Figure 1.--. |
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Joseph Goebels was reportedly raised by a weak father and domineering mother who idolized him. He apparently had few friends as a boy and was an object of redicule by other boys. A childhood disability him out of World War I. Goebbels joined the NAZI Party after meeting Hitler in 1924. Hitler appointed him Gauleiter, or party governor, in Berlin. He founded the Party magazine Der Angriff (The Attack). After HItler sized power he made Goebbels Minister of Propaganda and National Enligtenment in 1933. He served in that position until killing his children and himself in Hitler's Berlin bunker in 1945.
Joseph was reportedly raised by a weak father and domineering mother who idolized him. His father Friedrich Goebbels was an accountant. His mother was Maria (née Oldenhausen.
Joseph was born in Rheydt in the Rhineland (1897). He grew up there. He was a handicapped child. He was born with a club right foot. An opersation to treat it left him with a noticeable limp. He apparently had few friends as a boy. he was teased and rediculed by his healthy peers. (Handicapped children were a target of the NAZIs. This included both euthenasia and forced sterilizations. I'm not sure how he viewed this.) Most authors have viewed these childhood experiences as explaining his amorality and lack of empathy with other people. As a child, he withdrew from personal relations and buried himself in books.
Joseph was an excellent student who exceled in his school work. He pursued his education during World War I. He was rejected by the German Army because of his limp. He won a Catholic scholarship.
He graduated from from the University of Heidelberg with a Phd. (1921). His degree was in German literature. His degree made him the best educated NAZI leader. He was addressed as Dr. Goebbels. This was helpful in the NAZI's early years by providing a cultured, educated front to Storm Trooper thugery, The Germans greatly respected universiy degrees.
Goebbels volunteered during World war I, but was rejected for military service because of his club foot. After the War, he claimed that he had been wounded at Verdun.
After university, Goebbbels began a journalistic career. He also wrote novels, plays and poems, but failed to get any of his work published. He would lsater claim discrimination. The political turmoil in Germany, however, soon led him to the NAZI Party.
Goebbels joined the NAZI Party after meeting Hitler (1924). He described one of his first meetings with Adolf Hitler in the his diaries he kept, "Shakes my hand. Like an old friend. And those big blue eyes. Like stars. He is glad to see me. I am in heaven. That man has everything to be king." Hitler was impressed his media savy. He appointed Goebels Gauleiter, or party governor, in Berlin. He founded the Party magazine Der Angriff (The Attack). Hitler appointed him Director of Party Propaganda (1928). He proved extremely effective and in marketing Hitler and the NAZI party, especially after the advent of the Depression. Goebbels developed an esspired media campaign, arguably the first modern media campaign, using radio, film, and parades and processions. NAZIn soup kitchens proved particularly effective. Goebbels was one of the increasing number of NAZIs elected to the Reichstag (1928). Goebbels skillful use of media played an important role in the NAZI seizure of power despite the esistence of a free press.
After HItler sized power he made Goebbels Minister of Propaganda and National Enligtenment (1933). Many newspapers, magazines, publishers, and movie studios were privately owned. NAZI directives and the possibility of arrest and confiment in concentration camps established by Himmler's SS soon gave him virtually complete control over all all German media outlets. One of the first actions he organized was the ritual book burnings across Germany (May 1933). It is starling to think that an academic with a PhD. in Germam literature oversaw the book burning campaign. Goebbels was also responsible for regimenting German culture and bringing it into conformity with NAZI ideology. Goebbels effectively used his control of German media to perpetuate NAZI idelology. Hitler was pictured as a virtually infalable leader. Goebbels also carfully tailored German media to promulgate NAZI ideas such as the need to regain lost territory, Lebensraum, and protect the Aryan race. The Germans were told that Aryan German would rule the world and its inferior races. NAZI propaganda today sounds to us brutish, evil, and ignorant. Many Germans, however, accepted it. Those that did not soon learned that it was dangerous to express disenting opinions. Some educated older Germans recognized Goebbels' propagaganda for what it was. It was the young people that were most suspectable. They had little of the education and experiences that enabled some older Germans to question NAZI propaganda. An important element of the Hitler Youth was Goebbel's prpaganda. An example here is the experience of one of our German readers--Hans. He was not old enough to join the Hitler Youth, but his grandparents who were critical of the War did not dare be seen as discouraging him from participating.
While Goebbels turned his brillance to sinister purposes, there is no doubt that he had a keen understanding of mass psychology. He was an effective orator. It is difficult for non-Germans to understand the almost hypnotic affect that Hitler had on German audiences. Listening to Hitler he doies not seem at all appealing. He of couse was to the Germans and in the NAZI hyerarchy Goebbels as an orator was second only to Hitler. Not only did Goebbels had absolute control over German media, but he had an undeniable flare foir showmanship. His staging of mass meetings and parades was rotinely flawless. Goebbels may well have been the master propagandist of all time. Expers have studies his methods to assess why he was so effective. While much of his effectveness flowed from NAZI control of all media outlets, it must be remembered that he helped the NAZIs compete effectively in the Weimar Republic in which freedom of expression florished.
A question I have had for some time concerns Hitler's and Goebbels' oratory.
I can understand how the content might appeal to many Germans, especially the nationalistic content--recoverng lost territory, uniting Germans, the humiliation of Versailles ect. The racism and Jew baiting probably had a more limited appeal, but it also resonated with many Germans. What I fail to appreciate is how Germans saw him as a hypnotic speaker. Many writers have used the term "hypnotic" or similar terms to describe Hitler as an orator. Granted I don't speak German, but listening to him I do not see why people wre so drawn to him and Goebbels. This is especially stiking given the fact neither Hitler or Goebbels were the blond Aryan supermen so lionized by the NAZIs. Goebbels was even handicpped. A German speaking Dutch reader writes, "Yes, it was very strange that Hitler and Goebbels both were terrific orators. I had heard them many times during the war when their speeches were broadcasted all over Europe. Hitler had never lost his Austrian accent although he often screamed like a Prussian drill sergeant. Goebbels was more sophisticated. He had a flawless command of the German language and knew how to raise and lower his voice.He after all studied history and literature at the University of Heidelberg. His favorite professor at that time was Friedrich Gundolf, a Jewish historian and German literature scholar!" [Coati]
The NAZIs, upon seizing power, began strictly censorsing what was published in Germany. Books were one of the first casulties of the NAZI regime which
organized mass burnings of books written by Jews or expressing "degebnerate, "un-Germkan views. The NAZIs organized Wagnerian spectacles, marching in
longlines by torchlight, singing Party songs, and chanting the twelve "theses,"--their manifesto for the "purification" of German literature and thought. The NAZIs
proceeded to rewrite German textbooks and unabashedly use schoolbooks for propaganda purposes. They also introduced their major themes into children's
books.
After the NAZI takeover, considerable resources were given to cinema and other media. Lavish resources were provided the industry. Making money was no longer
the primary goal For the NAZIs, the primary purpose of the movies was to manipulate popular thought. Technically the movies continued at a high level, but the
propoganda element stifiled creativity, There were some powerful films, like Triumph of the Will. Another important production was Hitler Youth Quex. The
overall quality of the films declined during the NAZI period. They were still often high quality productions technically. The originality and creativity so imprtant in films was lacking in the NAZI films.
Goebbels married Magda Friedlander Quandt (December 1931). Magda's maiden name was Behrend, but her mother married a Jewish man named Richard Friedlander and Magda took his name. (Herstepfather was arrested (1938) and died in Buchenwald (1939). She married an industrialist Guenther Quadnt and they had a son Harald. Magda while seeing Giebbels was also seeing a Jewish man Victor Chaim Arlosoroff. The Goebbels had marital difficulties. Goebbels saw himself as a Casanova. He had little succces with women, but after his appointment as Reich Minister for Propaganda his ability to sway women improve. He used his position to virtually force film starlets to acceed to his advances. His wife had her own affairs. Despite their marital problems, the Goebbels had six children, five girls and one boy. The family was presented in NAZI movie newsreels as the ideal German family. The family were frequent visitors to Berchtesgarden and the children referred to Hitler as "Uncle Adolf" and "Uncle Führer". Hitler had to personally interceed to keep Goebbels and his wife together, at Magda's personal request. Hitler was especially appauled by Goebbels affair with Czech film star Lida Baarova, both because she threatened the highly publicized ideal German family, but because she was a Slav. The children of course are best known because The Goebbels brought them to Hitler's Berlin bunker at the end of the War and poisoned them before commiting suiside themselves.
Goebbbels showed no evidence of being anti-Semitic before joining the NAZI Party. He even liked some German authors like Heinrich Heine. He was not a convimced anti-Semite and did not believe in the need to persecute Jews. He did see that his position and career required him to promote Hitler's anti-semtic campaign. He organized the book burning and a campaign to elimate Jewish influence in German cultural life. He became adept in hate filled attacks on Jews and supervised the production of viciously anti-Semitic films. His propaganda campaign helped popularize NAZI ideology and created public attitudes necessary for Himmler and Heydrich to launch the Holocaust. Goebbels diaries show that he was fully aware of mass killings of Jews. I'm not sure to what extent he was aware of the full extent of the Holocaust or if he ever discussed it with Hitler. Terms such as "evacuated eastward" suggest that he was familar with what was happening. [Goebbels]
NAZI propaganda was never as effective outside Germany as within as Goebbels did not monopolize media around the world. Even in occupied countries there was the BBC. Before tghe War, Hitler appointed him to his cabinet council. Once the Allied strategic bombing campaign began effective, Hitler disappeared from public view. Goebbels was the high-ranking NAZI who conducted visits of bomb destroyed cities which were shown in NAZI newsreels. He expressed his cncerns and promised Government relief as well as vengence against the Allies. In the closing months of the War, Hitler placed Goebbels in charge of what was called total mobilization. At the end, he was one of te few NAZI bigwigs that remained loyal to Hitler. He remained
with Hitler in Berlin until the end. Once Hitler committed suiside, he and his wife killed their six children and then committed suiside in Hitler's Berlin bunker (May 1, 1945).
Dr. Goebels has provided us a fascinating insight into the unner workings of the Third Reich through the diaries he kept. The fact that the diaries survived the War in extemely fortuitous. The Soviets who captured Berlin were not very desrimnating in their search for documents. They shipped large quantities of documents back to Moscow, but in some cases the people involved in this operation emptied out filing cainents and shipped the cabinents to Moscow. When the Western Allies arrived in Moscow, there were documents scattered every where in the public buoildings. Amateur junk dealers managed to salvage Goebeks diaries and other documents relted to him. What has survived of his World war II era diaries begin 6 weeks after Pear Harbor in February 1941 and continue through to the last days in the Führer Bunker. There are, however, substantial gaps, which presumably reflect pages lost to history. The one question that is difficult to answer is just who he was writing for. We suspect that he was writing for prosperity. He, Hitler, and other top NAZIs were convinced they were creating a new world--the New Order. They were extremely proud of what they were doing. Goebels is extremely frank, indeed brutally frank about every one aound him. He of course never criticized the Führer, but everyone else war fair game. He had his faviritessuch as step Dietrich, a fanatical SS commander. And irinically, Admiral Canaris--who proved to be the greatest trautor to the NAZIs of the War. He of course spins events as best he can and while often very wrong, he provides us a picture as to how he and the Führer saw the war unfolding.
Coati, Rudi. E-mail message, March 12, 2004.
Goebbels, Joseph. ed, Louis B. Lochner, The Goebbels Diaries, 1942-1943 (Doubleday: New York, 1948), p. 566.
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