The Anti-Komintern and Nazi Anti-Bolshevik Propaganda in the 1930s.

From the outset of his political activities propaganda was a crucial tool for Hitler and one which was clearly central to the success of his movement in finally achieving office. Whereas during the 1920s National Socialist propaganda had been aimed primarily at the German electorate, it subsequently developed an important external dimension, particularly in relation to Bolshevik Russia, in an attempt to influence international opinion against the purported ideological and military menace emanating from Moscow. The Anti-Komintern, a division of Goebbels' Propaganda Ministry, was at the forefront of this campaign. Set up shortly after the Nazi takeover, it quickly developed links abroad and, spurred on by the outbreak of the Spanish Civil War, sought to achieve in propaganda terms what its more famous namesake, the Anti-Comintern Pact, had been designed to deliver in the diplomatic arena. Drawing on new material from American and German archives, this article seeks to reconstruct and assess some activities of the Anti-Komintern and to place them within the broader context of Nazi ideology and the regime's foreign policy goals during the 1930s. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]