IGCSE History Paper 4 Sample Answer

[Q] How important was the work of Goebbels in the Nazi takeover of Germany? Explain your answer [4 marks]

 Joseph Goebbels Goebbels was Hitler’s Hitler’s right hand man, so his work was of importance, but but only to a certain degree in the Nazi takeover of Germany.

 Joseph Goebbels Goebbels oined the the Nazi party in !"#$, !"#$, after which which he %uickly %uickly roe up up the ranks to eventually become &inister of 'ropaganda and 'ublic (nlightenment (nlightenment by !"#". His skilful means of propaganda gained the Nazis a lot of support and ultimately contributed contributed to their success in the elections of !")).

Goebbels was known for his use of posters to convey the Nazi message. *hese often tried to capitalize on people’s hatred such as for the *reaty of +ersailles and the  Jews in order order to make them believe that the Nazis were were doing the right right thing. lternatively the posters were also used to promote negative cohesion by accusing the Nazis political opponents.

-or the Nazis, propaganda wasn’t simply a means of promoting themselves, but instead Goebbels was tasked with brainwashing people into being wholesomely loyal to the Nazis. Goebbels accomplished this via a variety of methods, the most prominent of which was the use of adios. *he Nazis produced short/ranged adios and sold them for an e0tremely e0tremely low price such that practically everyone was able to purchase them. *hese could only pickup the Nazi channels on which Hitler’s brilliant speeches were looped. 1arge adios were also placed at almost every street corner because of which people were continuously e0posed to Nazi propaganda and the Nazi 2deals were forced upon their brains. 3imilar to Hitler, Goebbels himself was a very good speaker as well, a fact which he used to preach the Nazi message.

 *he Nazi’s brought brought about about massive censorship censorship in Germany, which which was mainly mainly focused on the Newspaper 2ndustry. Goebbels made sure that only pro/Nazi articles were published suc such h that people may not have even been aware until at a much later stage about the true working of the Nazis. *hose Newspapers Newspapers which did not comply with the Nazis were shut down and their writers sent to concentration camps. 3imilarly was done with books as well in which only stories about pure ryans or which criticized Jews were allowed while others were burnt.

Goebbels produced 4lms in which the Jews were portrayed as villains. *hese 4lms were e5ective in passively manipulating the minds of people and getting them to do what the Nazis wanted. *he Nazis wanted to control every aspect of people’s lives, an important way in which they did this was to brainwash the children starting at a

young age. *wo types of (ducation 3ystems were established 6 *he Hitler 7outh for boys and *he 1eague of German &aidens for girls. *he Nazis had always believed in women playing a domestic role and staying at home to take care of their family. *he 1eague of German &aidens did ust this by teaching the girls how to be a mother and look after the house while the Hitler 7outh trained boys for 4ghting. Goebbels made sure that all the subects taught related to the Nazi ideas in some wat such as they were made to believe that the Jews were to blame for Germany’s defeat in the History of the -irst 8orld 8ar.

ll of these aspects account for Goebbels importance in the Nazi takeover of Germany.

9n the other hand however, Goebbels cannot be credited entirely for the Nazis success as there were other in:uential leaders as well in the Nazi party. 9ne of these being Heinrich Himmler who was responsible for the maintenance of order and the elimination of opposition such as via the concentration camps. *his was an important reason for the Nazis success as many people were too afraid to oppose them. *he moderation of Germany was carried out by the 3 led by (rnst ohm, however due to disagreements between ohm and the rmy, Hitler was forced to e0ecute ohm and some in:uential members of the 3 during an event known as the Night of 1ong ;nives. 1ater the 3 was replaced by the 33. *he Gestapo were the Nazi’s secret state police who had the power to send suspected Nazi naysayers to concentration camps without a trial. *hey were highly feared s people would often tell on each other ust to clear their own name.

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 *he 8eimar epublic under Gustave 3tresemann had Germany’s economy up on the loan from merica under the =awes plan and hence the depression struck the Germans very badly as the merican loan was recalled. *he Nazis used the chaos created by the depression to their advantage as people were willing to vote for any party that had the capability of stabilizing the situation in Germany.

 *he *reaty of +ersailles was a common point of hated throughout Germany since it was the foundation of all their problems and hence the Nazis used it to their

advantage. *he unstable economy had left people with absolutely nothing so all they were not bothered about the cruelty of the Nazis as long as they received food to eat and a house to live in.

3imilar to the Nazis, the communists had also gained signi4cantly increased support after the depression and economic instability. &any people however were resentful towards communism such as businessmen who would lose everything they owned.  *he Nazis anti/communist stance appealed to these people and hence won their vote.

2n conclusion despite the signi4cance of Joseph Goebbels propaganda, 2 am not of the opinion that it was the single most important reason behind the Nazis success as had it not been for the other prominent Nazi members, Hitler, *he *reaty of +ersailles, the =epression and the