In 1925, a bellicose Adolf Hitler understood that he needed the power of mass persuasion to push his political ideology on the German people. Citing propaganda as an essential component of statecraft in Mein Kampf, he wrote that propaganda must “awaken the imagination of the public through an appeal to their feelings, in finding the appropriate psychological form that will arrest the attention and appeal to the hearts of the national masses.” In its early phases, the Nazi party largely depended on Hitler’s own oratory gifts and stage presence to gather more interest and support. This changed dramatically with the party’s rise to political prominence and Hitler’s partnership with chief propagandist Joseph Goebbels.
Even prior to the war turning in the favor of the Allies, Hitler and the Nazi regime were depicted in an often humorous fashion in the U.S. and Britain. Hitler in particular was heavily ridiculed and depicted as a bloodthirsty... Continue Reading →
War through Art 