In modern times, we look back at the Nazi’s
Third Reich and wonder how on earth anyone could have followed Adolf Hitler when he was
so clearly an evil dictator. This was all thanks to Joseph Goebbels, the
Minister of Propaganda. He knew exactly how to manipulate the minds
of a nation with fake news, Nazi-idealized books, and propaganda films. Goebbels was single-handedly responsible for
brainwashing entire populations, and destroying people who were caught in his web of lies. Today, on Biographics, you’ll learn just
how one man convinced millions of normal German people to become faithful Nazis. Early Life
Paul Joseph Goebbels was born on October 29, 1897 in a small town outside of Düsseldorf. His father, Fritz, worked in a factory, and
his mother stayed at home to take care of him and his four other siblings. His family never had a lot of money, but they
still paid for him to go to a private all-boys Roman Catholic High School. Goebbels was born with a disability where
the bone marrow of his feet never developed properly, and he had a club foot. His parents paid for him to have an operation
to correct the issue, but even when both of his feet were pointing in the right direction,
he still needed to wear a metal brace on his leg for the rest of his life. The operation stunted his growth, and one
leg was permanently shorter than the other, causing him to permanently limp. He also had chronically inflamed lungs, and
got sick often. He grew up to be very angry at the world,
and felt that life was unfair. He decided to focus a lot of his time and
energy into reading books and getting good grades. His disability prevented him from military
service during World War I. He was able to earn an academic scholarship,
and attended the University of Heidelberg. He stayed in school for years, until he earned
a PhD in Philosophy in 1921. At this point, he completely rejected the
teachings of the Catholic Church. He wrote about his personal ideas of how he
thought the world should be, and saw himself as a great philosopher and thinker. Unfortunately for him, though, no one else
agreed. He was very loud and outspoken, and was always
trying to get noticed. Even then, he was anti semitic, and many of
his opinions were so hateful, his articles and books were rejected for publication. He decided to create his own publication for
his opinions, but very few people actually cared to read it. By all accounts, he was a failed writer, and
an incredibly damaged little man. He made a bit of money from being a tutor,
and finally sold a few articles, but other than that, he had little to no money to speak
of. All of this motivated him to join the Nazi
Party in 1924. At that time, Germany was going through a
tremendous financial depression, and the Nazis promised that they would fix the country. With the Nazis, Goebbels finally found a home,
and a group of people who were actually willing to read his work. They thought that he was great at creating
pro-Nazi propaganda, and it was good enough to convince new members to join the party. His work helped get Adolf Hitler elected. When he rose to power, Hitler appointed Goebbels
as the Minister of Propaganda. Since he was unemployed at the time, this
very literally changed his life overnight. Suddenly, his life had meaning, and he truly
looked up to Adolf Hitler as his best friend and savior. Hitler gave Goebbels the task of censoring
any media that may have conflicted with the Nazi ideals. He began to give the order of burning books
that were written by certain authors. Some of the books that Goebbels destroyed
made a lot of sense, like the socialist philosophy of Karl Marx. However, some of choices in banned authors
seem to be a bit random, and there is no logical explanation as to why Goebbels would want
to erase them from history. This has led some people to believe that he
wanted to destroy certain authors out of petty jealousy that they were better writers than
he was. He was beginning to know the taste of control,
and he absolutely loved it. Lights, Camera, Action
Aside from censoring the media, Goebbels set out creating new content to replace it. Joseph Goebbels knew that one of the most
powerful ways to insight emotions in human beings was through the movies. The largest film studio in Berlin is called
the Universum Film-Aktien Gesellschaft, or the UFA for short. They were well-respected throughout the world
for producing beautiful silent films like Metropolis in 1927. One of Goebbels’ first orders of business
was to forcibly take over the studio on behalf of the Nazi government. Goebbels and Hitler were both huge movie buffs,
but they made the decision to censor American films from the public, as well. Adolf Hitler still had all of the new releases
from Hollywood in his personal collection, but no one in the general population was ever
allowed to see them. Joseph Goebbels set out to make sure everyone
working in the German film industry was loyal to Hitler. Any of the actors who refused to shun any
Jewish people from their lives and join the Nazi party were blacklisted from ever working
again. Many of them were even prevented from leaving
the country, and some actors even chose to commit suicide. Actresses throughout Europe who auditioned
for the prestigious UFA studio had no idea that they were walking into a trap, and many
of them signed multi-year contracts before the Nazis came into power. So, while there were some actors who were
Nazis, many of them were forced to participate in these films against their will. Goebbels set out to create German versions
of some of the big blockbuster hits in America. He also created movies where the only goal
was to brainwash people into believing Nazi ideals. Some of them were clearly propaganda, like
one called Hitler Youth Quex, but other films were so cleverly disguised, that they convinced
the German people to change their opinions to suit the needs of the Nazis. For example, the 1941 movie I Accuse was orchestrated
to get the general population to agree with the Aktion T4 Program, which pushed for the
euthanization of disabled and terminally ill people. The plot of I Accuse is about a doctor at
the peak of his career. He get married to a beautiful young woman,
only to find out that she has been diagnosed with MS. Back then, the treatment for MS was nothing
like it is today, and there is no cure for the disease. This means that the wife was dying a very
slow and painful death. She begged for him to give her a lethal injection,
so she could be put out of her misery. He struggled with the decision, but ultimately
assisted in her suicide. Much of the movie takes place in a court of
law where they are trying to decide if this man should be guilty of his wife’s murder,
or if he was doing her a favor by killing her. The film was actually very well written. Even today, anyone who watches the film may
find themselves questioning their own morals, which is why it is considered to be one of
the most dangerous propaganda films ever made. The movie convinced people that assisted suicide
was only going to help their friends and family members who were suffering. So, The Aktion T4 program was passed. Innocent people were taken from their homes
and killed, in the name of a perfect master race. This same kind of brainwashing happened over,
and over again in the movies. Personal and social life
The Nazi party didn’t just change Goebbels’
career. It also helped him get into a relationship. After graduating from his all-boys school,
he was not used to speaking to girls. At 34 years old, he married a fellow Nazi
named Magda in 1931. Hitler was his best man at their wedding. In the public eye, they appeared to have the
perfect German marriage. They had several children together, and they
lived on a huge gated compound in the woods outside of Berlin. However, Joseph Goebbels had a reputation
for objectifying women, and since he was surrounded by beautiful actresses, he completely took
advantage of his position. According to the testimony of a woman named
Anneliese Uhlig, she was given the starring role in one of the movies that was to be made
at the UFA studio. Goebbels asked her if she wanted to go for
a drive to talk about the movie, and he drove her straight to his compound, instead. He offered her a drink, and began to force
himself on her. She started kicking and screaming, and got
free from him. He said that if she did not meet his demands,
he would make sure that she never had a career in the movies. She decided to take her chances, and ran out
the door. But when she showed up to work the next day,
there was an announcement that the film was canceled, and Anneliese Uhlig was blacklisted
from ever working in Germany again. Joseph Goebbels did this to women on a regular
basis, but he actually did fall in love with one woman named Lida Baarova. She was one of the few actresses who truly
was a faithful Nazi, and she even turned down opportunities to work in Hollywood in favor
of moving to Germany. She moved from Prague to Berlin in 1935, and
married an actor named Gustav Frohlich, who divorced his Jewish wife in order to continue
his successful acting career. According to Lida Baarova, she felt pressured
into being in a relationship with Joseph Goebbels, because she had heard all of the stories about
him ruining other actor’s careers. She knew if she said “no”, there was a
huge chance that she and her husband could never work again. But she must have been a good actress, because
he became convinced that they should run away together. Goebbels told his wife, Magda about the affair,
and said he wanted a divorce. Magda went straight to Adolf Hitler, saying
that Lida Baarova was seducing him and trying to tear their marriage apart. Goebbels begged for Hitler’s permission
to get a divorce. He also wanted to move to Japan, and give
up his position of power. He was willing to give up everything to be
with Lida. But even as one of the most powerful Nazis
in the Third Reich, Joseph Goebbels was still a prisoner to Hitler’s power. Hitler refused to let Goebbels quit his job,
because he was far too valuable to the Nazi cause. The two men got into a screaming match that
was witnessed and heard by dozens of people. Hitler urged him to give his relationship
with Magda a second chance. He insisted that they give themselves another
three months of living together to try to repair the relationship. If they could not fix their marriage within
the three months, he could get a divorce. Hitler ordered Lida Baarova her to leave Germany
within 24 hours, giving her a one way ticket to Prague. After this incident Joseph Goebbels was no
longer one of Hitler’s favorite men, his wife hated him, and his lover was gone. He was no longer invited over for dinner to
Hitler’s place, and they barely spoke. The other higher Nazi ups believed that Goebbels
had become weak, and that he was going insane. They questioned his loyalty, and he was no
longer seen as the powerful man he once was. If he wanted to be back in good graces with
Hitler, he would need to do something extreme. Inciting Hate Against the Jews
Goebbels was desperate to regain Hitler’s trust again. So, in 1939, he incited a mob by publishing
a fake story in the newspaper that a German man has been shot by a Jewish man in Paris. He spoke in the streets, claiming that Jews
were trying to destroy society. He lead an angry mob to burn down a synagogue. That same year, he traveled to Poland with
a documentary film crew to show what life was like inside of a Jewish ghetto. The people living in the ghetto had sunken
faces, wore rags, and were generally dirty and sick. We now know that this is because the Nazis
forced them into the inhumane conditions in the first place. However, Goebbels took this as an opportunity
to compare them to animals, saying that they were choosing to live that way. He said that they are less than human, and
that they need to be exterminated. This film was called The Eternal Jew, and
it premiered in 1940. In this movie, he tried to say that Jews were
all criminals, and that if The Nazis ever lost the war, then they may even take over
the world, forcing the German people to live in squalor. He said, “Humanity would sink into eternal
darkness, it would fall into a dull and primitive state, were the Jews to win this war. They are the incarnation of that destructive
force that in these terrible years has guided the enemy war leadership in a fight against
all that we see as noble, beautiful, and worth keeping. For that reason alone the Jews hate us. They despise our culture and learning, which
they perceive as towering over their nomadic worldview. They fear our economic and social standards,
which leave no room for their parasitic drives.” This documentary genuinely frightened the
German people, and they felt that concentration camps were justified. After visiting Auschwitz in person, Joseph
Goebbels wrote that he death and torture of these prisoners was so gruesome, that he did
not even want to write the details in his private journal. He wrote, “It may be barbaric, but they
truly deserve it.” All of his efforts to incite hate against
the Jewish people actually paid off, and Adolf Hitler begin to trust Joseph Goebbels once
again. Their mutual hate was enough to repair their
friendship, but it was at the cost of millions of lives. At this point, Hitler began to trust Joseph
Goebbels with more decisions in the government, and he had even more power than he ever did
before. Hitler stopped making so many public appearances,
and allowed Goebbels to speak on his behalf, instead. He even gave him the authority to declare
war. In 1941, Joseph Goebbels announced over the
radio that Germany would be going to war with the Soviet Union. Goebbels did exactly what he did when he filmed
The Eternal Jew in Poland. He brought yet another documentary film crew
to show Soviet prisoners who were living in the mud, looking half-dead. He claimed that this is how the Russian people
normally lived, and that the Bolshevik party was controlled by Jews who were trying to
take over the world. He successfully convinced the German public
that by fighting Russia, they were fighting for their freedom. He stood in front of a crowd of thousands
of people at a sports stadium in Berlin, saying that there needed to be a “total war”. He was met with thunderous applause. But, as you may already know, Germany’s
invasion of Russia is what lead to their downfall. The Germans could not handle the harsh winters,
and the United States had joined the Allied Forces. Italy switched over the the Allies, as well,
and their stronghold in World War II was suddenly falling like dominos. Descending into Madness
Now, you can probably tell so far in this story that Joseph Goebbels was always a bit
crazy. But after the invasion of the Soviet Union,
his mental state became more and more unraveled. He encouraged elderly man and young boys to
sacrifice their lives for the sake of Germany, and baby-faced child soldiers were sent off
to war. He said that every man, woman, and child needed
to be ready to die for the motherland. According to Wilfred von Oven, a man who worked
on Joseph Goebbels’ staff, they were at a meeting when a bomb was dropped in the garden
of his house. The glass of all of the windows shattered. While everyone else on the staff ducked for
cover, Joseph Goebbels never flinched. He simply brushed the broken glass off of
his notes, and continued reading his speech, as if nothing happened. He somehow remained completely composed on
the outside, while the panic was secretly tearing him apart. At the end of the war, Hitler told Goebbels
that he knew that they were going to lose the war. He was preparing to go to his bunker, with
plans to commit suicide. He appointed Goebbels as the new Chancellor
of Germany, and he wanted him to stay behind and run the government once the Allies invaded. Goebbels was so devoted, that he refused to
live without Hitler. He told his wife and all of his children to
clean themselves, put on their Sunday best, and go to the Fuhrer's bunker. On April 30, Hitler committed suicide, leaving
Goebbels as Germany’s new chancellor. It’s not a position he would hold for long. The following day, Goebbels and Magda poisoned
their six children, before ending their own lives as well.
