Nazi Propaganda

Following the Nazi coming to power in 1933, Hitler established a Reich Ministry of Public Enlightenment and Propaganda headed by Joseph Goebbels. The Ministry's aim was to ensure that the Nazi message was successfully communicated through art, music, theater, films, books, radio, educational materials, and the press.

There were several audiences for Nazi propaganda. Germans were reminded of the struggle against foreign enemies and the Jewish people. During periods before Hitler’s actions against Jews, propaganda campaigns created an atmosphere that made it tolerable for violence against Jews, particularly in 1935 (before the Nuremberg Race Laws of September) and in 1938 (before anti- Jewish economic laws following Kristallnacht). Propaganda also encouraged inaction and acceptance of the impending measures against Jews, as these appeared to depict the Nazi government as stepping in and “restoring order.”

Translation:

Behind the enemy powers: The Jews

Circa: 1942

Blitzkrieg

Blitzkrieg is a German word for “lighting War,” meaning a war as fast as lightning. Blitzkrieg involves combining quick movement of troops, tanks, and massive use of airplanes to support troop movements.

Using the tactics of Blitzkrieg, the Nazis were able to roll over Poland, Norway, Denmark, the Netherlands, and all of France in nine months.

The Holocaust

The word “Holocaust,” is a word from Greek origin which means to sacrifice by fire. Since 1945, the word has taken on a new and horrible meaning: the mass murder of some 6 million European Jews (as well as members of some other persecuted groups, such as Gypsies, the disabled, and homosexuals) by

the German Nazi regime during the Second World War. To the anti-Semitic Nazi leader Adolf Hitler, Jews were an inferior race, a threat to German racial purity and community. After years of Nazi rule in

Germany, during which Jews were consistently persecuted, Hitler’s “final solution”–now known as the Holocaust–came to fruition under the cover of world war, with mass killing centers constructed in the

concentration camps and Death camps of occupied Poland.

What was the Holocaust?In 1933, the Jewish population of Europe stood at over nine million. Most European Jews lived in

countries that Nazi Germany would take over during World War II. By 1945, the Germans killed nearly two out of every three European Jew as part of the “Final Solution.” The Final Solution was the Nazi

policy to murder the Jews of Europe in concentration and death camps. Although Jews, whom the Nazis deemed a priority danger to Germany, were the primary victims of Nazi racism, other victims included

some 200,000 Roma (Gypsies) and 200,000 mentally or physically disabled people were also murdered.

The End of the HolocaustIn the final months of the war, guards moved camp inmates by train or on forced marches, often called “death marches” in an attempt to prevent the American Allies freeing large members of prisoners. As

Allied forces moved across Europe, they began to liberate concentration camp prisoners, as well as prisoners in route by forced march from one camp to another. Between 1948-1951, almost 700,000

Jews moved to Israel which was declared a homeland for the Jews by the United Nations. Other Jews moved to the United States and other nations. The crimes committed during the Holocaust devastated

most European Jewish communities and eliminated hundreds of Jewish communities in occupied eastern Europe entirely.

The Manhattan Project

At the start of World War II in 1939 the atomic bomb had not yet been invented. However, scientists discovered about that time that a powerful explosion might be possible by splitting an atom. This type of bomb could destroy large cities in a single blast and would change warfare forever.

Albert Einstein came up with many of the theories that helped scientists in making the atomic bomb. When he realized that such a bomb could be made, he was frightened about what might happen if Hitler and Germany learned how to make the bomb first. Albert Einstein, who fled Nazi persecution, and scientist Enrico Fermi, who escaped Fascist Italy, were now living in the United States and informed U.S government officials including the current president, Franklin D. Roosevelt, about the danger. In late 1941, the American effort to design and build an atomic bomb received its code name — the MANHATTAN PROJECT.

The Manhattan Project started small, but as the bomb became more real, the United States added scientists and funding to be sure they were the first to have the bomb. Ironically, many of the scientists involved in making the bomb had defected from Germany. Three years after the Manhattan Project started the bomb was done. By the time the first atomic bomb had been made, Germany had already surrendered, and World War II in Europe was over. Japan was defeated as well but would not surrender. The US was considering an invasion of Japan. Army leaders figured that anywhere from 500,000 to 1 million US and Allied soldiers would die in an invasion. President Truman decided to drop the atomic bomb instead.

The mushroom cloud above Nagasaki, Japan from the atomic

bomb. Fat Man and Little Boy- Atomic bombs dropped on Nagasaki and Hiroshima.