Goebbels’ 11 Principles of Propaganda

The Nazis' propaganda principles made them very popular in a short time.

Authoritarian states, by their own founding ideas, always aspired to control all individuals under their ominous ideological umbrella. In this sense, defining the way to mold the most intimate part of every human being (his thought) was always one of their main goals to conquer.

Propaganda techniques have traditionally covered this intention, taking advantage of every development of knowledge about basic and group psychology. In fact, there was even a time when many countries "had on their payroll" real experts in such matters, occupying ministerial positions of responsibility. Each one of them racked their brains thinking of programs to achieve this.

Undoubtedly, the most transcendent of them all was the one articulated in Germany during the Second World War, from which sprang the well-known principles of Goebbels' propaganda. the well-known principles of Goebbels' propaganda (which became a source of inspiration for other (which became a source of inspiration for others that came later).

In this article we will detail each of the points that Joseph Goebbels, a character of great historical infamy, conceived to spread the Nazi ideology among the German population of his time. To know it is basic, because it is an important part of our saddest history.

• Related article, "What is Political Psychology?"

The 11 principles of propaganda of Joseph Goebbels and the Nazis.

Goebbels is surely one of the most enigmatic characters in recent history. To his credit he has a close friendship with the dictator Adolf Hitler.He was a member of the Nazi regime, thanks to which he held the post of Minister of Enlightenment and Propaganda during the years of the Nazi regime. His peculiar physical appearance (he suffered from a permanent limp and a very short stature), together with the fiery speeches he made, are two of his best-remembered characteristics. However, it should be noted that he was a convinced anti-Semite, and that he was one of the very few public officials who expressly recognized (with pride) the genocide of the Jewish people.

His attitude of savage hatred, seasoned with a very remarkable talent for oratory and for art (especially literature), composed an indigestible mixture from which emerged works in praise of death. One of the objectives he pursued until his death (one day after Adolf Hitler's) was the construction of a German morality based on the principles of the regime, which required the extermination of those who were considered its enemies. This undoubtedly required an unparalleled propaganda apparatus.

One of the first tasks he performed in his political role was to to censor any media that opposed the ideas of his party, as well as to promote art and information that aligned with it.. He had a great interest in audiovisual resources (cinema, music, etc.) as useful tools to disperse his ideology among the German population of those years. He was a censor and a self-sacrificing promoter of the fundamental purpose of building a country immersed in warmongering, which is why an enormous number of artistic careers (in all kinds of disciplines) were born and died while he was in ministerial office.

There are disparate questions about his figure. Many believe that he did not really have such an important role as a politician, that he was nothing more than a charlatan who never contributed to the great decisions of his country, or even that he suffered from a narcissistic personality disorder. Even so, the principles of Goebbels' propaganda have survived to the present day, bearing witness to the horror of that period.We are witnesses to the horror that that period left forever engraved on the face of history.

Let us see what these laws of Goebbels' propaganda are and the scope of each one. The effect pursued by this author could only be achieved if all of them were fulfilled, in a perfectly tuned "symphony orchestra" of social manipulation.

Principle of simplification

This principle is based on the reduction of all the complexity of the different enemies to a much more discrete reality, devoid of diversity and very easily identifiable. The purpose is to infuse everything that opposes one's own ideas with a common and simple feature where its edges are reduced to the very caricature. In this way, there would never be a battle against multiple antagonists, but a war in which only one simple contender would fight: evil, brutality, injustice or ignorance.

Through this process all the nuances of the opponents would be abstracted, which would be concretized in a much simpler idea and charged with the worst imaginable connotation. The enemy would therefore be common to all those who embraced such propaganda, focusing their hatred against the primary concept in which the rival was embodied.

2. Principle of the contagion method

This principle would be associated with the previous one. Its objectives are simple: in addition to simplifying the facts, it is intended to disperse a series of attributes to all subjects who embrace ideas opposed to their own. Often they are adjectives of negative, humiliating and/or ridiculing content; which would be assigned, without thinking it over, to the opponent. This is the logical step after having diluted the sensation of multiplicity, by means of which stereotypes would be disseminated on the basis of what the propaganda apparatus considered "undesirable" (all Jews are thieves). (all Jews are thieves, e.g.).

The formula that would be used in this case would be of enormous simplicity, and would be based on a reinforcement of the perceived homogeneity for the exogroup (which is currently considered a common trait in those who have xenophobic or supremacist ideas).

3. Principle of transposition

At the moment of being the object of an unavoidable accusation, it would be necessary to point out to the other for exactly the same "error" that he has found in our way of proceeding. In politics, this can be observed when cases of embezzlement or misappropriation are brought to the attention of public opinion, leading to an exchange of reproaches in which it is extolled that: "you did it too, and even worse than me".

This attitude is intended to generate a distraction that diverts attention from the figure itself. and to place it back on others, keeping all shadows of suspicion out of our vicinity.

4. Principle of exaggeration and misrepresentation

This principle foresees that any error of the other should be immediately exploited. This would be done by blurring its relevance and scope, so that it would appear to be a much more serious or negative event (for one's own interests) than it really is. Threats would be sought in almost any act carried out by the enemy, including those to which only anecdotal or circumstantial importance could be attributed. In this case, individuals or groups would not be caricatured, but their way of behaving, thus closing the malicious circle of demagogy.

5. Principle of vulgarization

This principle proposes that the properties of the messages to be communicated must be adapted to the level of the individuals who will receive them, and in particular to the least intelligent of all of them. Through such a process, all complex nuances would be eliminated, and the aim would be to disseminate something so "simple" that any human being would be able to understand it.The aim would be to disseminate something so "simple" that any human being would be able to understand it. This way of designing propaganda ads was aimed at the mass and not at those who formed it, taking advantage of the fact that groups are easier to convince than isolated individuals (and that they also forget more quickly).

6. Principle of orchestration

The ideas to be conveyed to the masses must be repeated in a continuous mannerusing different prisms and angles but insisting on the same concept. It is important that everything is reduced to the most basic possible, so that it is almost impossible to perceive a hint of doubt or contradiction in the content of what is being transmitted. This strategy is basic, since it increases the occasions on which the message is available, which increases the degree of credibility that people attribute to it and its availability in the individual consciousness. In other words, what is essential is the reiteration of the discourse to the point of exhaustion.

7. Principle of renewal

This principle refers not to the content, but to the forms, and more particularly to the pace at which information is transmitted. The purpose would be to to generate so many accusations that the victim does not have sufficient time to excuse himself or to prove their falsity, since at the moment he tries to make an accusation, he will not be able to prove it.By the time he would try to free himself of all his burden, the passage of time would have relegated him to a situation of irrelevance, or the public would no longer be interested in what he had to say (since there would already be a new "news" to gloat over). In short, the purpose is to overwhelm the opponent and oversaturate the people.

8. Principle of plausibility

All information should be supported by as many sources as possible, something that was very feasible in the Germany that this Nazi Minister of Propaganda planned (since he had banned any media that did not agree with the ideas of his party). In the same principle also contemplated the possibility of "camouflaging" lies within objectively true news, making them more easily digestible.The self-interested selection of which details to report on was a matter of interest to the target audience. The self-interested selection of which details to highlight and which to omit/hide (known as "fragmentation") is essential to this law of manipulation.

9. Principle of silencing

This principle has the objective of silencing all positive news about rivals, using the media sympathetic to the cause. It would also seek to omit adverse news about oneself or that would discourage the mood of the population to be manipulated. The aim would be to bias the information available to them, and even to reserve negative or false news for the moment when the adversary's achievements emerge, counteracting their effects on the listener. For this principle, what is fundamental is tempo and misrepresentation.

10. Principle of transfusion

This principle is intended to make use of a nation's history, and even its popular myths, to connect them directly with the opponent to be overthrown through analogies and equations. The aim is to take advantage of a pre-existing hatred, whose roots are rooted in the common cultural and social heritage, and to pour it directly on the opponent to be overthrown.to pour it directly on those who oppose a regime. In this way both would develop from the same premise, and the argument with which it is intended to attack would allude to atavistic affections transmitted from one generation to another.

11. Principle of unanimity

The aim of this principle is to make people believe that the ideas to be disseminated enjoy the consensus of the whole population, so that those who accept themso that those who accept them as their own will be in tune with the "opinion" they want to pass off as general. This principle aspires to take advantage of the well-known phenomenon of social conformism, to which an enormous capacity for persuasion is attributed, especially among those who distrust their own criteria to guide them throughout life.

Bibliographical references:

• Cantano, A. and López Zapico, M. (2014). Propaganda of hate: anticommunist exhibitions in the Third Reich. Historia y Comunicación Social. 19, 72-97.
• Rindisbacher, H. (2011). Goebbels's Perspective: A New Biography of the Nazi Propaganda Minister. European Legacy-toward New Paradigms,16. 535-537.