A 1932 Nazi Pamphlet for the Communists

I’m continuing to add early Nazi propaganda material to the site.  Today, I add a translation of The Bolshevist Swindle, a pamphlet published early in 1932 that was directed to the communists. It takes most German communists to be honest but deluded workers, and tries to prove that Stalin’s policies in the Soviet Union are worse than those of any Western capitalism.  At about the same time, a pamphlet by the same author titled The Sensationalist Newspapers Lie!  was released that was directed at the Socialists.

There are other pamphlets from the period on the GPA as well, including several published during the March and April 1932 presidential elections.  They demonstrate how serious the Nazis were in adapting their appeals to reach the most disparate audiences.

Nazi Pamphlet “Hitler to Brüning” (December 1931)

I’m gradually adding translations of material from before 1933.  Today, I’m posting an interesting pamphlet titled Hitler to Brüning. It’s the text of Hitler’s response to Chancellor Brüning’s emergency decree of early December 1931, which among other things banned political uniforms, meetings, and insignia.  Brüning at the time lacked a parliamentary majority and was maintained in power by Reich President Hindenburg, who under the Weimar Constitution had the authority to permit that.

It is an interesting example of Hitler’s rhetorical style — and was at the time persuasive not only to his Nazi followers, but probably to many others as well.

Miscellaneous Nazi Speaker Directives (May 1942)

 Today I am adding a May 1942 set of Nazi speaker directives covering an interesting range of topics.  One deals with foreign press reports that could be used in speeches. Another directive orders speakers to use the word “propaganda” only for German efforts to influence opinion. The enemy efforts are “agitation.” This is the last of these for a while, since I’ve gone through what I have at hand.

Nazi Speaker Information on Wendell Willkie

I’ve had a bit of extra time the last two days, so I’ve translated another example of the material intended for Nazi speakers.  This one is from November 1942, and mines a speech by Wendell Willkie (who had run against Roosevelt in 1940) for evidence to use in speeches attacking the Allies. It also spends some time on submarine warfare, which at the time was one of the few bright spots from the Nazi perspective.

Advice to Nazi Speakers on the Invasion of the Soviet Union

As a rhetorician, I'm particularly interested in Nazi oratory.  Today I’m adding another page of advice sent to Nazi speakers, who addressed meetings throughout the country.  This material was released in September 1941, and gives speakers directions on how to handle the unexpectedly stubborn resistance on the part of the Soviet Union. The article basically says that it is the result of the primitive thinking of those in the Soviet Union and effective propaganda on the part of the communist government.

Another Fabricated Hitler Quotation

Although there is no shortage of quotations from Nazi sources that demonstrate its evil, people occasionally invent quotations that sound like what they think the Nazis would say to support a point.  I have a page on false Nazi quotations that looks into such matters.

Today I’m adding a quotation found in more than 1,700,000 web pages and a fair number of books.  Hitler is alleged to have said: “What luck for rulers that men do not think.” I’m not absolutely certain is it a fabrication, but I’m almost sure.  It isn’t in Mein Kampf, nor the published edition of Hitler’s speeches.  No one I can find who cites it provide a source. One book cited by several others provides the quotation, but no source.

But it sounds like what people think Hitler would have said, so it keeps spreading.

German Foreign Office Propaganda from 1941

In the convoluted system of Nazi propaganda, all sorts of people and offices produced propaganda, sometimes to the considerable annoyance of Joseph Goebbels. One interesting outlet was the Deutsche diplomatisch-politsche Korrespondenz, something of a mimeographed press release that was a semi-official  service of the German Foreign Office.  It was intended primarily for the press.   I’m adding translations of three of the issues from 1941.  The first, dated 10 October 1941, earned the wrath of Joseph Goebbels, since it claimed that the campaign in Russia was essentially over and that Russia had collapsed.  That turned out not to be entirely accurate.  Goebbels would have preferred to hold back claims of complete victory until complete victory had been attained.  The second is a completely misguided analysis of British politics.  The third was issued after the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, but before Hitler’s declaration of war on 11 December.