Joseph Goebbles biography Essay Example For Students

Joseph Goebbles biography Essay Master propagandist of the Nazi regime and dictator of its cultural life for twelve years, Joseph Goebbels was born into a strict Catholic, working-class family from Rheydt, in the Rhineland, on 29 October 1897. He was educated at a Roman Catholic school and went onto study history and literature at the University of Heidelberg under ProfessorFriedrich Gundolf, a Jewish literary historian renowned as a Goethe scholar and a close disciple of the poet Stefan George. Goebbels had been rejected for military service during World War I because of a crippled foot the result of contracting polio as a child and a sense of physical inadequacy tormented him for the rest of his life, reinforced by resentment of the reactions aroused by his diminutive frame, black hair and intellectual background. Bitterly conscious of his deformity and fearful of being regarded as a bourgeoisintellectual, Goebbels overcompensated for his lack of the physical virtues of thestrong, healthy, blond, Nordic type by his ideological rectitude and radicalism once he The hostility to the intellect of the little doctor, his contempt for the human racein general and the Jews in particular, and his complete cynicism were an expression ofhis own intellectual self-hatred and inferiority complexes, his overwhelming need todestroy everything sacred and ignite the same feelings of rage, despair and hatred in At first Goebbelss hyperactive imagination found an outlet in poetry, drama and abohemian life-style, but apart from his expressionist novel, Michael: ein Deutsches Schicksal in Tagebuchblattern (1926), nothing came of these first literary efforts. It was in the Nazi Party that Goebbelss sharp, clear-sighted intelligence, his oratorical gifts and flair for theatrical effects, his uninhibited opportunism and ideological radicalism blossomed in the service of an insatiable will-to-power. In 1925 he was made business manager of the NSDAP in the Ruhr district and at the end of the year was already the principal collaborator of Gregor Strasser, leader ofthe social-revolutionary North German wing of the Party. Goebbels founded and edited the Nationalsozialistischen Briefe (NS Letters) and other publications of the Strasserbrothers, sharing their proletarian anti-capitalist outlook and call for a radical revaluation of all values. His National Bolshevik tendencies found expression in his evaluation of Soviet Russia (which he regarded as both nationalist and socialist) as Germanys natural ally againstthe devilish temptations and corruption of the West. It was at this time that Goebbels, who had co-authored the draft programme submitted by the Nazi Left at the Hanover Conference of 1926, called for the expulsion ofpetty-bourgeois Adolf Hitler from the National Socialist Party. Goebbelss shrewd political instinct and his opportunism were demonstrated by his switch to Hitlers side in 1926, which was rewarded by his appointment in November of the same year as Nazi district leader for Berlin- Brandenburg. small, conflict-ridden organization, Goebbels rapidly succeeded in taking control andundermining the supremacy of the Strasser brothers in northern Germany and theirmonopoly of the Party press, founding in 1927 and editing his own weekly newspaper,Der Angriff (The Attack). He designed posters, published his own propaganda, stagedimpressive parades, organized his bodyguards to participate in street battles, beer-hallbrawls and shooting affrays as a means to further his political agitation. By 1927 the Marat of Red Berlin, a nightmare and goblin of history had already become the most feared demagogue of the capital city, exploiting to the full his deep, powerfulvoice, rhetorical fervour and unscrupulous appeal to primitive instincts. A tireless, tenacious agitator with the gift of paralysing opponents by a guileful combination of venom, slander and insinuation, Goebbels knew how to mobilize the fears of the unemployedmasses as the Great Depression hit Germany, playing on the national psyche withWith the skill of a master propagandist he transformed the Berlin student and pimp, Horst Wessel, into a Nazi martyr, and provided the slogans, the myths and images, the telling aphorisms which rapidly spread the message of National Socialism. A Personal Experience with Fear EssayHe combined verbal warnings that, as a result of the war, the Jews will pay withextermination of their race in Europe and perhaps beyond with careful avoidance inhis propaganda material of discussing the actual treatment of the Jews, i.e. anymention of the extermination camps. Goebbelss anti-semitism was one factor whichbrought him closer to Hitler, who respected his political judgement as well as hisadministrative and propagandist skills. His wife Magda and their six children were welcome guests at the Fuhrers Alpine retreat of Berchtesgaden. In 1938 when Magdatried to divorce him because of his endless love affairs with beautiful actresses,it was Hitler who intervened to straighten out the situation. During World War II relations between Hitler and Goebbels became more intimate,especially as the war situation deteriorated and the Minister of Propaganda encouragedthe German people to ever greater efforts. After the Allies insisted on unconditional surrender, Goebbels turned this to advantage, convincing his audience that there was no choice except victory or destruction. In a famous speech on 18 February 1943 in theBerlin Sportpalast, Goebbels created an atmosphere of wild emotion, winning the agreement of his listeners to mobilization for total war. Playing adroitly on German fears of the Asiatic hordes, using his all-pervasive control of press, film and radioto maintain morale, inventing mythical secret weapons and impregnable fortresses in the mountains where the last stand would be made, Goebbels never lost his nerve or his It was his quick thinking and decisive action on the afternoon of 20 July 1944, when he isolated the conspirators in the War Ministry with the help of deta chments of loyal troops, which saved the Nazi regime. Shortly afterwards heachieved his ambition to be warlord on the domestic front, following his appointmentin July 1944 as General Plenipotentiary for Total War. Given the widest powers to move and direct the civilian population and even toredistribute manpower within the armed forces, Goebbels imposed an austerity programmeand pressed for ever greater civilian sacrifice. But with Germany already close tocollapse, it was too late to accomplish anything beyond further dislocations andconfusion. As the war neared its end, Goebbels, the supreme opportunist, emerged as the Fuhrers most loyal follower, spending his last days together with his family,in the Fuhrerbunker under the Chancellery. Convinced that the Nazis had finally burntall their bridges and increasingly fascinated by the prospect of a final apocalypse, Goebbelss last words on dismissing his associates were: When we depart, let the earth Following the Fuhrers suicide, Goebbels disregarded Hitlers politicaltestament, which had appointed him as Reich Chancellor, and decided to follow suit. He had his six children poisoned with a lethal injection by an SS doctor and then himself and his wife Magda shot by an SS orderly on 1 May 1945. With characteristic pathos and egomania he declared not long before his death: We shall go down inhistory as the greatest statesmen of all time, or as the greatest criminals.Bibliography: