Propaganda of the Third Reich and Criminal Justice Theories

1. Propaganda of the Third Reich and Criminal Justice Theories Timothy S. Schwarz CRJ 505 April 12, 2004

2. Social Learning Theory • Learning theory can be traced back to the late 1800s. • Crime is a product of learning the values and aggressive behaviors linked with criminality. • The behavior theory most relevant to criminology. • Attention, retention, reproduction, reinforcement.

3. Gabriel Tarde: Three laws of social learning include contact, imitation of superiors, insertion. Edwin Sutherland: culture conflict idea; struggle between different factions Robert Burgess: Differential association. Ronald Akers: Differential Association- Reinforcement Theory of Criminal Behavior. Stephen Pfohl: Images of Deviance and Social Control. Noted theorists of Social Learning Theory

4. Social Control Theory • Macro social perspectives Versus microsocial perspectives: formal (laws, law enforcement, powerful groups) Versus informal (explanation of conformity) • Delinquency is the result of a weak or broken bond to society. • Focuses on social bonds and institutions rather than an individual’s personality.

5. Travis Hirschi: Social Bond Theory. Gresham Sykes and David Matsa: Drift Theory. Walter Reckless: Containment Theory. Hirschi’s Four elements of the bond: attachment, commitment, involvement, belief. E. A. Ross: belief systems guide what individuals do and this serves to control behavior. Noted Theorists of Social Control Theory

6. Propaganda • “Propaganda is the deliberate attempt by some individual or a group to form, control, or alter the attitudes of other groups by the use of instruments of communication, with the intention that in any given situation the reaction of those so influenced will be that desired by the propagandist.” --Qualter (1962) • Propaganda operates through the transmission of ideas and values, through rewards and punishments.

7. Adolph Hitler’s Propaganda Machine • Hitler wanted to establish control over the public’s (and the world’s) perception of reality (He thought for 1000 years). • Hitler and his henchmen were masters of the art of propaganda and persuasion. • Hitler’s notion: “For propaganda to be successful, it had to present a simple message to a mass audience.”

8. A mass audience responding to the pageantry of the Nazi Party Congress. • The major spectacle of the devotion the crowd maintains. • Elements of Third Reich images: Nazi flags, swastika arm bands, etc. • “Heil Hitler” salute • Demonic devotion

9. Advertisement for Mein Kampf • “…nature’s basic is one of struggle in which conflict is a means to greatness.” • Antisemitic tendencies. • Racial purity. • Early subtlety before the conquest of the masses.

10. Nazi Propaganda Continued • First organized attempt at Nazi propaganda was in 1926, a response to Hitler's not being allowed to speak in public. • A poster of Hitler with plaster across his mouth. • “…all effective propaganda must be limited to a very few points and must harp on these slogans until the last member of the public understands.” • RMVP: the Ministry of Propaganda. • Hitler eventually removed control of news and information from its previous governing bodies and gave the RMVP complete responsibility.

11. Hitler Postcard • Hitler as an Idol commodity. • Glowing rays of the sun signify a Germany that is new and great. • Hitler as a God, being held up by the military officers at his side.

12. Hitler as a God-like figure • Hitler prevails in the background and minds of any German. • Taken from a Hitler Youth publication; it reads, “Youth Serves the Fuhrer.” • Representation of typical German youth, looking toward the unknown.

13. The Minister of Propaganda, Joseph Goebbels • Goebbels was one of the most educated leaders in the Nazi Party. • He kept copious notes and journals. • He modeled himself after Hitler. • Hand gesture • Nazi regalia • Speech dealt with the Aryanization of German books.

14. Goebbels Addressing Workers in Hamburg, 1941 • Goebbels was upset at propaganda photographs such as this one because it ignored his audience. • Definition of propaganda relies on the relationship between audience and speaker.

15. The Agencies of Propaganda • Department I: Legislation and Legal Problems; Budget, finance, and Accounting • Department II: Coordination of Popular Enlightenment and Propaganda; National Emblems; Racial Questions; treaty of Versailles; Youth Organizations; Public Health and sport; National Travel Committee, among others. • Department III: Radio; National Broadcasting. • Department IV: National and Foreign Press,; Journalism; News Services • Department V: Film; Film Picture Industry; Film Censorship; Newsreels. • Department VI: Theater. • Department VII: Music; Fine Arts; People’s Culture.

16. Children Viewing Propaganda • Goebbels controlled the press. • This photo shows the inquisitiveness youths that the Germans hoped for all children. • Posters were typical of the wartime propaganda effort.

17. German Stamps of Hitler’s Profile • Hitler’s connection to Germany reinforced throughout the country. • A much more stately connotation. • Conveys the pervading sense the Propaganda leaders created.

18. William “Lord Haw-Haw” Joyce • Goebbels launched a national radio called “The People’s Set,” which allowed him to control the programs to which every household listened. • Radio swayed German public opinion. • Joyce was a British fascist who broadcast a renowned Nazi propaganda broadcast, Germany Calling.” • Photo shows his smug attitude and cynical nature. He was antisemitic. • Goebbels said of him, “The man is a pearl.”

19. Nazi Propaganda Films • The Eternal Forest, I Accuse, The Eternal Jew, and Friesians in Peril are all examples. • Triumph of the Will by Leni Reifenstahl is arguably the best propaganda film ever created. • It was a transfiguration of reality that purported to assume the character of an authentic documentary. • Reifenstahl shot Hitler from low angles, portraying him as a savior-figure.

20. Leni Reifenstahl During Filming • Reifenstahl surrounded by the regality of the Nazi Party. • Calls attention to her use of over thirty cameras and endless camera movements: circling, panning, traveling, tilting. • Hitler held nothing back in giving Reifenstahl complete creative control.

21. Nazi Propaganda Filmstrip Slide • Represented the focus of Nazi propaganda that suggested Jews as the utter detritus of all human beings. • Compared the Jews to “racial bastards,” the then-prevailing mindset of the German public.

22. The Nazi Press • Goebbels wanted to have a press that cooperated with the government just as the government cooperated with the press. • Germany’s leaders realized that those who control the language of a nation have supreme power over it. • Der Angriff (The Attack): “Germany awake; Judaism be damned.” • Der Sturmer (The Storm): specialized in denunciations of alleged Jewish moral and sexual practices.

23. German Propaganda in France • The propaganda wanted to awaken France to the fact that the Jew was a global threat to existence. • These two posters depict the Jewish figures as grotesque creatures trying to seize control of the world. • 100,000 Parisians attended this exhibition’s fist two days.

24. Roma Sinti (Gypsies) • Roma Sinti also did not fit into the racial hygienic practices of the Nazi system. • This article is titled, “Vagabonds: New Ways of Combating the Gypsies.” • Shows the Roma Sinti as a handicap to society, typical of the notions that German “advances” in science brought about.

25. German Racial Hygienics • Concept of Eugenics already discussed: T4. • A caliper scientifically measures body parts. • Germans doctors measured the proto-typical Aryan Versus others, supporting removal from society.

26. German Mentally Ill and Physically Handicapped • The still shows how Germans expressed their unworthiness in society. • 70,000 gassed and several hundred thousand sterilized. • I Accuse used harrowing lighting techniques and low camera angles to depict the mentally ill as demonic and frightful menaces to society.

27. “Fight for Us” Poster • Before the start of WWII, the Nazis were concerned with three areas of public opinion: uniting the people of Germany, stamping out racial impurity, and perpetuating the Hitler myth. • The photo shows the propaganda associated with extracting from society an allegiance to national concerns.

28. Children’s Book Propaganda • The title, You Can’t Trust a Fox in a Heath and a Jew on His Oath. • This page illuminates the general feeling of Nazi hatred toward the Jews.

29. Hitler Speech • “Today I will once more be a prophet!” • Hitler here hints at the annihilation of the Jewish “race” throughout Europe.

30. War Ration Card • War propaganda effort was a critical failure for Germany. • Goebbels realized that war would lessen his power and leadership abilities.

31. One of Hitler’s Final Public Speeches, 1942 • Hitler spent less time in the public limelight as the war progressed. • The photo is representative of Hitler’s idea that one big battle victory or chance would allow him to achieve ultimate victory.