The Image of the Enemy: to Auschwitz with Righteousness

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The Image of the Enemy: to Auschwitz with Righteousness East Tennessee State University Digital Commons @ East Tennessee State University Undergraduate Honors Theses Student Works 5-2011 The mI age of the Enemy: To Auschwitz with Righteousness. David Crabtree East Tennessee State University Follow this and additional works at: https://dc.etsu.edu/honors Part of the History Commons Recommended Citation Crabtree, David, "The mI age of the Enemy: To Auschwitz with Righteousness." (2011). Undergraduate Honors Theses. Paper 8. https://dc.etsu.edu/honors/8 This Honors Thesis - Open Access is brought to you for free and open access by the Student Works at Digital Commons @ East Tennessee State University. It has been accepted for inclusion in Undergraduate Honors Theses by an authorized administrator of Digital Commons @ East Tennessee State University. For more information, please contact [email protected]. Copyright © 2011 by David Crabtree The Image of the Enemy: To Auschwitz with Righteousness Thesis submitted in partial fulfillment of University Honors By David Crabtree The Honors College University Honors Program East Tennessee State University February 25, 2011 Dr. Stephen Fritz, Faculty Advisor Dr. Elwood Watson, Faculty Reader Dr. Jennifer Barker, Faculty Reader ABSTRACT This thesis is a study and analysis of Nazi propaganda, specifically focusing on the medium of film. Throughout Hitler’s Third Reich, propaganda played a vital role in maintaining popular support for the party platform in addition to fueling the convictions of the Nazi elite. There are three main divisions to this study. First, an overview of the structure and organization of Nazi Germany and particularly The Ministry of Public Enlightenment and Propaganda will be given, followed by an exploration of the origins and evolution of anti-Semitism in the Third Reich. Last, two Nazi anti-Semitic propaganda films will be analyzed to exemplify the whole of Nazi propaganda. Specifically, an emphasis will be made that these films played a significant role in solidifying and sustaining the mentalities and actions desired by the Nazi regime. Consequently, these films can be correlated to historical events which occurred before and after 1940. While there are inherent limits on the study of history, this thesis utilizes two films released in 1940 as primary sources. Despite the language barrier that one would think would make research difficult, the primary and secondary sources used in this thesis have been translated and edited in to English. Even so, words can and do have various connotations, thus one must exercise caution to not take certain quoted material and stretch or add meaning to what may have actually been meant. Where appropriate, words in both English and German are included in order to help the reader. This thesis concludes with a broad discussion on the modern existence of anti-Semitism and what today’s society may learn from Nazi Germany and the Holocaust. 2 ACKNOWLEDGMENTS The motivation for this project comes from taking a special topics summer course, “The Shock of the New: Cinema in Weimar Germany.” Who knew watching and analyzing silent films could actually be intriguing and fun. Since that class and the later “History of the Holocaust” course, I have wrestled back and forth with ideas to focus on and films to use in my thesis project. Much gratitude is due to Dr. Fritz for his guidance and willingness to extend his knowledge to me before and during this project. I also thank Dr. Watson for his support over these past few years. It may be rare to find a student majoring in history, but who ultimately enters the profession of medicine. For this, I thank the entire history department for doing a terrific job at making history enjoyable and challenging. I also appreciate Dr. Cody’s encouragement to study one’s passions, and Dr. Barker’s expertise on film studies. The reading and research phase of this project would have been much more difficult if it were not for the ETSU interlibrary loan system. On the same note, I am thankful for finding the Chicago based International Historic Films, Inc.; I recommend them to any student or professor looking to find rare films. Finally, I thank my grandparents who raised me and instilled in me the work ethic and values that I have today. 3 CONTENTS Page ABSTRACT ……………………………………………………………........................................2 ACKNOWLEDGMENTS ………………………………………………………..........................3 CHAPTER 1. INTRODUCTION TO NAZI GERMANY……………………………………….........5 “Heil Hitler!” – The Rise of Nazi Germany…………………………………........5 The Ministry of Public Enlightenment and Propaganda……………………..........9 Nationalization of the German Film Industry…………………………................14 Public Response to Nazi Propaganda……………………………………………20 Myth & Credibility………………………………………………………………22 2. NAZI ANTI-SEMITISM………………………………………………………..….…25 Setting the Stage…………………………………………………………………25 Intensification of Anti-Semitism in Nazi Germany………………………...……28 Selling the War ……………………………………………………………….…29 The Holocaust……………………………………………………………………30 The Jews Are Guilty…Of Everything! ………………………….………………34 In the Darkness of the Death Camps……………………………………….…….35 3. FILM ANALYSES ……………………………………………………………...……37 Jew Suess………………………………………………………………….…..…37 The Eternal Jew………………………………………………………….………43 4. CONCLUSION…………………………………………………………………..……49 The Successes and Failures of Nazi Propaganda……………………….......……49 Implications of Modern Anti-Semitism…………………………………….……50 BIBLIOGRAPHY…………………………………………………………………………..……52 4 CHAPTER 1 INTRODUCTION TO NAZI GERMANY “Heil Hitler!” – The Rise of Nazi Germany Imagine film as a weapon. Certainly, unlike the gun, films do not directly cause bloodshed and loss of life; however, film can be used in such a way as to prepare and numb a society for such future actions. This is the case for Nazi Germany and its intricately structured propaganda machine. This thesis will show how the Nazi Party created this machine and used it for such purposes. Specifically, this thesis will examine two films released in 1940, Jew Suess (Jud Suess) and The Eternal Jew (Der ewige Jude), to reveal how Nazi leaders utilized the medium of film as a conduit to streamline political and anti-Semitic ideas to the German populace in an effort to solidify preexisting notions and prepare people for the coming atrocities of the Holocaust. The term “propaganda” originated in a religious setting in 1622 when Pope Gregory XV created the Sacred Congregation of Propaganda. This body had the task of spreading Catholicism in the New World and thwarting Protestantism in Europe, and just over three-hundred years later, propaganda found in Nazi Germany could be seen as applying to society in a religious sense. That is, Nazi leaders let their worldview encompass all aspects of life in both their own elite ranks and that of the ordinary citizen. Randall Bytwerk asserts that propaganda is a necessary consequence of the flow of technology. Amidst a diversity of media outlets (radio, television, newspaper, film), propaganda allows governments to easily inform and satisfy citizens. Out of the many ways to explicitly define the term “propaganda,” Jacques Ellul describes it best as “a set of methods employed by an organized group that wants to bring about the active or passive participation in its actions of a mass of individuals, psychologically unified through 5 psychological manipulation and incorporated in an organization.’”1 Interestingly, Bytwerk makes a valid point by explaining that in propaganda, there is not just an evil propagandist seeking out an innocent citizen, but instead, there is a citizen who actively seeks propaganda as a source of information; the propagandist merely satisfies the citizen’s desire.2 Prior to Hitler and the National Socialist German Workers’ Party (NSDAP) taking full control of Germany, the country was run by the democratic Weimar Republic government, which assumed power in 1919. The specifics of Weimar failures and crises will be discussed later, but for now, it is important to note the significance of elections and the activities of the Nazi Party during the Weimar era. In the 1928 elections, the NSDAP received just over 800,000 votes, but by 1932, the number increased to nearly fourteen million. These numbers indicate that in just four years, the Nazi Party went from receiving three percent to nearly forty percent of the popular vote. Consequently, the NSDAP became the largest political party in the Reichstag, and equally important, this shift in politics cleared the way for Hitler’s Chancellorship.3 Reasonably enough, one may wonder how the Nazis appealed to so many citizens within such a short period of time. David Welch asserts that the Nazi Party achieved success because it focused heavily on integrating the bifurcated middle class. Collectively known as the Mittlestand, the “old middle class,” made up of farmers, artisans, and small shop owners, and the “new middle class,” made up of white-collar workers, felt threatened by the economic instability and exceedingly high unemployment during the Weimar Republic. The Nazis, in turn, were viewed on one hand to be liberating Germany from capitalism, while on the other hand to be revolutionaries determined to 1 Randall L. Bytwerk, Bending Spines – The Propagandas of Nazi Germany and The German Democratic Republic (East Lansing: Michigan State University Press, 2004), 3. 2 Ibid., 3-4. 3 David Welch, The Third Reich: Politics and Propaganda (New York: Routledge Publishing Co., 1993), 9-10. 6 create a new social order. As time progressed in these early years of the
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