Goebbels(CR)

On October 27th 1897 Joseph Goebbels(Top Center) was born to a strict catholic family. Goebbels was always self-conscious about his non-Nordic appearance, and his poor physical capabilities. He was even rejected from the military in World War 1, because of his deformed foot. His very active imagination led him to poetry in 1926, but it was in the Nazi party where he found his true calling. At one point he tried to have Hitler expelled from the party, but he switched to his side the same year after Hitler took a shine to him. In 1927 he started his own newspaper //Der Angriff// (The Attack). This is when he began to publish and master propaganda in Berlin; he was able to capitalize on Germany’s weakness during the great depression. He successfully strengthened the Nazi influence in Berlin, and was promoted to Reich propaganda leader in 1929. Goebbels was responsible for building up Hitler’s image as a messiah, which is what Hitler needed to gain total control of the country. Hitler gave him control over all communications media in 1933. He was incharge of making sure that the public was in favor of the war, and he did so with his influential propaganda. The poster of the map of Europe (Top Left) is meant to make the German people enthusiastic about the war. It shows Germany punching Stalin (The leader of the Soviet Union) in the face with an iron fist. On the other side it shows a very black british island with Churchills grave on it. This poster Goebbels made it seem like the war had already been won, even though it had not. The other picture (Top right) is encouraging Dutch men to join the German army. The Netherlands had been conquered by Germany very earlier in the war; Goebbels was trying to convince the people in occupied countries to support Germany. Goebbels hated the Jewish race. He supported their harsh treatment during the 1930’s, but it wasn’t until after the war started that he began his participation in the holocaust. He said the Jews were “Unconditionally Exterminable” and helped in implementing the “Final Solution”, in 1942. He thought that the Jews must be annihilated from the European continent. Although he told the public of these plans, he never mentioned the concentration camps, or how the Jews were treated. In 1943 he was able to woo the German people into total war. He kept the war going, even after it had obviously been lost; using his control over the communication networks, he inspired the German populace by promising miracle weapons that would turn the war around. These “Secret Weapons” were no more than a hoax; he had used them so that people would not give up hope, and Goebbels never did. He convinced loyal soldiers to set up fortresses in the mountains; there they would fight to the last man. Goebbels died soon after Hitler’s suicide. After poisoning his children he had his wife and himself shot by an SS guard.