Hitler and Propaganda

You are riding in a car driving to a “special hospital”. Your parents received a letter a week ago from the almighty leader saying that this hospital will help with your child’s small mental disability. You don’t understand why you couldn’t just be back at your home or fighting for your country, after all, the soldier posters made it seem that being a soldier would sure be fun. You feel a bit of confusion though because you have also seen posters that want to persuade people that the mentally and physically challenged cost too much and take too much time to take care of.

If this had happened to you, you would likely not have lived to tell the story. Stories like these are told in a book about Hitler and his lies to the people called Hitler Youth, by Susan Bartoletti. The hospital was a place where the Nazis wanted you to die—anyone who was Jewish, Catholic, homosexual, mentally or physically handicapped, was not considered ideal, according to Adolph Hitler, the leader of Nazi Germany.

Seventy years ago, one of the greatest travesties in history occurred: the rise of the Nazis, World War II, and the Holocaust. You may well ask, “How did this small-minded, low ranking colonel and his ideas rise to such a powerful and well-respected position? How did his extremist party, the Nazis, put in place a reign of terror?”

One of their main reasons for this success was propaganda. Propaganda refers to the use of usually biased or misleading nature used to promote or publicize a specific political view or cause.

In the case of Germany, propaganda did all kinds of things successfully; it included tricking people like young boys into becoming a Hitler Youth, or a soldier for his country. Hitler’s right-hand man and Reich minister of propaganda was named Joseph Goebbels. Goebbels was one of the main reasons that Nazi Germany got so far and was so successful. Without him, Nazi Germany would not have even lifted off the ground. Without him, no one would have listened to what Hitler had to say. Because of him, Germany gathered a strong army and was able to invade most of Europe, some of Asia, and some of North Africa.

According to Wikipedia, Goebbels first came into contact with the Nazi Party in 1923. He joined the party at the age of 24 and stuck with Hitler throughout his reign, helping him gain the reputation that he had with the people. With his effective use of communication, specializing in scare tactics and mass disinformation, Goebbels helped Nazi Germany’s ideas became true in the minds of Germans. With his passion and furious speeches, Goebbels kept Germany in a high state of emotion, almost hysteria. The perfect state of mind to do thoughtless, unthinkable things.

Propaganda did not happen just with Nazi Germany. It is issued every day in speeches, articles, and other formats. It is used to express ideas by using biased and misleading nature. Former and Current presidents of the U.S. could and usually do use propaganda to express their ideas and get things done. For example, I could be using propaganda in my speech right now. Even you could use propaganda in your daily conversations with how you feel about one subject by giving false information to support a cause.
 So what is propaganda to you, a helpful way to get ideas across or a misuse facts twisted a bit to fit your opinions?