How Did Nazi Germany Use Propaganda

In the 21st century, we see many propagandas in the world today. Internet has connected the world, and information are now able to be passed to every corner of the world in less than a second. In such world today, false informations are very common and they might lead you to have false believes. You might not realize it, but your thoughts might already been planted with a bunch of inaccurate and biased information. So watch out for it! It was back in the 20th century, when people in the world started to realize the importance of controlling people’s mind in warfare. During the Second World War, propaganda was considered a powerful strategy in winning the war. The Nazi Germany used propaganda to control people’s mind as well as to create false

Within propaganda, there are many different ways of inputting false images into people’s mind. For example, leaflets, pictures, rumors, radios, posters, films, and newspapers are some of the very common mediums of propaganda. “The methods of enemy propaganda include: leaflets, appeals, false pictures, atrocity stories, rumors, radio incitement, and systematic complaining.” (Bytwerk, 1940)1. Within these different forms of propaganda, radio was, in my opinion, the most powerful medium for propaganda. Great quantities of leaflets were distributed to encourage people to go to a specific location to listen to radio propaganda. As an example, we can look at “Leaflet AI-052-3-44 (back)” that was dropped by the Germans. “Leaflet AI-052-3-44 (back)” states, “At 6:00 a.m.: Medium wave: 420.8 meters - Short wave 15,28,31 and 39.6 meters.” (Friedman, 1944)2. Leaflets encouraged people to listen to radio because radios can provide more

Enemy Propaganda!” revealed the importance of radio propaganda during wartime as well. The purpose of this booklet is to warn the German citizens of enemy propaganda, and to demonstrate how citizens should react to those propaganda. The booklet includes a list of ways to respond to the enemy propaganda. At the very end of this list, it specifically stated about foreign radio stations. It states, “I obey all regulations against listening to foreign radio stations, not only because there are severe penalties but also because I view it as an obvious patriotic duty.” (Bytwerk, 1940). This indicates that radio was a very powerful and influential medium in terms of brainwashing. Therefore, I became interested in radio propaganda and will research about it through out the