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Joseph Goebbels 1897-1945
Dr. Paul Joseph Goebbels was
Hitler's Minister of Propaganda.
Hitler announced Goebbels' appointment on April 27, 1930, in
Munich. And what an expert on the matter the man was.
According to Ian Kershaw's Hitler, Goebbels
"possessed of a sharp mind and biting wit . . . [and was] .
. . among the most intelligent of the leading figures in the
Nazi Movement."
What Did
Goebbels Think of Hitler?
In 1926, Goebbels wrote in his
diary,
"He is a
genius. The natural, creative instrument of
a divine fate... Out of deep distress a star
is shining! I feel completely bound to him.
The last doubt in me has disappeared."
Joseph Goebbels as Propaganda Minister
Part of Goebbels' job description was
to warm up the crowd. This he did successfully, for example on
February 10, 1933, with his
opening remarks
introducing Adolf's Proclamation to the German Nation, which
was Hitler's first speech as chancellor.
Here are his words in German:
Goebbels' Vorrede zu Hitler's speech
Das Deutsche Volk.
And Goebbels knew how to get a crowd excited. It was his expertise.
Case in point is
Goebbels'
Do You Want Total War? speech, which he delivered on
February 18, 1943, at the Sportpalast at Berlin.
This speech is also
called the Nation, Rise Up, and Let the Storm
Break Loose speech, (Nun, Volk, steh auf, und Sturm brich
los!) or the Sportpalast speech.
What was going down at the Sportpalast?
The slogan of the meeting was Totaler
Krieg - Kürzester Krieg, meaning Total War - Shortest War.
An audience of approx. 3,000 people went wild.
And here is the speech in German -
Wollt Ihr Den
Totalen Krieg?
Goebbels, Butter, Cannons, and Priorities
"Ohne Butter
werden wir fertig, aber nicht beispielsweise
ohne Kanonen. Wenn wir einmal überfallen
werden, dann können wir uns nicht mit
Butter, sondern nur mit Kanonen verteidigen."
"We can manage without butter but not, for
example, without arms.
If we are attacked we can't defend ourselves
with butter, but only with cannons."
Speech at Berlin on January 17, 1936,
in Deutsche Allgemeine Zeitung on
January 18, 1936
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