Joseph Goebbels

Joseph Goebbels (Paul Joseph Goebbels) , 1897-1945, German National Socialist propagandist. He was kept out of the service in World War I by a clubfoot. After graduating from the Univ. of Heidelberg (Ph.D., 1921), be began a journalistic career and wrote some unsuccessful novels. He joined the National Socialist, or Nazi, party and worked with Gregor Strasser, who controlled the party in N Germany. As the split between Hitler and Strasser developed, he switched his loyalty to Hitler and was appointed (1926) district party leader in Berlin, where he founded a new organ for party propaganda, Der Angriff [ Attack ]. By exploiting mob emotions and by employing all modern methods of propaganda he helped Hitler into power. In 1928, Goebbels was elected to the Reichstag, and when Hitler seized power in 1933 he made Goebbels propaganda minister. This position gave him complete control over radio, press, cinema, and theater; later he also regimented all German culture. Goebbels placed his undeniable intelligence and his brilliant insight into mass psychology entirely at the service of his party. His most virulent propaganda was against the Jews. As a hypnotic orator he was second only to Hitler, and in his staging of mass meetings and parades he was unsurpassed. Utterly cynical, he seems to have believed only in the self-justification of power. He remained loyal to Hitler until the end; in Apr., 1945, he killed his family and himself while Berlin was falling to Soviet troops.

Bibliography: See The Early Goebbels Diaries 1925-1926, ed. by H. Heiber (1963); The Goebbels Diaries, 1942-43, ed. and tr. by L. P. Lochner (1948, repr. 1970); The Secret Conferences of Dr. Goebbels: The Nazi Propaganda War, 1939-43, ed. by W. A. Boelcke (tr. 1970); biographies by R. Manvell and H. Fraenkel (1960), H. Heiber (tr. 1972), and R. G. Reuth (tr. 1993); studies by E. K. Bramsted (1965), R. Lemmons (1994), and F. Moeller (tr. 2000); L. Hachmeister, dir., The Goebbels Experiment (documentary film, 2005).

Goebbels, Joseph (b. 29 Oct. 1897, d. 1 May 1945). Nazi propaganda minister 1933–45 After finishing his studies in literature, art history, and philosophy with a doctorate, he joined the Nazi Party in 1924, and was made the party leader of the Berlin and Brandenburg area in 1926, when he demonstrated his exceptional talents for demagoguery. In 1929 Hitler made him the party head of propaganda. As Minister of Public Enlightenment and Propaganda, through skilful use of new means of mass communication (radio and film) he created a cult around Hitler and the myth of his infallibility. Whereas until 1939 he was careful to demonstrate the new glory of Nazi Germany to Germans and the international community alike, after the defeat of Stalingrad in early 1943 especially he successfully aroused stiff defiance and a stubborn belief amongst Germans that ultimately Hitler would overcome the enemy. He committed suicide after witnessing Hitler's own suicide hours before.

Goebbels, (Paul) Joseph (1897–1945) German Nazi leader. He joined the Nazi Party in 1924, and in 1926 founded the newspaper Der Angriff. When the Nazis came to power in 1933, he became minister of propaganda. He took total control of the media, which he exploited to support Nazi aims. He committed suicide with his entire family in April 1945.