Гуманитарные и юридические исследования (Sep 2021)
NAZI AGITATION AND PROPAGANDA IN THE WEIMAR REPUBLIC
Abstract
The article analyzes the main methods and principles of the organization of Nazi agitation and propaganda during the Weimar Republic. The relevance of this problem is preconditioned by modern socio-political processes associated with the ideological brainwashing of the electorate during the election campaign to obtain its support in the elections. In the years preceding the coming to power, the Hitler party was actively engaged in issues of national agitation and propaganda. In their oral, printed and practical activities the Nazis sought to influence the consciousness and mood of the broadest sections of the German population and used a specific and diverse set of tools for that purpose. In the struggle for influence on the masses they used social and national demagogy, provocations and the latest technology of their time. The author notes that Nazi propaganda was quite inventive and opportunistic. The Nazis skillfully used the plots of German history, which found a deep response in the hearts of Germans, who hungered for commonness with their national heritage and historical past. They constantly appealed to faith - the only substance that gives meaning to human life and supports a person in difficult circumstances. Propagandists methods included vicious satire, concentration on a particular issue chosen as the paramount one in a given socio-political situation, reasoned accusations against an incompetent government, the search for and condemnation of the "enemies" of the nation. Nazi ideologists and orators, who were perfectly fluent in their voices, cleverly used multiple repetitions of phrases, persistent appeals to idealism and heroism. Propaganda was considered as the art of pragmatics, as the main means to achieve a political goal. However its practical role and subsequent influence on the masses were never overestimated. The author shows that with the active use of mass media the Nazis managed to create a broad social base of their movement.
