The Role Of Anti-Semitism In Germany

First Draft

Propaganda, as defined by Merriam-Webster dictionary, is a set of “ideas, facts, or allegations spread deliberately to further one 's cause or to damage an opposing cause” that has been used over a hundred years now to further a political agenda that could impact the social dynamic of a given group, specially used during time of war. During World War II it became a useful tool for the Nazis, helping them spread their ideals and getting people to reject anything or anyone that did not fit with their political and moral agenda, as well, as their physical ideals. In this paper, we will discuss how Nazi anti-Semitism propaganda impacted ordinary Germans, becoming a psychological strategy that lead then to a dehumanization of German

Anti-Semitism was, and still is, the term used to describe the belief in hostile treatment towards Jews just because they are Jews. This term was introduced by Wilhelm Marr to designate anti-Jewish campaigns back in 1879, and it resurfaced when Hitler took over Germany. Adolf Hitler believed, as stated in his book “Mein Kampf”, that Jews were undermining civilized nations of Europe, therefor they had to be dealt with. The problem during this time, concerning anti-Semitism propaganda, is that they were able to manipulate people to an extent where they came to think that treating Jews in hateful ways was acceptable and, to a certain extent, an obligation that as proud Germans they had to carry out. Moreover, we will discuss how propaganda was meant to affect a subconscious level of peoples minds through subtle messages all the way to direct and concrete messages which would no longer affect them because they were already brutalized and dead to any moral

This word is the term used to describe any hostile action or behavior towards Jews, as was the Holocaust. Then, we must also comprehend that the Holocaust, mass slaughter of Jews by the Nazis in World War II, was the major outcome of anti-Semite propaganda. This was reached through propaganda that would hammer military people and ordinary Germans with two main words: “vernichten und ausrotten,” which is German for “exterminate and kill.”

Coming to know these terms, we must go back to understand where the idea of propaganda against Jews started. Adolf Hitler had been preparing his plan for a war to happen long before he came to be the head of Germany, as he explains in his journal “Mein Kampf.” As soon as he reached a governmental position in his country, he chose a group to which he could lay the blame on, and these were the Jews. He picked this group because they were prosperous, while ordinary Germans were still struggling financially because of the last war, and because they were an easy group people could recognize and accept as a target. Jeffrey Herr states in his book “The Jewish Enemy: Nazi Propaganda during World War II and the Holocaust,” that Hitler was able to turn German and Jewish relationship upside down, making Jews the all powerful seeking to hurt the victim, and this was