it's nothing compared to the terrifying  power of Hitler's propaganda machine.  

Carefully orchestrated propaganda campaigns  allowed Hitler and the Nazis to sow hatred,  

encourage violence, and get away  with unimaginable atrocities.

Life in Germany after the First World War was  bleak. After losing the war and being made to  

sign the harsh Treaty of Versailles, Germany was  forced to relinquish huge amounts of territory  

and the country fell into a deep recession.  Unemployment was sky-high, and inflation was  

running rampant. In 1914, before the war, a loaf  of bread cost the equivalent of 13 cents. By the  

end of the war in 1919, the cost had doubled to 26  cents. By 1922, 3 years after the war had ended,  

a loaf of bread cost 700 dollars. But things  would get so, so much worse in the post-war years.

By the end of 1923, the price of bread had  skyrocketed to the equivalent of 100 billion  

dollars, the economy had collapsed and  the German currency had become worthless.  

Unable to feed their families or make ends  meet, morale among the German population  

plummeted. This astounding reversal  of fortunes for the once mighty nation  

created the perfect conditions  for the Nazis to rise to power.

The National Socialist Party, or the Nazis,  came to power in 1933, and Hitler wasted no  

time in implementing his devious plans to restore  Germany to its former glory. Over the next few  

years he began to rebuild the German military  in direct violation of the Versailles treaty,  

attempted to boost morale by praising the German  people as a “superior” race, and blamed all of  

Germany's problems on so-called traitors like  communists, Jews and other minorities. In 1939,  

with the invasion of Poland, Hitler launched  the Second World War and implemented his brutal  

“final solution” to what he called “the Jewish  problem”. It is estimated that 5 to 6 million  

Jews - up to 2 thirds of all Jews living in Europe  before the war - were starved, tortured, used as  

slave labor and systematically murdered in Nazi  death camps like Auschwitz during the Holocaust.

How was Hitler able to get away  with such unimaginable atrocities?  

The truth is that none of it would have been  possible without Hitler's propaganda machine.

Within weeks of the Nazis taking power,  Hitler established the Ministry for  

Popular Enlightenment and Propaganda to spread  national socialist ideas, and he was very clear  

about the ministry's purpose. In 1924 Hitler  was quoted as saying that propaganda's “task  

is not to make an objective study of the  truth, insofar as it favors the enemy,  

and then set it before the masses with academic  fairness; its task is to serve our own right,  

always and unflinchingly.” At the head of this  all-important Ministry was a man named Joseph  

Goebbels. Goebbels was a gifted speaker and  talented propagandist, and he would go on to  

be the man largely responsible for the German  people's favorable opinion of the Nazi regime.

The Nazis' propaganda campaigns were  so successful because they targeted  

the weaknesses and aspirations of the different  classes of Germans. Under Goebbels' direction,  

the Ministry crafted unique messages for  different audiences and used advanced  

advertising techniques for the day to spread  their nefarious ideas throughout German society.

The military rearmament campaign was a  clear violation of the Versailles treaty,  

but also created many jobs in a struggling  economy, and helped the Nazis secure the support  

of the working classes. Messages targeting  business owners who had suffered after the  

war placed the blame for all of Germany's  recent troubles on communists and Jews,  

and claimed that Germany had been stabbed in the  back and betrayed by foreign aggressors after  

World War 1. The key themes of propaganda  targeting the middle and upper classes  

focused on the supposed purity and  racial supremacy of the German people.

Nazi propaganda infiltrated  all areas of German life,  

from education and industry to science and  entertainment, and the ministry used all forms  

of media to spread their messages and present  Germany as the “defender” of Western culture.  

Art and music, radio, film and theatre were  all harnessed to further the Nazis' agenda.

Everything from the Nazis' uniforms to the party's  strict hierarchy echoed a strong military theme,  

and appealed to Germans who wanted to regain  the country's former glory as a military power.  

War was glorified as a way for Germans to  avenge themselves against their enemies,  

and a propaganda campaign rebranded the post-war  years as part of a 30-years war, one that started  

in 1914 with the onset of World War 1, and one  that wouldn't end until Germany was victorious  

and restored to its former glory. Painted in this  light, the Nazis were able to convince the German  

public that their enemies were planning to attack  them at any moment, and the Nazis' were able to  

claim that the invasion of Poland at the start  of World War 2 was simply an act of self defence.

This militaristic theme was on prominent  display during the many rallies held by Hitler.  

Nazi Party Rallies were held annually in  Nuremburg to display the power and might  

of the Nazi regime and gain popular support for  the party. Often lasting for more than a week,  

thousands of spectators would flood the  fairgrounds to attend folk festivals  

and watch parades of specially-selected SS  and military tropps who best represented  

the Arayan ideal as they marched through the  grounds, turning to Hitler, who was situated  

at the very top of the massive grandstands, to  recognize him with the signature Nazi salute.

The Nazis knew that it wasn't enough to convince  adult Germans to follow them - they had to target  

the next generation of Germans and turn them into  devoted Nazis, too. In 1937, Hitler outlawed the  

Boy Scouts and all other youth groups except for  his own version - the Hitler Youth. Under the  

guise of typical scouting activities like hiking,  camping and survival training, the Hitler Youth  

was a way for the Nazis to remove children from  the influence of their parents and indoctrinate  

them in their anti-semetic ideology. The program  was so effective that many children would denounce  

their parents or even report them for behaving  in ways that the Nazis considered unacceptable,  

such as being tolerant towards Jews. The  real goal of the Hitler Youth, though,  

was to create more soldiers for the German army,  and over time the boys' branch of the group became  

more and more militaristic, training young boys  to march, handle weapons and prepare for war.

The Nazis had complete power over German  newspapers and were able to control what  

news the German people read. They used newspapers  like Die Sturmer - “The Attacker” - to further  

their anti-semetic agenda, especially in periods  prior to the passage of anti-semetic legislation.  

Before the 1935 Nuremberg Race Laws were  enacted, the Nazis used newspapers extensively  

to gain acceptance - or at least tolerance - of  their new racist policies. Under the new laws,  

anyone with 3 or 4 Jewish grandparents,  regardless of whether they were practicing Judaism  

or self-identified with their Jewish roots,  were excluded from citizenship, denied political  

rights, and forbidden from marrying anyone of  German blood. Graphic cartoons in Die Sturmer  

portrayed Jews as hideous and frightening subhuman  enemies of the German people, obsessed with money,  

sex and power. The Nazis were portrayed as  simply stepping in to restore order, and the  

German people were encouraged to stand aside and  passively accept their horrible treatment of Jews.

One of the Nazis greatest propaganda  weapons was the film industry. The Nazis  

were suspicious at first, since they thought  that the film industry was controlled by Jews,  

but Goebbels saw the opportunity to influence the  thoughts and beliefs of the German people through  

film. He purged the industry of “undesirables”,  and offered high profile positions and unlimited  

resources to those who were loyal to the Nazi  cause. Some films focused on depicting Germans  

as racially, culturally and militarily superior  and glorified the Nazi Party. One of Goebbels'  

favorite directors was Leni Riefenstahl,  and she directed many films for the Nazis,  

including Triumph of the Will, an aesthetically  pleasing film covering the 1934 Nazi Party rally.  

Other films had a darker theme. The Eternal Jew,  directed by Fritz Hippler, demonized the Jewish  

people as subhuman, wandering cultural parasites  who were bent on destroying German culture.

In the years leading up to the start of World  War 2, the Nazis were making little effort to  

hide their violations of the Versailles treaty  and were being incredibly blatant about their  

horrific ideas and plans. So, why  did no one stop them? In short,  

their propaganda machine was working just as hard  outside of Germany as it was within the country.  

In the days before the internet, it was much  easier for governments to control the narrative  

and take charge of what outsiders were  allowed to see about the inner workings  

of their country. They took steps  to mislead foreign governments into  

thinking that the Nazis were simply making  reasonable demands to rebuild their country,  

while downplaying their anti-semetic rhetoric  and increasingly violent treatment of Jews.

Just 3 years before the onset of World War 2,  Nazi Germany hosted the 1936 Olypmic Games,  

inviting the world into their country in the  midst of their remilitarization and anti-semtism.  

This event was yet another grand propaganda  campaign, designed to fool the world and  

bolster the German people. Though Jewish-German  athletes were forbidden to compete in the Games,  

the Nazis toned down their anti-semetic  rhetoric in the papers and radio,  

and they cleaned up their cities, removing  “Jews Unwelcome” signs and blatantly racist  

posters. Visiting athletes and delegates  were blissfully unaware of the true extent  

of the Nazis' hatred for the Jews and their  increasingly violent treatment of them. Beloved  

Nazi film director Leni Riefenstahl filmed the  entire event for use as pro-German and pro-Nazi  

propaganda in the months and years to come,  showcasing the Nazis as heroic leaders who  

had turned their country around and had shown  the world how superior the German people were.

Later, as World War 2 dragged on, the world  finally began hearing whispered rumors of the  

atrocities being committed in Nazi concentration  camps. The propaganda machine once again went  

to work to quash these reports. The Nazis went  so far as to allow the International Red Cross  

to visit one of these camp-ghettos, inviting  representatives to tour Theresienstadt camp in  

modern Czech Republic. There, Red Cross officials  saw a respectable, if crowded, ghetto where Jewish  

“residents” were treated benevolently, fed  adequately, and put to work under humane  

conditions. The Nazis even made a film about the  camp to reassure the German public that nothing  

sinister was going on. But, it was all lies.  In reality, the camp had undergone an extensive  

beautification campaign prior to the visit, and as  soon as filming was over, the “cast” - A.K.A. the  

prisoners - were rounded up and shipped off to the  notorious Auschwitz death camp for extermination.

Thankfully, in the end, the Nazis lost World War  2, and both Hitler and Goebbels commited suicide  

in an underground bunker to avoid being held  accountable for their crimes. In the aftermath of  

the war the reality of the atrocities committed in  the Nazi death camps were made known to the world  

so that, hopefully, we can avoid repeating them.  Understanding propaganda is the first line of  

defence against ever again allowing a brutal and  hateful dictator to commit such horrible crimes.

It may have been easier to control the message  in the 1930s, but the internet age presents its  

own challenges when it comes to fake news,  disinformation and propaganda. According to  

Simon Fraser University in Canada, there are some  simple steps we can all take to spot propaganda  

and avoid falling victim to it. In the  immediate aftermath of a big news event,  

the news outlets will always get it  wrong - wait for more information. Don't  

trust anonymous sources or sources  that only cite other news outlets,  

and take the time to compare multiple sources.  Pay close attention to the language used by media  

outlets - for example, the phrase “We are getting  reports…” could mean anything at all. And finally,  

some of this is on us. Beware of reflexive  sharing - don't share sensational news on  

social media based on your first reaction, do your  due diligence before hitting that share button.

Following these steps can help to ensure  that nothing like Hitler's propaganda machine  

can be allowed to manufacture outrage,  sow hatred or incite violence ever again.

If you thought this video was fascinating  and horrifying, just wait until you see  

our other videos, like this video called  “The World War 2 Nazi Breeding Plan”. Or,  

maybe this other video is for you.

As always, thanks for watching, and don't  forget to like, share and subscribe!

See you next time!