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  • Plays On Emotions

    Propaganda plays on human emotions—fear, hope, anger, frustration, sympathy—to direct audiences toward the desired goal. Hitler argued that the successful propagandist had to understand how to psychologically tailor messages to the public's emotions in order to win people over.

    Attacks Opponents

    Propaganda can serve as a form of political and social warfare to identify and vilify opponents. It can call into question the legitimacy, credibility, accuracy, and even the character of one’s opponents and their ideas. Nazi propagandists contributed to the implementation of the regime’s policies by publicly identifying groups for exclusion, justifying their outsider status, and inciting hatred or cultivating indifference.

    Advertises a Cause

    Adolf Hitler likened propaganda to political advertising: it had to distinguish the party, cause, or individual from their competitors. The Nazis branded themselves and their leader as young, patriotic, political outsiders who alone were capable of reforming Germany. They painted other political parties as special interest groups while portraying the Nazi Party as an inclusive movement representing all non-Jewish Germans, regardless of class, religion, or region.

    Targets Desired Audiences

    Effective propaganda often times conveys messages, themes, and language that appeal directly, and many times exclusively, to specific and distinct segments—and even sub-segments—of the population. Propagandists create messages that appeal directly to the needs, hopes, and fears of the targeted groups. The Nazi Party promoted itself as an inclusive political movement that represented all non-Jewish Germans, regardless of class, gender, religion, or region.

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BACKGROUND INFORMATION:

Nazis created and distributed this poster -- Hinter den Feindmächten: der Jude (Behind the Enemy Powers: the Jew) -- during World War II, following the German invasion of the Soviet Union and at a time when the Nazis were deporting Jews from throughout Europe to their deaths in killing centers. It presents a caricature of a Jewish man behind British, American, and Soviet flags. At the time, Germany was mobilized for total war against Britain, the United States and the Soviet Union -- a war which German leaders told the public was necessary for the survival of Germany. The Nazi regime exercised firm control over access to information; Germany was a closed marketplace of ideas where only negative portrayals of Jews were permissible. [Source: USHMM Collection, Gift of Helmut Eschwege]

THIS IS AN EXAMPLE OF:

Attacks opponents

THIS IS PROPAGANDA BECAUSE:

Nazi propagandists attempted to whip up hatred and fear of Jews, and they frequently depicted “the Jew” as a conspirator plotting world domination by acting behind the scenes in nations at war with Germany. This caricature represents a “Jewish financier” manipulating the Allies—Great Britain, the United States, and the Soviet Union. This imagery attacks Jews by reinforcing a popular antisemitic myth that Jews were the power behind the "twin evils" of Capitalism and Communism. By extension, the Nazis portrayed all Jews -- including those within Germany -- as part of this conspiracy and enemies of the state.

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