Paul Joseph Goebbels Minister of Propaganda from 1933 to 1945. He was one of Adolf Hitler’s closest and most devout supporters, known for his outspokenness skills and his fierce opposition, which were evident in his well-publicized views. He encouraged deep-seated discrimination, including the extermination of the Jews during the Holocaust.
In 1943, Goebbels began pressuring Hitler to introduce measures that would lead to a “complete war”, including closing down non-essential businesses in the war effort, recruiting women for work, and enrolling men in previously banned jobs in Wehrmacht. Hitler eventually appointed him Reich Plenipotentiary for Total War on July 23, 1944, during which Goebbels took unsuccessful measures to increase the number of people found in the arms trade and Wehrmacht.
As the war drew to a close and Nazi Germany was on the verge of defeat, Magda Goebbels and Goebbels’ children joined her in Berlin. They moved to the underground Vorbunker, part of Hitler’s underground building, on April 22, 1945. Hitler committed suicide on April 30. In harmony with Hitler’s will, Goebbels succeeded him as chancellor of Germany; worked one day on this post. The next day, Goebbels and his wife committed suicide, after poisoning their six children with cyanide.
Goebbels first became interested in Adolf Hitler and Nazism in 1924. In February 1924, Hitler’s trial of sedition began after his unsuccessful attempt to seize power at Beer Hall Putsch on November 8, 1923. The trial attracted the attention of the media and gave Hitler a propaganda. Hitler was sentenced to five years in prison, but was released on December 20, 1924, after serving just over a year. Goebbels was drawn to the Nazi Party mainly because of Hitler’s love and commitment. He joined the Nazi Party during this time, becoming member number 8762. In late 1924, Goebbels offered his services to Karl Kaufmann, formerly Gauleiter (leader of the Nazi Party) of the Rhine-Ruhr Region. Kaufmann put him in touch with Gregor Strasser, a leading Nazi promoter in northern Germany, who hired him to work in their weekly newspaper and do secretarial work in regional party offices. He was also appointed to serve as party spokesman and representative for Rhineland-Westphalia. Members of the Strasser’s branch north of the Nazi Party, including Goebbels, had a more socialist view than Hitler’s rival party in Munich. Strasser disagreed with Hitler in most parts of the party, and in November 1926 he began working on a review.
Famous quotes by Joseph Goebbels: –
1. “If you tell a lie big enough and keep repeating it, people will eventually come to believe it.”
2. “Propaganda is not an end in itself, but a means to an end. If the means achieves the end then the means is good… the new Ministry has no other aim than to unite the nation behind the ideal of the national revolution.”
3. “To be a socialist is to submit the I to the thou; socialism is sacrificing the individual to the whole.”
4. “A nation without a religion – that is like a man without breath.”
5. “The English follow the principle that when one lies, one should lie big, and stick to it. They keep up their lies, even at the risk of looking ridiculous.”
