Just curious...what role did the press play in Nazi Germany ?

[kentuck]

Because I am certain that no democracy can survive without a strong and free press. They cannot be allied with the Nazi Party or any other Party without dire consequences. But once it is discovered that the press is not and has not done its job as the watchdodg of our liberty, then it is too late.

We are fooling ourselves if we think we can create a substitute "media" to compete with the present corporate media that we find so biased and uninterested and incompetent. We must have access to the present propaganda apparatus as it is - we cannot surrender it to a political Party of any stripe - because there is not room nor time o build a competing media structure.

[Ripley]

1. Having spoken to a wide variety of people over the

holidays...I have a little hope. It appears from my informal survey of relatives, friends, in-laws and acquaintences from coast-to-coast, that the vast majority of people know television news is bullshit infotainment aimed at selling products and increasing their bottom line. Most people understand that the sensationalism is a distraction from really informing people what is going on in the country or world today. The good news is that a lot of people have tuned out and read more and use the internet for information. The bad news is that some people are tuning out of everything political because it's too complicated, frustrating and mean.

However, those who have turned away from cable news and actually read a variety of news sources on the net and in print have turned against Bush 100%!! I can't count the number of people me and my husband know (and he works with conservative engineers) who have said "I voted for him last time, but I won't make that mistake again."

:bounce:

[Marian]

2. No free press: take a look at these 3 and weep:

http://www.calvin.edu/academic/cas/gpa/ww2era.htm

http://motlc.wiesenthal.com/resources/books/annual2/chap05.html

http://www.overlookpress.com/history/thisberlin.shtml

[kentuck]

5. Thanks Marian...

I will read them more closely later.

[Kellanved]

3. had little chance

The 3400 newspapers existing prior to the Nazi's reign were put under Nazi control in the first few months of Hitler's governance .


It went really fast:
-January 33; Hitler appointed chancellor
-March 33; Liberal and Communist press is forbidden
-June/July 33; one-party-state
-October 33; "Gleichschaltung", all media under direct Nazi control;

[jpgray]

4. Right, there were plenty of alternative viewpoint 'papes prior (nt)

[Faygo Kid]

6. Read "Explaining Hitler" - great chapter on press courage

Needless to say, those who stood up to Hitler were killed or disappeared. "Explaining Hitler" by Ron Rosenbaum is compelling, intelligent reading. Check it out. Bush has no worries here; the press gives him a pass.

[diamond14]

7. A major tool of the Nazis' propaganda assault was (link)

-snips-

Propaganda: “The Jews Are Our Misfortune”

A major tool of the Nazis' propaganda assault was the weekly Nazi newspaper Der Stürmer (The Attacker). At the bottom of the front page of each issue, in bold letters, the paper proclaimed, "The Jews are our misfortune!" Der Stürmer also regularly featured cartoons of Jews in which they were caricatured as hooked-nosed and ape­like. The influence of the newspaper was far-reaching: by 1938 about a half million copies were distributed weekly.

Soon after he became chancellor, Hitler called for new elections in an effort to get full control of the Reichstag, the German parliament, for the Nazis. The Nazis used the government apparatus to terrorize the other parties. They arrested their leaders and banned their political meetings. Then, in the midst of the election campaign, on February 27, 1933, the Reichstag building burned. A Dutchman named Marinus van der Lubbe was arrested for the crime, and he swore he had acted alone. Although many suspected the Nazis were ultimately responsible for the act, the Nazis managed to blame the Communists, thus turning more votes their way.


The Nazis moved swiftly to consolidate their power into a dictatorship. On March 23, the Enabling Act was passed. It sanctioned Hitler’s dictatorial efforts and legally enabled him to pursue them further. The Nazis marshaled their formidable propaganda machine to silence their critics. They also developed a sophisticated police and military force.

The Sturmabteilung (S.A., Storm Troopers), a grassroots organization, helped Hitler undermine the German democracy. The Gestapo (Geheime Staatspolizei, Secret State Police), a force recruited from professional police officers, was given complete freedom to arrest anyone after February 28. The Schutzstaffel (SS, Protection Squad) served as Hitler’s personal bodyguard and eventually controlled the concentration camps and the Gestapo. The Sicherheitsdienst des Reichsführers­SS (S.D., Security Service of the SS) functioned as the Nazis' intelligence service, uncovering enemies and keeping them under surveillance.


By the end of 1934 Hitler was in absolute control of Germany, and his campaign against the Jews in full swing. The Nazis claimed the Jews corrupted pure German culture with their "foreign" and "mongrel" influence. They portrayed the Jews as evil and cowardly, and Germans as hardworking, courageous, and honest. The Jews, the Nazis claimed, who were heavily represented in finance, commerce, the press, literature, theater, and the arts, had weakened Germany's economy and culture. The massive government-supported propaganda machine created a racial anti-Semitism, which was different from the long­standing anti-Semitic tradition of the Christian churches.

http://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jsource/Holocaust/history.html







Joseph Goebbels, during book burning, May 10, 1933

Goebbels joined the Nazi party in 1924 and became the party's chief of propaganda in 1930. He was responsible for garnering support for the Nazis among the general population. After Hitler's rise to power in 1933, Goebbels became the minister of propaganda and public information. He controlled the media and oversaw the “Nazification” of public discourse and written materials. He supervised the publication of Der Stürmer and conducted the propaganda campaign against the Jews. He was responsible for the book burning of May 10, 1933. On the day following Hitler's death, Goebbels and his wife committed suicide in Hitler's bunker, after first ordering the murder of their six children, all under the age of thirteen.

[Lostnote03]

8. Hmmmm???

....If I recall correctly among the political operatives as well as military officials within the Nazi cult of personality that were hung after the war, a Newspaper owner was executed as well.....