Some thoughts on what Goebbels has to say...

After spending some time with the Appendix in Rentschler's book, I came across this interesting quote (pg 251) that Goebbels stated on February 8, 1940: "I keep impressing my people with one basic truth: repeat everything until the last, most stupid person has understood." I was struck by this quote because of how simplistic and provocative it is as it seems to sum up, quite well, what we have learned about the way Nazis used their ideological rhetoric, particularly through film. From the very earliest days of the Nazi party through the end of the war, the Nazis continually repeated the same overarching ideological ideas in speeches and through propoganda (like film). Although Goebbels and his people may not have been able to get "the last, most stupid person" to understand, they were able to get most people to understand, and that is pretty scary when one takes the time to think about it. In another quote, taken from his diary from March 1, 1942, Goebbels states that "Even entertainment can be politically of special value, because the moment a person is conscious of propaganda, propaganda becomes ineffective. However, when propaganda as a tendency, as a characteristic, as an attitude remains in the background and becomes apparent through human beings, then propaganda becomes effective in every respect" (259). This quote, then, sums up how it was they were able to get so many to buy the propaganda that was repeated, as it was always so subtle, working behind the scenes, particularly in entertainment like the movies we have watched and discussed. In ending, I would like to mention that I believe what drew me to these quotes is in that they point in the direction as to how/why Germany allowed the Nazis to take over. Although there were countless reasons for the rise of the Nazis, as we read in the Benz book, a question that is asked by many is how/why did the German people allow this (this = everything from 1933-1945) to happen? In the Divinity school, there is much talk at times about the indifferance and complacency of the Germany people, discussing those few Germans (like Bonhoeffer) who resisted the Nazis. Yet, I can not help but wonder...given the meticulous time and energy that Goebbels and the Nazis put into propaganda, making it so subtle and repeating it in so many different ways, is it really any surprise that the overwhelming majority of the German people accepted Nazi rule and power? If nothing else, this class and all that we have studied has given me a lot to think about...