Post on 28-Dec-2015
Making of the Modern World: Fascist Propaganda
Introduction
• Why a special lecture on fascist propaganda?
• Why could fascism appeal to people (focus on Nazi Germany)?
• Context: propaganda ‘war’ in Weimar Germany
• Analysing examples of propaganda
Making of the Modern World: Nations and Nationalism
Example 1: Hitler Youth Quex
• Film was based on a 1932 novel, released in 1933; celebrating the life (and death) of a young working-class boy who joined the Hitler Youth
Making of the Modern World: Nations and Nationalism
Example 1: Hitler Youth Quex
• Communists represent disorder on multiple levels: violence, sexual morals, social organization: this was the threat Germany was facing if Communists would prevail
• Nazis present order, restraint, inclusiveness and a positive outlook towards the future
Making of the Modern World: Nations and Nationalism
Example 2: Goebbels’s Radio Speech (1932)• Nazis skilfully employed
radio propaganda, especially after they came to power, to directly address their audience; people would listen to the radio in groups, which created a sense of community
Making of the Modern World: Nations and Nationalism
Example 2: Goebbels’s Radio Speech (1932)• Germany as being
enslaved by foreign powers
• German workers are suffering under this situation; appeal to the working classes!
• Call for a ‘government of national labour’; glorification of physical labour
Making of the Modern World: Nations and Nationalism
Example 2: Goebbels’s Radio Speech (1932)Communist and Nazi posters
Making of the Modern World: Nations and Nationalism
Example 2: Goebbels’s Radio Speech (1932)• Germany as being
enslaved by foreign powers
• German workers are suffering under this situation; appeal to the working classes!
• Call for a ‘government of national labour’; glorification of physical labour
• Expansionism; living space for Germans to settle
Making of the Modern World: Nations and Nationalism
Example 3: Song
• Hitler Youth Song, from Hitler Youth Quex
• Collective singing as a way to create a community (‘Singing Dictatorship’)
Making of the Modern World: Nations and Nationalism
Example 3: Song
• Future oriented ideology: we will create a ‘new age’
• Celebration of the youth as the dynamic and relentless generation that would accomplish this future (the Nazi movement as the largest youth movement in German history)
• Reversal of age hierarchies
Making of the Modern World: Nations and Nationalism
Example 4: Triumph of the Will
• Documentary of the NSDAP Party Congress in Nuremberg, 1934; produced by Leni Riefenstahl
• Shows how the ‘community of soldiers and workers’ was produced and staged
Making of the Modern World: Nations and Nationalism
Example 4: Triumph of the Will
• Joyous elements of community building
• Inclusiveness of the nation beyond regional or class differences
• Glorification of WWI soldiers and the ‘trench community’
• Glorification of physical labour as a prerequisite for belonging to the nation
Making of the Modern World: Nations and Nationalism
Example 5: Violence as Propaganda• Nazis (and Italian
Fascists) celebrated violence and frequently engaged in violent street battles with their opponents
• Violence created the impression of a looming civil war, and only the Nazis would be able to provide order in this situation
Making of the Modern World: Nations and Nationalism
Example 5: Violence as Propaganda• Violence provided the
Nazis with an opportunity to prove themselves strong, virile, and willing to take radical action to solve problems