Believe Me

Propaganda was a tool that has been used throughout history to gain control and to mislead a large group of people. In a video that I recently watched in history class that showed propaganda in its true form. In this video it showed Adolf Hitler as the chancellor of Germany. When the movie started it showed him landing in Germany and the airport was surrounded by people. Almost like the famous video of The Beatles arriving in America. As he was driving through the towns people were cheering and saluting. It was almost like a parade. I witness the German people praise and love Hitler for the entire video.

This raises a serious question to me. What exactly did the German people think was going on at the time? I know in this period in particular the German people were incredibly nationalistic but there is a point where you have to wonder if Hitler wasn't telling the truth. He was telling the German people what they wanted to hear. Hitler was a master at propaganda. He told the people of Germany in another video we watched, that he didn't care what happened to himself, but the children of Germany would be the future, his legacy. This makes me wonder even more, if Hitler was using propaganda or if the German people were just looking for someone to tell them they were the best nation. It is true that some of the ads made people believe in Hitler even more. The way I see it though, no matter what people tell you, you have the choice to believe in it.

This brings up the question: Did Germany want to go to war? To me, I would say yes. It isn't hard to be told your country is the best, I understand that. However there is a point where you have to say to yourself, "Why are we better?" or "Why are they inferior?" I am in no way blaming the German people for WWII, however people don't get into power without being loved and accepted by the people of the nation. Except when there is a king, but in this era in Germany there wasn't.

I think that propaganda did play a role in people loving Hitler, but I think it was more that the German people really wanted someone to believe in and to make them a power. Which did happen, so I guess it was a success for Germany.