Leiden University Student Repository

Klein Ikkink, Vincent (2022)

Nazi propaganda and its’ impact on public support for the Nazi regime: An assessment of the impact of Nazi propaganda on public opinion in Nazi Germany 1932-1945

Bachelor thesis | International Studies (BA)

From 1871 until 1945, a period of less than a century, Germany underwent incredible developments as a nation-state. While Germany was only a bundle of separate and divided states in 1848, it managed to turn itself into a unified country by 1933. Furthermore, during an even shorter timeframe (1933-1942), the Nazis physically succeeded at turning an economically and politically broken country into a continental superpower. It is also important to mention that Germany in 1914-1918 lost over 2 million soldiers and 400,000 civilians during the First World War.1 In this light, it is difficult to understand how the Nazi government mentally prepared its’ population for the idea of waging another World War. Given this contradictory and volatile context, it is historically relevant to re-examine the relationship between Nazi propaganda and public opinion. Therefore, this research attempts to explain how Nazi propaganda reinterpreted realities in a way that created an inescapable context of...Show moreFrom 1871 until 1945, a period of less than a century, Germany underwent incredible developments as a nation-state. While Germany was only a bundle of separate and divided states in 1848, it managed to turn itself into a unified country by 1933. Furthermore, during an even shorter timeframe (1933-1942), the Nazis physically succeeded at turning an economically and politically broken country into a continental superpower. It is also important to mention that Germany in 1914-1918 lost over 2 million soldiers and 400,000 civilians during the First World War.1 In this light, it is difficult to understand how the Nazi government mentally prepared its’ population for the idea of waging another World War. Given this contradictory and volatile context, it is historically relevant to re-examine the relationship between Nazi propaganda and public opinion. Therefore, this research attempts to explain how Nazi propaganda reinterpreted realities in a way that created an inescapable context of propaganda for a majority of the German population.Show less

Nazi Germany

Nazi propaganda

Adolf Hitler

Joseph Goebbels

public opinion

authoritarian regime

World War Two

anti-Semitism

Holocaust

German nationalism

Author

Klein Ikkink, Vincent

Faculty

Faculty of Humanities

Specialisation

Europe

Supervisors

Milevski, L.

ECTS Credits

15

Language

en