Bending Spines

The Propagandas of Nazi Germany and the German Democratic Republic

Randall L. Bytwerk

• Publisher: Michigan State University Press
• Year: 2012
• Print ISBN:
  9780870137105
  9780870137099
• eBook ISBN:
  9781628951752
• Topic: Languages & Linguistics
• Subtopic: Linguistics
• Index: Languages & Linguistics

Why do totalitarian propaganda such as those created in Nazi Germany and the former German Democratic Republic initially succeed, and why do they ultimately fail? Outside observers often make two serious mistakes when they interpret the propaganda of this time. First, they assume the propaganda worked largely because they were supported by a police state, that people cheered Hitler and Honecker because they feared the consequences of not doing so. Second, they assume that propaganda really succeeded in persuading most of the citizenry that the Nuremberg rallies were a reflection of how most Germans thought, or that most East Germans were convinced Marxist-Leninists. Subsequently, World War II Allies feared that rooting out Nazism would be a very difficult task. No leading scholar or politician in the West expected East Germany to collapse nearly as rapidly as it did. Effective propaganda depends on a full range of persuasive methods, from the gentlest suggestion to overt violence, which the dictatorships of the twentieth century understood well. 
     In many ways, modern totalitarian movements present worldviews that are religious in nature. Nazism and Marxism-Leninism presented themselves as explanations for all of life—culture, morality, science, history, and recreation. They provided people with reasons for accepting the status quo. Bending Spines examines the full range of persuasive techniques used by Nazi Germany and the German Democratic Republic, and concludes that both systems failed in part because they expected more of their propaganda than it was able to deliver. 
 

Table of contents

• Table of Contents
• Title Page
• Copyright Page
• Dedication
• Acknowledgements
• Terms and Abbreviations
• Introduction
• 1 - Secular Faiths
• 2 - Doctrines
• 3 - Hierarchies
• 4 - Evangelists
• 5 - Maps of Reality
• 6 - Arts and Entertainment
• 7 - Public and Private Life
• 8 - The Failure of Propaganda
• Notes
• Selected Bibliography