THE THIRD REICH THE THIRD REICH Politics and Propaganda Second Edition David Welch London and New York First published 1993 by Routledge 11 New Fetter Lane, London EC4P 4EE Simultaneously published in the USA and Canada by Routledge 29 West 35th Street, New York, NY 10001 First published in paperback 1995 Second edition first published 2002 This edition published in the Taylor & Francis e-Library, 2007. “To purchase your own copy of this or any of Taylor & Francis or Routledge’s collection of thousands of eBooks please go to www.eBookstore.tandf.co.uk.” Routledge is an imprint of the Taylor & Francis Group © 1993, 1995, 2002 David Welch All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted or reproduced or utilised in any form or by any electronic, mechanical, or other means, now known or hereafter invented, including photocopying and recording, or in any information storage or retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publishers. British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library Library of Congress Cataloging in Publication Data A catalog record for this book has been requested ISBN 0-203-93014-2 Master e-book ISBN ISBN 0–415–27507–5 (Hbk) ISBN 0–415–27508–3 (Pbk) CONTENTS List of illustrations vii Acknowledgements ix Glossary and list of abbreviations xi INTRODUCTION 1 1 THE CONQUEST OF THE MASSES 8 2 GOEBBELS AS PROPAGANDIST 22 3 RESTRUCTURING THE MEANS OF COMMUNICATION 28 The Ministry for Popular Enlightenment and Propaganda 28 The Reich Chamber of Culture 32 Radio 38 Press 43 Film 48 4 PROPAGANDA AND PUBLIC OPINION, 1933–9 58 The ‘National Community’ (Volksgemeinschaft) 60 The need for racial purity 82 Charismatic leadership and the ‘Hitler Myth’ 107 5 NAZI PROPAGANDA AT WAR, 1939–45 117 Introduction 117 Blitzkrieg and victory 119 The Russian campaign 129 Total war and the need for strengthening morale 137 Retreat into mythology and promises of retaliation 144 CONCLUSION 157 v CONTENTS POSTSCRIPT: Germany’s search for a bearable past 160 The Historikerstreit 161 Selected documents 172 Notes 213 Bibliography 228 Index 241 vi LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS 1. A 1932 Nazi election poster, directed against the SPD and Jews who are seen striding hand-in-hand. The slogan reads: ‘Marxism is the Guardian Angel of Capitalism. Vote national Socialist. List 1.’ Bundesarchiv 19 2. The ‘Day of Potsdam’, 21 March 1933. A deferential Hitler, in morning suit and not in Party uniform, bows to the Reich President Paul von Hindenburg. 20 3. Otto Hirth (1940), The House of German Art and its Extension.34 4. The ‘Burning of the Books’ in front of the Opera House, 10 May 1933. Bundesarchiv 36 5. A painting of Hitler in a Renaissance pose with the propaganda slogan: ‘One People, One Nation, One Leader’ (artist unknown). 62 6. A ‘Strength through Joy’ poster showing happy workers on a cheap package-holiday. 63 7. A poster showing a young couple who have successfully saved for a Volkswagen car. 64 8. A stamp issued to promote the ‘People’s Car’ (Volkswagen). 65 9. The striking ‘futuristic’ design outside the headquarters of the German Labour Front (DAF). 68 10. Hitler and Goebbels enjoying an Eintopf with their guests. 74 11. An advertisement encouraging Germans to observe the ‘one-pot’ meal (Eintopf). 75 12. Ludwig Hohlwein’s poster for the League of German Girls. 77 13. Recruitment poster for the Hitler Youth, ‘The Hand [Hitler’s] that Guides the Reich’. 80 14. ‘Youth serves the Führer’. 81 15. A poster showing the ideal Nazi family. 85 16. A page from the anti-Semitic children’s book ‘Don’t Trust a Fox on the Green Heath and never Trust the Word of Jew’ (Trau keinem Fuchs auf grüner Heid und keinem Jud bei seinem Eid!) written by Elvira Bauer and published in 1934. vii LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS Centre for the Study of Propaganda, University of Kent at Canterbury 93 17. The poster for the ‘Eternal Jew’ exhibition, 1937. 98 18. The 1941 poster of Hitler’s ‘prophecy’ speech to the Reichstag. 102 19. Carl Protzen (1940), The Führer’s Roads. 112 20. Georg Poppe (1940), Portrait of the Führer. 113 21. A 1941 poster of Churchill, ‘The Sniper’. The Wiener Library 127 22. An anti-Bolshevik poster that claims: ‘Europe’s Victory is your Prosperity’. The Imperial War Museum 128 23. An anti-Bolshevik poster. Bundesarchiv. 133 viii ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS Over the years I have incurred debts to many individuals in the preparation of this work. I have benefited from discussions with several colleagues, who were generous with their time and encouragement. Among these are Jeremy Noakes, Volker Berghahn, Richard Evans and John Hiden. I would like in particular to thank Ian Kershaw who read and made valuable comments on the manuscript. I would also like to thank Andrew Wheatcroft of Routledge for his support. I am indebted to the secretarial staff at Rutherford College, University of Kent for their unstinting assistance in helping me produce the Document Section. Finally, I would like to thank my wife Anne who was excessively patient and understanding during the researching and writing of this book. Without her loving support this book could not have been written. It is to our children, Chris and Lizzie, that I would like to dedicate this work, not least for the manner in which, in their own ways, they have tolerated their father’s preoccupation with history and even developed a resigned sense of humour. ix GLOSSARY AND LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS Alltagsgeschichte ‘History of everyday life’ BA Bundesarchiv, Koblenz BDC Berlin Document Centre Blut und Boden Blood and soil BdM Bund deutscher Mädel (League of German Girls), female branch of the Hitler Youth, for girls over fourteen years of age DAF Deutsche Arbeitsfront (German Labour Front) DDD German Wireless Service DFW Deutsches Frauenwerk (German Women’s Enterprise), the Nazi-led federation of women’s groups from 1934–1945 Deutsche Wochenschauen German (Nazi) newsreels Dienstverpflichtung Civil conscription DNVP Deutschnationale Volkspartei (German National People’s Party) Filmprüfstelle Film Censorship Office Führerbefehl Command from Hitler Führergewalt Führer power Führerprinzip The leadership principle Gau Region, the major territorial division of the national NSDAP organisation Gauleiter Regional Party Leader Gesellschaft Society Glaube und Schönheit Faith and Beauty Gleichschaltung ‘Co-ordination’, the obligatory assimilation within the Nazi State of all political, economic and cultural activities Herrenvolk Master race Historikerstreit Historians’ dispute Hitlerbewegung Hitler movement xi GLOSSARY AND LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS HJ Hitlerjugend (Hitler Youth), the Nazi Party’s youth organisation IfZ Institut für Zeitgeschichte (Institute for Contem- porary History). Munich Jugendfilmstunden Youth Film Hours Jugendwert A special distinction mark for a film considered ‘valuable for youth’ Kampfzeit Time of struggle (before the NSDAP gained power in 1933) KdF Kraft durch Freude (Strength through Joy) Kleinbürgertum Petit-bourgeoisie KPD Kommunistische Partei Deutschlands (German Communist Party) Kreis District, territorial unit of the NSDAP into which Gaus were divided Kristallnacht ‘Crystal Night’ or ‘Night of Broken Glass’, of 9–10 November 1938 when synagogues and Jewish property were vandalised Lebensraum Living space Mittelstand Lower middle class Machtergreifung Seizure of power (in 1933) Neuordnung The New Order NSBO Nationalsozialistiche Betriebszellen Organisation (Factory Cell Organisation) NSDAP Nationalsozialistische Deutsche Arbeiterpartei (National Socialist German Workers’ Party), the Nazi Party NSF Nationalsozialistische Frauenschaft (Nazi Women’s Group), the monopoly Party organi- sation for women founded in 1931 NSLB Nationalsozialistischer Lehrbund (National Socialist Teachers’ League) NSV NS-Volkswohlfahrt, the Nazi welfare organisation OKW Oberkommando der Wehrmacht (Supreme Command of the Armed Forces) Prädikate The distinction marks awarded to films RAD Reichsarbeitsdienst (The Reich Labour Service) Reichsjugendführung Reich Youth Leadership Reichsjugendtag Reich Day of Youth RKK Reichskulturkammer (Reich Chamber of Culture) Reichslichtspielgesetz Reich Film Law RMD Reichsmütterdienst (Reich Mothers’ Service), one of the sections into which the DFW’s work was divided xii GLOSSARY AND LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS RMVP Reichsministerium für Volksaufklärung und Propaganda (Reich Ministry for Popular Englightenment and Propaganda) Reichsnährstand Reich Food Authority SA Sturm Abteilungen (Storm Troopers), paramili- tary formation of the NSDAP Schönheit der Arbeit Beauty of Labour SD Sicherheitsdienst der SS (Secret Police Reports) Sonderweg Special path (in German history) Sopade Deutschlands-Berichte der Sozialdemoktratischen Partei Deutschlands, underground reports from the Social Democratic Party’s contacts passed on to the SPD headquarters in exile SPD Sozialdemokratische Partei Deutschlands (German Social Democratic Party) SS Schutzstaffeln, Nazi elite paramilitary formation, under the leadership of Heinrich Himmler Tendenzfilme Films advocating themes and archetypes com- monly associated with National Socialism Untermensch Sub-human Vergeltung Revenge völkisch Originally a Germanisation of ‘nationalist’, it acquired racialist and mystical overtones which an English translation of ‘folkish’ fails to convey volksdeutsche ‘Ethnic Germans’, term used by the Nazis to describe people of German stock living outside the Reich Volksgemeinschaft (Community of the People), i.e. a German society purged of ‘alien’ elements Volksgenossen (Nazi)