Transcript Genocides Presentation

HOW PROPAGANDA IN THE HITLER YOUTH
FACILITATED GENOCIDE
Kristen Johnson
OVERVIEW
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Propaganda
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Genocide
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Video
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Ideology
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Hitler Youth
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Education
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Distorted views
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Conclusion
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Works Cited
PROPAGANDA
Information, especially of a biased or
misleading nature, used to promote or publicize
a particular cause or point of view
SEVEN GUIDELINES
1. “Propaganda is a means to an end, not an end in itself ”
2. “It must function to grasp the attention of the masses and not that of the intelligentsia”
3. “It should be directed toward the emotions rather than the so called intellect”
4. “The power of the spoken word in the environment of mass assemblies”
5. “Propaganda should be subjective and one-sided rather than objective and many-sided”
6. How to make propaganda effective: “Propaganda must be limited to a very few points and
must harp on these slogans until the last member of the public understands what you
want him to understand by your slogan”
7. “Propaganda must be psychologically sound…(and) make the enemy ridiculous”
-Adolf Hitler (Rhodes 172)
GENOCIDE
Article II of the Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide:
committing with intent to destroy, in whole or in part, a national, ethnical, racial or religious
group, the following acts:
• Killing members of the group;
• Causing serious bodily or mental harm to members of the group;
• Deliberately conflicting on the group conditions of life calculated to bring about its
physical destruction in whole or in part;
• Imposing measures intended to prevent births within the group;
• Forcibly transferring children of the group to another group
“If you can capture the minds of young children and persuade them to become dedicated to your
cause, your theory of the truth and your theory of what is right and wrong, then you can hold the whole
country captive and you have complete control” -Adolf Hitler (Behrendt 1)
Adolf Hitler believed the youth were the future of Nazi Germany. He owned the youth by using
philosophical indoctrination. Children ages ten to 18 were forced to attend meetings where they
were taught to worship Hitler as an ideal figure and propagandized into believing Germans were
the superior race. His goal was to create less intellectual, more physically fit children.
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http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3C9iUaP51CI
HITLER YOUTH
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Paramilitary organization of the Nazi
Party meant for “brainwashing”
children starting at a young age
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Prepared boys for the military and
girls for motherhood
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Became Mandatory in 1939
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Baldur von Shirach
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10-12 German Young People
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13-17 Hitler Youth
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18+ forced to join the military and
begin fighting
EDUCATION
Because Hitler wanted an unintellectual youth, education fell secondary to the Hitler Youth.
Over time education was lessened, and eventually prohibited, before being replaced with
military training for men and preparation for motherhood for women.
How Nazis corrupted the educational system:
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Late night meetings
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Ceremonial book burnings
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Textbooks were replaced
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Hitler picture in every classroom
DISTORTED VIEWS
With the use of propaganda, Hitler effectively distorted views to the German population. He
was able to manipulate the strong emotions of the German people following World War II,
which allowed him to rise to and maintain power. The Jews, Hitler and Germany were the
three biggest psychological distortions Hitler propagandized to the public.
CONCLUSION
The Holocaust was made possible largely in part of the Hitler Youth. The use of propaganda to
the youth did facilitate a genocide. After eight years of psychological distortion, members of
the Hitler Youth proved their loyalty by participating in the extermination of Jews. The
distortion effectively allowed them to degrade, torture and kill six million Jews.
WORKS CITED
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The United States Holocaust Memorial Museum
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Behrendt, Edward. Hitler Youth: Personal Accounts: Austrian Boy. Internet. Available
@: wysiwyg://zoffsitebottom.6/http://…s.com/SoHo/Museum/6425/Hitler.htm.
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Hitler, Adolf. Mein Kampf. Houghton Mifflin Company. Boston, 1971.
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Zeman, Z.A.B. Nazi Propaganda. Oxford University Press. London, 1964.
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Rhodes, James M. The Hitler Movement: A modern Millenarian Revolution. Hoover
Institution Press. Stanford, 1980.
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Norman H. Baynes, ed. The Speeches of Adolf Hitler, April 1922-August 1939, Vol. 1 of 2,
pp. 19-20, Oxford University Press, 1942