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Propaganda at the Movies

During World War I, the British discovered the power of �lms to shape

public opinion (see reading, Western Front at the Cinema in Chapter 3).

The Soviets made a similar discovery in the 1920s. Joseph Goebbels

learned from both. He began with the newsreels, short �lm-based news

reports that in those days were played before feature �lms. In Germany,

those newsreels showed the nation as the Nazis wanted it to be seen—rich

and powerful in comparison to its neighbors. But propaganda was not

limited to newsreels; other kinds of movies made in Nazi Germany also

expressed the government’s political and social views.

Some �lms, like Triumph of the Will by director Leni Riefenstahl, glori�ed

Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party. The documentary-style �lm was shot at

the 1934 Nazi Party congress and rally in Nuremberg. American Journalist

William L. Shirer was new to Germany at the time, and that rally was his

�rst. He describes it this way:

Like a Roman emperor Hitler rode into this medieval town

[Nuremberg] at sundown, past solid phalanxes of wildly

cheering Germans who packed the narrow streets. . . . Tens of

thousands of Swastika �ags blot out the Gothic beauties of the

place, the facades of the old houses, the gabled roofs. The

streets, hardly wider than alleys, are a sea of brown and black

uniforms. . . .

About ten o’clock tonight I got caught in a mob of ten thousand

hysterics who jammed the moat in front of Hitler’s hotel,

shouting: “We want our Führer.” I was a li�le shocked at the

faces, especially those of the women, when Hitler �nally

appeared on the balcony for a moment. . . . They looked up at

him as if he were a Messiah, their faces transformed into

something positively inhuman.1

That was the scene that Leni Riefenstahl captured on �lm, and her movie

became an immediate sensation. It was popular not only in Germany but

also in France, where it received an award for “artistry” at the 1937 World

Exhibition in Paris.

Other �lms were not designed to glorify the Nazis but to dehumanize,

criminalize, and demonize vulnerable minorities—particularly Jews.

Goebbels even issued special instructions on how such movies were to be

described. Following these instructions, a brochure that announced the

https://www.facinghistory.org/holocaust-and-human-behavior/chapter-3/western-front-cinema

release of the antisemitic �lm Jud Süss (“Süss, the Jew”) claimed it was

“historically accurate” and summarized the plot:

Clean-shaven and dressed like a gentleman, the Jew Süss

Oppenheimer contrives to be appointed Finance Minister to

the Duke of Wur�emberg . . . Matching one another in

treachery, the court Jew and Minister Süss Oppenheimer and

his secretary outbid one another in tricks and intrigue to bleed

the people of Wur�emberg. . . . The Jew Süss Oppenheimer

violates the beautiful Dorothea Sturm, an outrageous act

which con�rms the extent of his guilt. . . . Jew, hands o�

German women!

Another antisemitic �lm, Der ewige Jude (The Eternal Jew), was praised as

a documentary but contained such blatant lies that parts of it had to be

omi�ed from the version shown in other countries. O�cials feared the

hostile tone might damage the �lm’s “credibility.” Marion Pritchard, then a

graduate student in the Netherlands, recalled seeing the �lm:

We went to see this movie and sat and made smart remarks all

the way through and laughed at it because it was so

outrageous. And yet when we came out of the movie, one of my

Gentile friends said to me, “I wish I hadn’t seen it. I know that it

was all ridiculous and propaganda, but for the �rst time in my

life I have a sense of them and us—Jews and Gentiles. I’m going

to do everything I can to help them, but I wish I didn’t have this

feeling.”2

Citations

1 : William Shirer, Berlin Diary: The Journal of a Foreign

Correspondent, 1934–1941 (New York: Knopf, 1940), 17–18.

2 : Carol Ri�ner and Sondra Myers, eds., The Courage to Care (New

York: New York University Press, 1986), 28. Reproduced by permission

from New York University Press.

Connection Questions

�. How did the Nazis use �lm to create an image of their ideal “national

community”? How did they use �lm to create an image of who would

be excluded from this community?

�. What did Marion Pritchard’s friend mean when she said, “I know

that it was all ridiculous propaganda, but for the �rst time in my life

I have a sense of them and us—Jews and Gentiles”? How do you

explain her statement?

�. Why does �lm have the power to engage our emotions? How do

television shows or �lms today help to shape an ideal image of

ourselves and our society? Give examples.

�. What is a documentary �lm? How is a documentary �lm di�erent

from a propaganda �lm? If possible, watch a clip from Triumph of

the Will. Based on the description in this reading, or on the clip you

viewed, do you think that Triumph of the Will should be considered a

documentary �lm?

�. While this reading highlights �lms with a direct connection to

propaganda, the German �lm industry was very active during the

Nazi years, also creating “entertainment” movies like romances and

comedies. In what ways might those also have had a role as

propaganda? What purpose can entertainment in the media serve

for a government?