico-economic) rights.” This means that the Nazi party encouraged the celebration of their country and party, but did not uphold the rights of the citizens or what the party had promised to the citizens before rising to power. Some critics agree with this Benjamin’s statement because the propaganda used by the Nazi party seemed to put the supporters into some sort of trance like state. They truly believed in this false reality and expressed their excitement. There is proof of this in movies such as Triumph of the Will. Others find this statement cryptic because they find it to romanticize this trance that followers were put under. We know that Hitler was great at taking advantage of vulnerable conditions and that is what this ‘aestheticization of politics’ did. In our culture today, I believe that aestheticization in politics does exist. Especially with the use of social media. We are