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Kaleb Sherman English 101-130 Mr. Neuberger 16 April 2012 Propaganda and the Holocaust Merriam Webster defines propaganda as ideas, facts, or allegations spread deliberately to further ones cause or to damage an opposing cause. There have been many different uses for such a thing in the history of our world. The Nazi propaganda campaign headed by Adolf Hitler and Joseph Goebbels lead to the horrific events in the Holocaust, and led masses of people to believe that it was good for the sake of their people for these things to happen. The essence of propaganda consists in winning people over to an idea so sincerely, so vitally that in the end they succumb to it utterly and can never escape from it. (Goebbels) The understanding of the root of the Nazi Campaign really grew from the mind of Adolf Hitler, a former corporal for the German army during World War I. After the war he felt personally embarrassed and having nowhere to go he began to wonder Germany as an artist. He failed miserably at this and was eventually found and put in prison for his abandonment. This however, ended up being a huge turning point for his personal life, and career.
Mein Kampf written bv Adolf Hitler . source; http://bit.ly/cTF8Tk

While in prison Hitler wrote Mein Kampf, an extremely Anti-Semitic book based on propaganda and ideological theories. The book stormed through the world selling millions of

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copies and being printed in several different languages. This really sparked his campaign, and after being released from prison in 1924 he pushed his campaign with the many followers he had obtained from his writings and prominent speaking abilities. After many struggles with the German government and armed forces, in 1933 he had finally obtained control of the masses. His first order of business was to start his main propaganda campaign headed up by Joseph Goebbels, one of, if not his most trusted associate. Together they took over all aspects of German communication from the books available to the public, down to the toys the children were allowed to play with. Book burnings were common, taking away any chance for the population to become educated in any way that was not authorized by the Nazi Party. The minds of the children at that time were twisted even before they could walk, but they were officially introduced to the Nazi ranks at the age of ten. Hitler stated These boys and girls enter our ranks at ten years of age, and often for the first time get a breath of fresh air; after four
Young German boy during the Holocaust. Source; http://bit.ly/HFarPa

years of Young Folk they go on to Hitler Youth, where we have them another four years And even they are still not complete National Socialists, they go to labor service and are smoothed out for another six, seven months And whatever class consciousness or social status might still be leftthe Wehrmacht [German Armed Forces] will take care of that. (Adolf Hitler qtd. In Indoctrinating Youth ) The German kids born in this time, came into the world as a mold. Like soda bottles being made in a factory, these children came in empty, and knowing nothing else it was relatively easy for Hitler to build his ranks.