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Between 1928 and 1930 Nazi electoral support rose from 2.6 to 18.3 percent. This expansion of the NSDAP constituted a political breakthrough of unprecedented proportions. The Nazis alone of the totalitarian parties of the twentieth-century were able to attract a mass following before they came to power. What part did propaganda play?
The historical origins of Nazi propaganda can be traced back to Adolf Hitler's Mein Kampf, where he devoted two chapters analyzing the importance of propaganda and its practice. While Mein Kampf itself was a work of propaganda, Hitler talked about the aims of a propagandist in indoctrinating a population and the importance of ensuring the continued propagation of the propaganda:
"The first duty of the propagandist is to win over people who can subsequently be taken into the organization. And the first duty of the organization is to select and train men who will be capable of carrying on the propaganda. The second duty of the organization is to disrupt the existing order of things and thus make room for the penetration of the new teaching which it represents, while the duty of the organizer must be to fight for the purpose of securing power, so that the doctrine may finally triumph." |
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