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The commentator proudly announced that the Hitler Youth was bending its back to clear away the snow. According to some reports, people consider the extended format to be more successful in that it allows for greater flexibility. Witness the following response, reported in the same SD Report, to the anti-Semitic campaign being whipped up by Goebbels at this time: The pictures showing the arrest of Jews involved in murder were enthusiastically received, and people commented that they were still being treated too leniently. Nazi authorities increasingly began to take the newsreel more seriously even as the propaganda aims of the RMVP became well defined. Throughout 1939 the newsreels had continued in this vein, attempting to prepare the nation psychologically for the coming war by increasing their emphasis on military subjects. In the spring of 1939 they reported on the war in Spain and took great delight in recording the exploits of the Condor Legion.

Propaganda is thousands of years old. It is also a distinct political activity that is crucial to the functioning of modern societies. Influencing public opinion, transmitting ideas and values, and controlling thought in order to achieve a specific purpose are among the principal tasks of propaganda, and of propagandists. This chapter compares the experience of modern propaganda in Europe and the United States with parallel developments in China. While the Soviet example has obviously been among the most relevant to the construction of China’s modern propaganda state after 1949, Chinese Communist Party leaders in fact adapted a range of post-World War II tactics to the specific demands of their political situation, including some that drew on the unique insights of Maoism and, later, new technologies and modes of state surveillance.

Based on a detailed examination of specific aspects of Nazi propaganda, this book (originally published in 1983) enhances the understanding of National Socialism by revealing both its power and its limitations. The work tackles aspects of Nazi propaganda which had been neglected in the past, but together they demonstrate the disproportionate role assigned to propaganda in one of the most highly politicised societies in contemporary European history.

Introduction 1. The Conquest of the Masses 2. Goebbels the Propagandist 3. Restructuring the Means of Communication 4. Propaganda and Public Opinion 1933-39 5. Nazi Propaganda at War, 1939-1945 Conclusion Postscript: Germany's Search for a Bearable Past Appendix: Document Section