Brandon Cox

Professor Wertz-Orbaugh
UWRT 1103-007
8 February 2016

Nazi Deception
My inquiry proposal is focused on Nazi deception that occurred during the Holocaust and
the years leading up to it. By continuing my research, I plan to focus on learning the types of
propaganda the Nazis used to persuade the German people to tolerate the violence towards the
Jews. A few of the aspects I plan to cover include Propaganda, the Nazi Vision, Defining the
Enemy, and the Benefits of Genocide and Persecution. The reason I chose to research this topic
is because not many people are aware of the complexity behind the Nazi propaganda machine
and the effectiveness it played into the Nazis success. They found a way to convince every type
of person in Germany to tolerate the oppression of the Jews and how to the people who werent
allowing it disappeared.
My prior education has taught me the basic strategies the Nazis used to fuel their
propaganda machine but I didnt know much about the subliminal messages that were put in the
propaganda tools. The long process Hitler and the Nazis went through to test the general German
populations ability to tolerate the harsh treatment of the Jews was never taught to me. The
system evolved from taking away Jewish rights to outright genocide. People want to blame the
German people for allowing the Holocaust to happen but people are unaware of the fact that

through many years, the Nazis placed subliminal messages amongst the public and after much
time the people believed oppression of the Jews would be okay. The same thing can be seen
today in the United States. People will believe anything they see on the internet and social media
so it is quite understandable to grasp the concept of being fed believable information even if it is
bad.
Through doing much research I have developed a few questions that I would like to have
answered. Not just for the grade but because I am actually curious to know what people will
respond with. One such question is how modern-day social media could and internet users be so
hypocritical towards the German people when they themselves will believe anything they see on
the internet? I want to hear peoples responses. Many people would probably bash me for asking
something so sensitive but asking questions is what makes successful research. Another question
I would like to know is even though many individual intellectuals were killed during the Nazis
rise to power because of fear of them seeing past subliminal messages in propaganda, how can
intellectuals in todays world sit by and do nothing as people blindly believe anything they see in
modern day propaganda?
Two different ways of thinking about my chosen topic is to look as the Nazi propaganda
from an intellectual standpoint and the general publics standpoint. The intellectual would tell
you all the false reasoning behind the propaganda and the general public, after much exposure,
would tell you that what the Nazis are doing is good and that the Jews really are guilty of ruining
Germany. I feel as if looking at the topic from both points of view would help me to better
answer my questions and to help me grasp a much in depth grasp of the topic. A great place to
begin my research would be to ask myself, Exactly what steps did the Nazis take in order to

accomplish their mission of installing a system in Germany where the general public is tolerant
of the oppression and genocide of the Jewish race?

Peer Review Reflection

For the Peer Review Reflection Brandon and I read through each others papers in order
to get better ideas on what to write about. After reviewing someone elses paper it is better to
understand different view-points on a certain subject, in this case, the Holocaust. Brandon is
writing his paper about Nazi Experimentation on the Jews throughout the Holocaust. Even
though our two subjects are different in many ways there are still going to be moments when we
will be able to help each other out when it comes time to do more research. Reading other
authors papers or books can help to open more doors into the knowledge of the Holocaust.