The significance of propaganda in the facilitation of genocide cannot be overstated. Propaganda is not just critical, but absolutely essential to sustain an intense campaign of genocide. It is carefully crafted and multidimensional. It makes use of all forms of mass media and is designed to appeal to, and more importantly, persuade all intended audiences. Every successful propaganda campaign must also have a commanding monitoring and enforcement mechanism. At no time in history has there been a more masterfully organized and executed total emersion propaganda campaign than during World War II by Adolf Hitler in Nazi Germany.
When genocide is motivated by a utopian ideology, perpetrators create fear & …show more content…
He orchestrated the most infamous and horrific example of a brilliant use of propaganda to further his murderous campaign. In 1926, while in prison, in the early stages of his decent into madness, He wrote Mein Kampf, (My Struggle) an impassioned autobiographical manifesto which outlined his political ideology and maniacal ambitions for creating a New Order for Germany. It was here that Hitler first advocated the use of propaganda to spread his ideals when he wrote, “Propaganda tries to force a doctrine on the whole people… Propaganda works on the general public from the standpoint of an idea, and makes them ripe for the victory of this …show more content…
It went far beyond persuasion and all the way to brainwashing with a perfect blend of both persuasion and coercion. He innately understood crowd-mentality and used it to strategically manipulate the German people. He had a good grasp of the potency of trigger word, linguistic symbolism, and word association to incite both positive and negative sentiments. Another cogent technique Hitler employed was the use of the either or fallacy. The strength of this argument convinced the people that there was a sense of urgency and no time or room for compromise. With repetitive bombardment, the narrative became impossible to escape. With surgical precision, the program effectively incorporated logical fallacies, analogies, and arguments in all methods of propaganda. Hitler fully grasped the necessity of a dynamic and all-encompassing campaign. His insights into people drew him to hand pick like-minded and loyal members to bolster the propaganda program.
When he spoke, Hitler consistently exhibited a tremendous ability to engage with his audiences. He painted a stirring picture of Germany as a victimized, peace loving nation and defender against Communism and the “Judeo-Bolshevik” threat. To mislead foreign governments, the Nazi’s went to extremes to validate military aggression as morally justified acts of