Focus on Goebbels

• He was head of the Ministry for People’s Enlightenment and Propaganda

• He organised Nazi propaganda and his ministry controlled the mass media

• He controlled the radio, the press and all areas of culture, such as films, literature, art and the theatre

• His role was two-fold: to get the Nazi message across to the people of Germany; and to ensure that views hostile to Nazism were suppressed

• He was forward thinking

• To ensure the Nazi message was heard he made cheap radios available

• He also saw the potential for propaganda of the cinema

• He oversaw the organisation of the Olympic Games

• He organised mass rallies too

• Posters and photographs of Hitler were everywhere

• He was also reactionary

• He censored newspapers and other publications and closed many down

• He organised public book burnings of books with messages alien to Nazi views