Joshua Lanius

November 20, 2025

Nazi Germany: The Propaganda Machine



“I swear by God this holy oath, that I will render to Adolf Hitler, Führer of the German Reich and People, Supreme Commander of the Armed Forces, unconditional obedience, and that I am ready, as a brave soldier, to risk my life at any time for this oath.”

The Führer’s oath was spoken by every Nazi soldier. It was their pledge—not to their country—but to their leader. Their leader would become responsible for the deaths of:

6 million Jewish people,

25 million soldiers, 

and 60 million civilians from over 13 countries. 

Their leader, at his height, gained 8 million devoted followers and controlled the majority of continental Europe.

Under his direction, men slaughtered the innocent. Women betrayed their neighbors. Children hated those they were told were inferior to them and worshipped their leader. 

Their leader’s name was Adolf Hitler. 

This raises the question: how did he do it? How did he gain such a following? How did he convince young men to die for him? How did he manipulate masses to go against their morals and destroy a whole people? 

The answer is propaganda. 

Before exploring the meat of this conversation, the bones must first be erected. It is necessary to understand the state of Germany at this point in history, establish a definition of propaganda, and recognize Nazi propaganda’s anarchic architect. 

In 1919, World War I—or the Great War as it was known at the time—formally ended with the Treaty of Versailles. This treaty gave Germany sole responsibility for the war. Germany had to pay reparations, cede territory, and reduce its military. People were looking for a scapegoat and antisemitism provided one, the Jews. “Extremism during the First World War and in the post-war period produced a black-and-white, friend-or-foe culture in both society and politics. Linguistic and visual images of the enemy were potent weapons… Political and propaganda images of the enemy were both expressions and causes of resentment, hatred and violence, and they programmed the thinking and behaviour of parts of the populace” (Documentation Center Nazi Party Rally Grounds).

This unrest and conception of ideas paved the road for what Nazi Propaganda became.

Merriam-Webster defines propaganda as, “the spreading of ideas, information, or rumor for the purpose of helping or injuring an institution, a cause, or a person.” Nazi leaders used propaganda to spread ideas, information, and rumors for the purpose of lifting up Germany and injuring their supposed enemies. 

The Nazi government had a propaganda minister, Joseph Goebbels, who became the architect of this manipulation. Goebbels has been described as a small man with a big head, both literally and figuratively. Having polio as a child caused him to have one leg two inches shorter than the other. It also allowed him to earn a Ph.D. in history and literature while the other young men his age were fighting in WWI. He joined the Nazi Party in 1924, educated and determined. He limped forward in life and climbed the ranks within the Nazi Party government. His body was weak but his mind was sharp and voice was commanding. The author of The Man Behind Hitler wrote, “Goebbels' speech was deep and resonant, never wavering from its carefully crafted message of German superiority and rabid anti-Semitism. As Hitler's Minister for Public Enlightenment and Propaganda, Goebbels masterminded the Nazi propaganda… and executed its murderous agenda. And no one believed his message more than Goebbels himself.”

Goebbels used propaganda in two main forms to carry out his agenda: pageantry and media. Pageantry took the form of rallies, and media took the forms of radio, press, publishing, photography, and cinema. 

William E. Dodd, the U.S. Ambassador to Germany from 1933 to 1937, described this controlled multi-media communication as “one vast propaganda machine."

Rallies

The fuel to this propaganda machine was its pageantry, more specifically, its rallies. The first rally after Hitler had taken command of the nation was in 1933. 

On September 1, 1933, 200,000 Germans stood shoulder to shoulder in their Sunday best, donning swastika armbands on their upper left arms. The smell of cigarette smoke, September sweat, and burning oil filled the dense air. Dozens of firebowls crackled and roared as their light flickered off SS badges. Over a thousand bright red Nazi flags surrounded the Zeppelinfield, some over 30 feet tall. When night fell, flood lights shot up, creating a “Cathedral of Light” around the arena. Drums and brass instruments echoed as the crowd chanted, “Sieg heil!” meaning, “Hail victory!” It all fell silent as their new chancellor approached the microphone.

Hitler spoke authoritatively as groundbreaking loudspeakers projected his voice across the masses. This year marks the victory of a movement that once consisted of only a few faithful and today embraces the entire nation,” Hitlers voice boomed. “We have not come here as individuals but as members of a great community—united in blood, in spirit, and in will. From this place must go out the will that the German people shall be one —one people and one Reich, with one leadership and one faith… No one will ever again humiliate Germany. We will take our place in the world again not through weapons alone, but through the rebirth of our soul. The movement is Germany, and Germany is the movement. Our flag is more than a piece of cloth —it is the symbol of a nation reborn. Germany, awake! Hail victory!”

Mayor Theodor of the city of Essen described one of the rallies as “simply tremendous,” saying that the Nazis have “put America in the shade.” What many of the attendees did not understand, however, is that it was carefully designed to give such an impression. 

The atmosphere was meant to be overwhelming. The architecture was designed to be empowering. The speech was written to be manipulative. “Large-scale events became the Nazi Party's most effective means of propaganda” (Documentation Center Nazi Party Rally Grounds).

Every aspect of the event was designed, starting with the venue. 

The author of Building the Nazi Rally Party Grounds wrote, “The structures at the Nazi Party Rally Grounds were intended both to impress and to intimidate, to impose discipline and to build a sense of community.” 

The Zeppelinfield purposefully looked like a fort, implying protection and power. The flags were described by the rally ground’s architect Albert Speer to be “wind made visible,” as a metaphor for Nazi power being a continuous presence such as the wind. 

The colors in the stands were black from SS uniforms and red from each armband. In color theory, black represents sophistication and elegance while red represents passion and strength. Together black and red represent the exact message Hitler, Goebbels, and Speer wanted to convey: power and authority. 

Likewise, Hitler’s speeches were carefully crafted. Before Hitler was the Führer or the chancellor, he was a propaganda specialist. Hired by Captain Karl Mayr, the director of the propaganda division of the Army in Munich, Hitler’s job was to persuade soldiers out of their revolutionary ideas. Hitler eventually got the job of publicity spokesman—also under Mayr—whose job it was to convince the working class of antisemitic ideas. 

Hitler used two main persuasion tactics in his speeches: authority and consensus. He conveyed his authority and power in his speeches by often screaming and waving his arms violently. The way he used consensus was much more subtle and impactful. In How Was Adolf Hitler So Persuasive, Josh Wilmoth wrote, “Hitler and the Nazi Party treated the German people as if they were one entity because individuals are rational, think for themselves, and are concerned about their own well-being, whereas groups are unintelligent and easily persuaded… Hitler and the Nazis recognized that if the German people had a group mentality, they would be much more receptive to Nazi ideology and propaganda.”

In Hitler’s speech, he said: “we have not come here as individuals but as members of a great community—united in blood, in spirit, and in will... the German people shall be one —one people and one Reich, with one leadership and one faith.” Hitler disguised groupthink—a phenomenon where a group prioritizes consensus over critical thinking—as unity. 

Not every German citizen was able to attend these rallies, though, so the Nazis took to other means to convince those who never stepped foot on Zeppelinfield.

Radio

If the rallies were the fuel to the propaganda machine, the radios were the wheels that brought the message to each corner of the country. “At the end of the 1930s, there were more than eleven million radios in Germany… Radio became one of the most important vehicles of propaganda” (Documentation Center Nazi Party Rally Grounds).

The Volksempfänger—meaning the “people’s receiver”—was distributed to nearly every German household. It purposefully had a limited range, receiving only German stations. During a rally or a speech, every station synchronized and broadcasted the same message, Hitler’s message. 

Families, workers, friends enjoying a pint, and children at school all gathered around the wooden boxes as they gently hummed before their Führer’s shouts crackled through them, “Sieg heil!”

The live broadcast of the rallies was just the beginning. Goebbels saw the radio as “the most modern and the most crucial instrument of influence,” and he utilized every bit of it. He broadcasted daily propaganda, music, and educational programming each with its own purpose. 

Every morning the news would be broadcast through the twisted kaleidoscope of Nazi ideology. Reports and explanations of the state of the nation and the war went through the Propaganda Ministry ensuring there was only one view of what happened. 

Music played throughout the day that was hand picked by the Propaganda Ministry. German composers such as Bach and Beethoven and German marches were played on repeat to promote national pride. Music by African Americans, Jews, or gypsies was banned. 

Educational programs for children played daily. These programs included audible plays that would end with lessons about loyalty and sacrifice. They often featured villains that were outsiders or of a different race, subtly brainwashing a whole generation into Nazis. 

Like spoken words, Nazis also took control of written words. 

Press

The Nazis’ control of the press did not begin with what they produced, but what they banned. “The Nazi regime stripped German citizens of their right to free speech and their freedom to express themselves. The regime subjected the media to rigorous supervision in terms of both personnel and content. Within a brief span of time, the free press—a core element of every democracy—was eradicated in Germany” (Documentation Center Nazi Party Rally Grounds).

Then came the lies. One strand of lies the Propaganda Ministry was feeding the citizens revolved around concentration camps. German citizens knew concentration camps existed, and that is where most of their knowledge ended. They could only know what they were told, and the press all told them the same story. Concentration camps housed lazy, law-breaking, and inferior people to give them a job and reintegrate them into the perfect German society. “Newspapers portrayed imprisoned political opponents as ‘rabble rousers,’ ‘grumblers,’ and ‘work-shy’. Dachau was described as a work and re-education camp” (Dachau Concentration Camp Museum).

German citizens, and the rest of the world, for that matter, did not know of the true horrors that lie behind the camp gates. They did not know about the experimentations. They did not know about the public tortures and executions. They did not know just exactly how proficient the SS had become at taking lives—sending souls room by room, hundreds at a time, the first to wait, second to gas, and third to cremate.

They did not know about the horrors because it is not what they were told. Some people knew a few more details than the general public, but they prioritized societal harmony over their own moral intelligence, just as Hitler’s speeches had trained them to do. 

The newspapers also covered the rallies. The rallies were heavily documented by the press so that those who were unable to attend or listen live, could experience it after the fact. Up to 750 journalists attended the rallies in Nuremberg and their writings were all heavily censored. 

Some newspapers had sections dedicated to antisemitic cartoons. The most notorious newspaper featuring these cartoons was Der Stürmer. Der Stürmer depicted Jews as grotesque and inhuman. Some of their most famous caricatures depict Jews as monstrous, part-snake creatures, or as vampires brewing potions. 

The secrecy, the lies, the glorified rallies, and the dehumanizing cartoons all contributed to the brainwashing of the German people. 

Publishing

Another cog in the propaganda machine was the Nazi’s publishing. Similarly to the press, the Propaganda Ministry’s work did not begin with what they produced, but what they banned—or, more accurately, burned. 

“On May 10, 1933, a bonfire smoldered on Munich’s Königsplatz square. Nazi supporters burnt books written by Jewish, liberal-democratic and socialist authors. The book burnings were a fearful symbol of Nazi suppression of artistic and cultural freedom” (Munich Documentation Museum).

Goebbels personally oversaw the Munich book burning and gave a speech in support of it beforehand. It is estimated that the amount of books burned under Nazi authority is in the hundreds of millions. Words that disagreed with Nazi ideals did nothing but fuel the fire. 

Next came what the Nazis published themselves. Many antisemitic books were published, among them the Handbook of the Jewish Question by Theodore Fritsch. This handbook outlines the ideas of the Aryan race being the superior race and Jews being a threat to German society. 

The most prominent piece of published propaganda is the book Hitler wrote himself, Mein Kampf. Hitler wrote Mein Kampf—or My Struggle—in 1924 while in prison for staging a coup against the Bavarian state government in Munich. My Struggle is Hitler’s autobiography where he tells his version of his story and outlines his beliefs, political ideology, and vision for the world. It was the blueprint for Nazism and reached over 12 million people before the war ended in 1945. 

Hitler and Goebbels had completely taken over spoken and written media in Germany, but it is said that a picture is worth a thousand words, and the Propaganda Ministry had over 500,000 images released. 

Photography

“Before 1923, Hitler refused to be photographed. After that, however, he used the photographic medium as a propaganda tool intensely. Working closely with Heinrich Hoffmann, he created the extremely effective photographic persona of Hitler as ‘Führer’. Complex political issues were reduced to personalized and symbolic images. Seemingly authentic glimpses of the ‘private’ Hitler were also part of Hoffmann’s photographic repertoire” (Munich Documentation Center).

Heinrich Hoffmann was born in 1885 to Robert Hoffmann, a professional photographer. Heinrich apprenticed under his father from early on and became a photographer for the Bavarian army in WWI. He joined the Nazi party in 1920 and became Hitler’s exclusive photographer from 1923 until 1945. According to American scholar Louis L. Snyder, “Hoffmann’s personal and political relationship with Hitler began in Munich in the early days of the National Socialist movement. The photographer, sensing a brilliant future for the budding politician, became his constant companion. For some time he belonged to Hitler's inner circle.”

The photographs Hoffmann took contribute further into the lies the Nazis have been telling. Photos from this time period have a more difficult time deceiving their viewers than the photos of today without the means of digital altering, but Hoffmann, nonetheless, manipulated viewers in two ways: staging and retouching. 

A photo taken in 1927 titled Hitler rehearsing his speech making is a perfect example of Hoffmann’s staging. The photo claims to show the authenticity of Hitler seeing that even he had to practice. In reality, it was staged. Hoffmann posed Hitler. He set up a dark backdrop. He lit Hitler perfectly. The very photo meaning to show authenticity to the German people, shows today just how inauthentic it all was. 

In 1932, a photo titled Adolf Hitler attends a rally in Munich /Odeonsplatz, August 2, 1914 was published by Hoffmann. The photo claims to capture a moment where Hitler attended a celebratory rally when Germany declared war on Russia. The Propaganda Ministry spun it to show that Hitler was a long term German patriot. The problem is that the negative of this specific photo has been lost and the rest of the film reel shows no photos of Hitler. The consensus among scholars today is that this photo is one that Hoffmann edited. Hoffmann is thought to have superimposed a negative of young Hitler onto the 1914’s negative, combining the two in the dark room. 

 These photographs were released to the public through newspapers, magazines, and posters, of course, but also on cigarette cards, stamps, calendars, children’s notebooks, and other everyday items. It would have been nearly impossible to be an occupant of Nazi Germany and not be bombarded by these images every single day. And Heinrich Hoffmann owned the monopoly on them all. With the Hitler brand, Hoffmann earned a sum in the tens of millions.

“At the end of the war he changed sides, identifying people in his pictures for the International Military Tribunal. He successfully defended himself against classification as a major war criminal during his denazification. He was released from prison in 1950 having served only four years. His case was closed at the beginning of 1951” (Documentation Center Nazi Party Rally Grounds).

Hoffmann had been released from prison, but the courts took his wealth and banned him from being a photographer. He lived the rest of his bitter life attempting to get his wealth back and losing every case, writing memoirs like Hitler Was My Friend that have been classified by historians as unreliable, and eventually dying alone to have no one attend his funeral. 

Pictures were a powerful tool to the Propaganda Ministry, but an even more powerful tool was moving pictures. 

Cinema 

The Nazis already had control of what the Germans heard, saw, and read, but cinema wrapped all of those together. Cinema is the combination of all art. Hitler and Goebbels were mad artists that leveraged this fact to the extreme.

Goebbels and the Propaganda Ministry had complete control of cinema in Germany. Goebbels had every German film studio absorbed into his state-controlled UFA conglomerate. Through this entity, every director, actor, and script had to go through him. Jewish and other politically undesirable filmmakers were removed from any production. Every production became propaganda. Comedies, romances, and musicals all became undertoned with Nazi ideology. Goebbels’ attitude was that, "propaganda becomes effective when the public does not feel it is being propagandized."

In addition to propaganda films disguised as everyday entertainment, there was also outright propaganda. The most famous piece of outright propaganda being Triumph of the Will by Leni Riefenstahl.

Leni Riefenstahl was a Berlin-born dancer and actress who had achieved great success in the early 1930s. Hitler came to deeply admire her film The Blue Light, in which she wrote, directed, and starred. Riefenstahl recounted her first meeting with Hitler in which he said, “Miss Riefenstahl, give me just six days of your life … I would like the film to be made by an artist and not by a Party filmmaker.” 

Riefenstahl agreed and this ultimately became a power struggle between her, Goebbels, and Hitler, but the film was made nonetheless. 

Triumph of the Will was presented as a documentary of the 1934 Nuremberg Rally, but like most Nazi documentaries, it was riddled with dishonesty. The production had a budget of 300,000 reichmarks (today’s equivalent of 2.75 million U.S. dollars), 16 separate camera teams, and a film crew of over 100. The crew led by Riefenstahl used low angles to make the speakers feel larger than life, placed cameras in the midst of fleets of vehicles to make them feel more powerful, used tall cranes and airplanes to capture footage from above creating “God’s-eye” perspective, and uniformly lit the crowd to imply unity. “She spectacularly staged events and people in tune with Nazi ideology. Riefenstahl’s focus was experience, not documentation” (Documentation Center Nazi Party Rally Grounds).

After the completion of the rally, Riefenstahl had over 80 miles of film footage. While editing, she ignored the real sequence of events and edited the film to give the impression of a perfect rally. Sound effects and a score by German composer Herbert Windt rounded off the film idealizing the rally and its message. 

Hitler loved it. Goebbels recognized its value and distributed it. It is praised for its technical and innovative filmmaking to this day. Shots mimicking those from Triumph of the Will have appeared in Star Wars, The Lion King, The Hunger Games, and more. Riefenstahl was proud of her artistic achievement, but not necessarily its message.

Riefenstahl never joined the Nazi party. She saw Hitler as nothing more than a patron of her art. Up until her death in 2003, she argued that Triumph of the Will was not propaganda. “It reflects the truth that was then in 1934,” she said. “It is therefore a documentary. Not a propaganda film.” Historians and the definition of propaganda–the spreading of ideas for the purpose of helping or injuring a cause–disagree. 

Conclusion 

William E. Dodd labeled Nazi Germany’s multi-media communication as “one vast propaganda machine." The rallies were the fuel. The radios were the wheels. The press, publishing, and photography were cogs, pistons, and the innermost workings. The cinema was the engine, being the fusion of words spoken and written and pictures that moved. 

Hitler was an artist, turned propagandist, turned Führer who became responsible for over 90 million deaths, yet he had men and women pledging their lives to him. How? 

Anything that disagreed with him was destroyed. Anyone who disagreed with him was silenced. Nearly every piece of media, press, and art that did not share his ideals was confiscated, destroyed, or burned. Nearly every person who spoke against him or by their very existence went against his perfect vision for Germany was shipped to concentration camps. 

Then Hitler and Goebbels filled this void with media of their own. 

Young men joined the army because their radio gave them national pride. The elderly believed in the cause because the books they read gave them someone to blame for the trauma of their past. Children hated Jews because the comic strips in their daily paper painted them as monsters. Women looked up to Hitler because photography painted him as a savior for the everyday German. Millions of Germans became brainwashed little by little by each film they watched whether it was subtly laced with antisemitic ideology or it was outright propaganda. 

Thankfully, this brainwashing did not last.

On April 29, 1945, the Red Army–the Soviet Union–invaded Munich, the heart of Naziism and Hitler’s base. On that day in the safety of his bunker, Hitler wrote a statement blaming Germany itself for losing the war and married his mistress. 

On April 30, Adolf Hitler and Eva Braun–his new wife–both committed suicide.

On May 1, Joseph Goebbels and Magda Goebbels–his wife–poisoned their six children and then both committed suicide.

By May 2, the Red Army had gained full control of Munich.

On May 8, the German army issued their unconditional surrender, ending the war in Europe.

On May 13, the first free, non-propaganda radio broadcast in over 12 years aired. The media was back in the people’s hands. The lies had stopped. 

As reconstruction continued, the curtains were pulled back and the German people began to see the truth. The truth was horrible. The truth was devastating. But in the truth–being set free from the lies and the propaganda–there was hope.