JOSEPH
GOEBBELS

1897 -1945

German Nazi Party member Joseph Goebbels
became Adolf Hitler's propaganda minister in 1933, which gave him power over
all German radio, press, cinema, and theater.

In 1925 Goebbels met the party leader Adolf
Hitler. In 1926 he was made Gauleiter, or party leader, for the region
of Berlin, and in 1927 he founded and became editor of the official National
Socialist periodical Der Angriff (The Attack). He was elected to the
Reichstag, the German parliament, in 1928. By exploiting mob emotions and by
employing all modern methods of propaganda Goebbels helped Hitler into
power.

His work as a propagandist materially aided
Hitler's rise to power in 1933. When Hitler seized power in 1933, Goebbels was
appointed Reichsminister for propaganda and national enlightenment. From then
until his death, Goebbels used all media of education and communications to
further Nazi propagandistic aims, instilling in the Germans the concept of
their leader as a veritable god and of their destiny as the rulers of the
world. In 1938 he became a member of the Hitler cabinet council. Late in World
War II, in 1944, Hitler placed him in charge of total mobilization.

As Reichsminister for Propaganda and National
Enlightenment, Goebbels was given complete control over radio, press, cinema,
and theater; later he also regimented all German culture. Goebbels placed his
undeniable intelligence and his brilliant insight into mass psychology
entirely at the service of his party. His most virulent propaganda was against
the Jews. As a hypnotic orator he was second only to Hitler, and in his
staging of mass meetings and parades he was unsurpassed. Utterly cynical, he
seems to have believed only in the self-justification of power. He remained
loyal to Hitler until the end. On May 1, 1945, as Soviet troops were storming
Berlin, Goebbels committed suicide.

Listed below are
the principles purported to summarize what made Goebbels tick or
fail to tick. They may be thought of as his intellectual legacy. Whether the
legacy has been reliably deduced is a methodological question. Whether it is
valid is a psychological matter. Whether or when parts of it should be
utilized in a democratic society are profound and disturbing problems of a
political and ethical nature.

GOEBBELS' PRINCIPLES OF
PROPAGANDA

Based upon Goebbels'
Principles of Propaganda by Leonard W. Doob, published in
Public Opinion and Propaganda; A Book of Readings edited for The
Society for the Psychological Study of Social
Issues.

1. Propagandist must have access to
intelligence concerning events and public opinion.

2. Propaganda must be planned and executed by only one authority.

a. It must issue all the propaganda directives.

b. It must explain propaganda directives to important officials and
maintain their morale.

c. It must oversee other agencies' activities which have propaganda
consequences

3. The propaganda consequences of an action must be considered in planning
that action.

4. Propaganda must affect the enemy's policy and action.

a. By suppressing propagandistically desirable material which can provide
the enemy with useful intelligence

b. By openly disseminating propaganda whose content or tone causes the
enemy to draw the desired conclusions

c. By goading the enemy into revealing vital information about
himself

d. By making no reference to a desired enemy activity when any reference
would discredit that activity

5. Declassified, operational information must be available to implement a
propaganda campaign

6. To be perceived, propaganda must evoke the interest of an audience and
must be transmitted through an attention-getting communications medium.

7. Credibility alone must determine whether propaganda output should be
true or false.

8. The purpose, content and effectiveness of enemy propaganda; the
strength and effects of an expose; and the nature of current propaganda
campaigns determine whether enemy propaganda should be ignored or refuted.

9. Credibility, intelligence, and the possible effects of communicating
determine whether propaganda materials should be censored.

10. Material from enemy propaganda may be utilized in operations when it
helps diminish that enemy's prestige or lends support to the propagandist's
own objective.

11. Black rather than white propaganda may be employed when the latter is
less credible or produces undesirable effects.

12. Propaganda may be facilitated by leaders with prestige.

13. Propaganda must be carefully timed.

a. The communication must reach the audience ahead of competing
propaganda.

b. A propaganda campaign must begin at the optimum moment

c. A propaganda theme must be repeated, but not beyond some point of
diminishing effectiveness

14. Propaganda must label events and people with distinctive phrases or
slogans.

a. They must evoke desired responses which the audience previously
possesses

b. They must be capable of being easily learned

c. They must be utilized again and again, but only in appropriate
situations

d. They must be boomerang-proof

15. Propaganda to the home front must prevent the raising of false hopes
which can be blasted by future events.

16. Propaganda to the home front must create an optimum anxiety level.

a. Propaganda must reinforce anxiety concerning the consequences of
defeat

b. Propaganda must diminish anxiety (other than concerning the
consequences of defeat) which is too high and which cannot be reduced by
people themselves

17. Propaganda to the home front must diminish the impact of frustration.

a. Inevitable frustrations must be anticipated

b. Inevitable frustrations must be placed in perspective

18. Propaganda must facilitate the displacement of aggression by
specifying the targets for hatred.

19. Propaganda cannot immediately affect strong counter-tendencies;
instead it must offer some form of action or diversion, or both.