One of the first things that we learn about Adolf Hitler is his notorious charisma. Often times, Adolf Hitler's allure is over emphasized to the point of absurdity, but there can be no doubt that he carefully crafted his public image during the rise of Nazi Germany.
Domestic Image
Because of the extreme amount of propaganda put out by the Nazis, it is near impossible to decipher if what is said Hitler actually did, or if it was just for publicity.
Prior to becoming the Fuhrer, it is said that Adolf Hitler attempted to draw a following by running soup kitchens and hosted school dances with polka music (and pro-Nazi speeches halfway through). The youth program, Hitler’s Youth, only further served to strengthen Hitler’s public image as a leader who cared about your children.
Hitler helped provide funding for a new car company, Volkswagen. Part of Hitler’s ideology was to create an environment where the ideal German (white, blonde and blue eyed) was happy. Because of this, he wanted to have cheaper cars available to the masses, allowing for more freedom of travel. However, this seemingly harmless endeavor was also largely rooted in his plans for lebensraum (living space for the Germans).
During World War II, a booklet from 1941 creates a complementary narrative to German occupation of Poland, describing of how the Nazis had “built clean hospitals, set up soup kitchens for Jews, and provided them with newspapers and vocational training”.
International Image
In preparation for the 1936 Olympics, Hitler took measures to hide the worst of his regime. In 1935, Hitler attempted to tame einzelaktionen (personal action against the Jews) in Germany; signs reading “Jews Unwelcome” were taken down from public places. Just prior to these actions, the Nuremberg Laws had been passed for the opposite effect — to expand the definition of being Jewish from a religion to a race, and increasing discrimination. However, Hitler wished to avoid international criticism, and so attempted to temporarily curtail this newly passed legislation.
SOURCES
http://www.bbc.com/news/magazine-20237437
https://www.ushmm.org/wlc/en/article.php?ModuleId=10007822
https://www.ushmm.org/outreach/en/article.php?ModuleId=10007695#
Notes
One of the first things that we learn about Adolf Hitler is his notorious charisma. Often times, Adolf Hitler's allure is over emphasized to the point of absurdity, but there can be no doubt that he carefully crafted his public image during the rise of Nazi Germany.
Domestic Image
Because of the extreme amount of propaganda put out by the Nazis, it is near impossible to decipher if what is said Hitler actually did, or if it was just for publicity.
Prior to becoming the Fuhrer, it is said that Adolf Hitler attempted to draw a following by running soup kitchens and hosted school dances with polka music (and pro-Nazi speeches halfway through). The youth program, Hitler’s Youth, only further served to strengthen Hitler’s public image as a leader who cared about your children.
Hitler helped provide funding for a new car company, Volkswagen. Part of Hitler’s ideology was to create an environment where the ideal German (white, blonde and blue eyed) was happy. Because of this, he wanted to have cheaper cars available to the masses, allowing for more freedom of travel. However, this seemingly harmless endeavor was also largely rooted in his plans for lebensraum (living space for the Germans).
During World War II, a booklet from 1941 creates a complementary narrative to German occupation of Poland, describing of how the Nazis had “built clean hospitals, set up soup kitchens for Jews, and provided them with newspapers and vocational training”.
International Image
In preparation for the 1936 Olympics, Hitler took measures to hide the worst of his regime. In 1935, Hitler attempted to tame einzelaktionen (personal action against the Jews) in Germany; signs reading “Jews Unwelcome” were taken down from public places. Just prior to these actions, the Nuremberg Laws had been passed for the opposite effect — to expand the definition of being Jewish from a religion to a race, and increasing discrimination. However, Hitler wished to avoid international criticism, and so attempted to temporarily curtail this newly passed legislation.
SOURCES
http://www.bbc.com/news/magazine-20237437
https://www.ushmm.org/wlc/en/article.php?ModuleId=10007822
https://www.ushmm.org/outreach/en/article.php?ModuleId=10007695#
Notes
Cool post Karenna! Your article offered a completely different perspective as to how other groups viewed Hitler, because his image is constantly portrayed in a negative light in hindsight today. It's interesting to see how he tried to cover this image up in the international scheme, while upholding the idea that he was doing good for the Germany with the Nazis. A question I had from this was: Is it still possible for leaders to put up images in our modern world with technology and transparent media?
ReplyDeleteThis is a very interesting post! Sometimes it's hard to understand why anyone ever let Hitler come to power, but you're absolutely right. Even though Hitler was an evil person, he was really very charismatic and persuasive. I think we see this often today. Maybe not to the same extreme, but a lot of famous figures get away with terrible things because of their charm and popularity. Even though Hitler was a horrible man, he certainly knew how to win over a crowd.
ReplyDeleteWith all of the negative talk about Hilter in school, I completely forgot that he is also human. Because all he wanted was to be able to free the Germans of the Jews, but his methods were cruel and unjust. Comparing him to past ways that we have discriminate others, it would seem like Hitler is more honesty about it than any other leaders out there.
ReplyDelete