Hayley Birmingham

Wertz-Orbaugh
UWRT 1102
4/16/15

The Ways of Nazi Propaganda During the Holocaust: A Research Review

This research review is about Nazi propaganda and some of the information I have found
researching it over the past few months. When I was given this project I had no clue what topic I
wanted to do. Then I saw a video in class about Nazis filming in the ghettos and I thought that
was interesting. I made my Inquiry topic about Nazis filming in the ghettos. There were so many
things I wondered about and I had so many questions. But as I researched it I didn't really find
anything that helped me answer those questions. There is very little on that subject. So I
broadened my Inquiry topic and made it about Nazi propaganda during the Holocaust. When I
was researching there were many articles about this subject and I thought I was always interested
in propaganda and thought it would be a good topic to do. I found two articles in JSTOR that I
thought were very interesting, Nazi Propaganda and the Volksgemeinschaft: Constructing a
Peoples Community by David Welch and Grassroots Propaganda in the Third Reich: The Reich
Ring for National Socialists Propaganda and Public Enlightenment by Randall L. Bytwerk.
The first of the JSTOR articles I used was Nazi Propaganda and the Volksgemeinschaft:
Constructing a Peoples Community by David Welch. This article talked about how the Nazi
regime attempted to influence peoples opinions by means of propaganda. As David Welch

mentioned If we look at propaganda as a means of reinforcing existing attitudes and beliefs,

then it continues the success of propaganda(214). To me this was interesting because it looks
like he is saying everyone thought this way already and they just used propaganda to keep
pushing it and reminding the people of their original thoughts. It makes me wonder if the
majority did already think this and Hitler, the Nazis weren't brainwashing them. Another thing
the article mentioned was about how movements grew from propaganda. The writer said
Propaganda gives force and direction to the successive movements of popular feeling and
desire; but it does not do much to create these movements(214). I agree with the writer in
saying propaganda adds fuel to the fire and that it makes movements more extreme. But I also
understand why he says it doesn't create the movements. This was interesting to me because I
feel like propaganda can help build a movement because it can make more and more people
believe a certain things, which in turn creates a big group and that is what drives the movement.
Also there was a place in the article where it talked about unity and being a community will get
you farther. David Welch said Belonging to such a community remained a powerful integrator
force for many Germans(238). I believe that what the author is saying is true; the Germans
stood tall and together which made them strong. It didn't surprise me that the Germans being a
community and standing as one made them a greater force. This article helped me see that using
propaganda can make people come together and believe the same thing and make a community
which is used better as a whole. Being a community creates more power which is what the Nazis
wanted and this article shows that and shows how they tried to accomplish that.
The second article I found in JSTOR was Grassroots Propaganda in the Third Reich: The
Reich Ring for National Socialists Propaganda and Public Enlightenment by Randall L.

Bytwerk. The article talked about how before Hitler was running the Nazi party it lacked in
power and control. But then when he took it over the whole dynamic changed. Randall L.
Bytwerk said that Before Hitler took over power, the Nazi party had substantial manpower, but
limited funds, and little access to mass media(93). I think this quote was very interesting
because it shows that one man had the power to change everything. It also kind of surprised me
that before Hitler came along the Nazi party struggled with marketing and public attention. In the
article it talked about how Hitler was appointed chancellor and everything changed quickly and
the Nazi party skyrocketed. As Bytwerk mentioned When Adolf Hitlers appointment to the
chancellorship in January 1933, the role of Nazi propaganda changed abruptly their goal now
was a uniform public opinion and behavior on matters of interest to the state(93). This quote
was really important for my research because it showed that propaganda really took off when
Hitler was in power. This made me think about how the Nazi party grew from having no public
recognition to all being one together. I think it is shocking that Hitler can come in and take over
the Nazi party and get so much feedback and following in a short amount of time. Even though
the Nazi party used propaganda the article talked about how it wasn't everything for the Nazi
party. The writer said The whole propaganda system did not function as well as the Nazis
hoped(114). This is what surprised me most about the article. I dont understand how using
propaganda to form peoples opinion and have it work not be what you hoped it was. If using
propaganda gave you the responses you wanted then why would you say it didn't function well.
This source was useful to me because it helped me see the role Hitler had in helping the Nazi
party grow and use propaganda. It also helped me see that one person had a huge impact on the
Nazi party.

My inquiry topic started off with a very specific propaganda topic of the Nazis filming in
the ghettos. I wasn't finding that many articles about that so I broadened it and made it about
Nazi propaganda in general. During my research these past few months I have found many
interesting articles that talk about propaganda during the Holocaust. The two I used for this paper
were the most interesting ones I found. I feel these articles made more of a breakthrough in
propaganda than any of the others. The first article made me see that people had certain ideas and
thoughts about something and put it in the open for everyone to see and got people to back them
up. I think this strategy is really smart because there are definitely people out there that think the
same as you. And the second article made me see that one person can make a huge difference on
a group of people of even a nation. Propaganda is no little task it is something that is huge and
has many different impacts. I think doing this research was great for me to look deeper into
things I wondered about when I learned them in previous years. The inquiry project also let me
take something I wanted to learn about and do as much research as I wanted to, so I could answer
my own questions.

Citation Page

Welch, David. "Nazi Propaganda and the Volksgemeinschaft: Constructing a People's

Community." Journal of Contemporary History 39.2 (2004): 213-238. JSTOR. Web. 01 Apr.
2015.

Bytwerk, Randall L. "Grassroots Propaganda in the Third Reich: The Reich Ring for National
Socialist Propaganda and Public Enlightenment." German Studies Review 33.1 (2010): 93-118.
JSTOR. Web. 01 Apr. 2015.