How Was Adolf Hitler So Persuasive Owlcation.

pdf
Saved to Dropbox • 25 Sep 2018 at 11B51

MORE Sign In Join

Owlcation » Humanities » History

How Was Adolf Hitler So

Persuasive?
Updated on February 28, 2014

29
Josh Wilmoth more
Contact Author

Hitler gives a speech at the Kroll Opera House | Source

advertisement
Why Study Hitler's Persuasive Method?
Adolf Hitler is considered to be perhaps the most villainous man of the twentieth century.
His vile and ruthless deeds are common knowledge. In fact, the name Hitler has now
become synonymous with evil. What many often forget, however, is that Hitler was not
only a coldblooded tyrant but that also a brilliant persuader of men. He personally oversaw
the deaths of millions of people, including the near extermination of the Jewish race while
maintaining the full support of the German people.

The entire German population was certainly not as heartless and cruel as Hitler was, so it
stands to reason that Hitler must have been a masterful propagandist in order to persuade
the Germans that his policies were necessary and just. However, one must remember that
Hitler was not born the cruel, vicious tyrant that he became. His life was governed by both
his choices and his life experiences, so it is important to examine these along with his
persuasive method to gain a comprehensive understanding of why he used his gift of
persuasion in the way that he did.

Hitler during World War I. Can you identify him? | Source

Hitler's Formative Years

Adolf Hitler was born into a middle class family in April of 1889. His father, who died in
1903, was an Austrian customs official whom young Adolf quickly learned to fear. His
mother, whom he loved very much, died four years later in 1907. Adolf dropped out of high
school and moved to Vienna, hoping to become an artist. He was twice rejected by the
Vienna Academy of Fine Arts, so he lived off of his father’s pension and spent his early
twenties working as a freelance painter of postcards and advertisements (“Adolf Hitler,”
pars. 3-4). Vienna at this time was very nationalistic, and it was here that Hitler came into
contact with the Christian Socialist Party, which espoused anti-Semitic ideas and favored
the lower-middle class. He agreed with these ideas and began to thoroughly despise Jews
and by extension Marxism, which he believed to be a Jewish concept. Although he had
previously been classified as physically unfit for military service by the Austrian
government, once war had been declared in 1914 he immediately volunteered for the
German army. He was injured during the war and received the prestigious Iron Cross,
First Class in recognition of his bravery (Craig et al. 967).

advertisement

Following the war, Hitler joined the German Worker’s Party, later to be renamed the Nazi
party, and was soon put in charge of the party’s propaganda. He had found his niche. It
was in the German Worker’s Party that Hitler met Ernst Röhm, who helped him quickly
rise in the party ranks and later became one of Hitler’s top advisors. Party leaders felt
threatened by Hitler’s ambition and bold propaganda. Nevertheless, in July 1921 Hitler
was made party leader and began to hold weekly meetings, during which he gave
speeches that were eventually attended by thousands of people, including several men
who would eventually become infamous Nazi leaders.

Two years later, Hitler was involved in an unsuccessful rebellion against the government
and was jailed for nine months (“Adolf Hitler,” pars. 5-8). It was during this imprisonment
that Hitler wrote the first volume of Mein Kampf (“My Struggle”), his autobiography and
statement of political philosophy. This book was very influential in spreading his idea of
the master race, and by 1939, 5,200,000 copies had been sold (“Mein Kampf, paras. 1-3).
After he was released from prison, Hitler reestablished himself in the Nazi party and
eventually ran for president in 1932. Although he lost, he received over thirty-five percent
of the votes and was appointed to the chancellorship in 1933. Hitler quickly gained more
power; following the death of the president the following year, he assumed the presidency
in addition to the chancellorship, giving him absolute power. Thus, Hitler became a
dictator. (“Adolf Hitler,” pars. 8-17).

Adolf Hitler | Source

advertisement

Hitler the Dictator

As dictator, Hitler began systematically taking away civil rights and removing his
opposition. He primarily made general policies that he left to his subordinates to carry out.
In order to be sure that none of them would attempt a coup against him, he gave them
overlapping spheres of power and authority so that they would fight amongst themselves
and so that none of them would ever gain enough power to usurp him. Having left the
detailed domestic policy to his advisors, Hitler focused principally on foreign policy. He
used his incredible skill for being able to intuit the mood of others and the ability to use
those observations to manipulate people for his own benefit. He was able to negotiate the
annexation of the Rhineland and Czechoslovakia into Germany without firing a single
shot.

Hitler's Persuasive Method

At this point in his career, Hitler began to unleash his propaganda upon all of Germany.
He had previously used his persuasiveness to further himself in the Nazi Party and to gain
supporters, but it was not until he was dictator that that his persuasive style was fully
manifested. Adolf Hitler’s persuasive method was built upon the foundation of treating the
German people as a group, rather than as individuals. He explained this technique in the
following statement:

The receptivity of the great masses is very limited, their intelligence is small, but their
power of forgetting is enormous. In consequence of these facts, all effective propaganda
must be limited to a very few points and must harp on these in slogans until the last
member of the public understands what you want him to understand by your slogan. As
soon as you sacrifice this slogan and try to be many-sided, the effect will piddle away, for
the crowd can neither digest nor retain the material offered. (“Adolf Hitler: quote on
propaganda”)

Hitler and the Nazi Party treated the German people as if they were one entity, because
individuals are rational, think for themselves, and are concerned about their own well-
being; whereas groups are unintelligent and easily persuaded. Sigmund Freud stated that
groups tend to have the characteristics of “weakness of intellectual ability,…lack of
emotional restraint,...incapacity for moderation and delay, [and] the inclination to exceed
every limit in the expression of emotion.” Freud went on to say that groups “show an
unmistakable picture of a regression of mental activity to an earlier stage such as…
children” (qtd. in Bosamajian 69). Hitler used this understanding of groups to strategically
manipulate the German people.

Hitler and the Nazis recognized that if the German people had a group mentality they
would be much more receptive to Nazi ideology and propaganda. To reinforce this
mindset in the German people, or Volk, the Nazis held events that required mass
participation and did not invite individuality, such as “parades, mass meetings, semi-
religious rituals, [and] festivals” (Boasmajian 70). Anyone who did not openly participate or
share the emotion of the rest of the crowd was easily identified and dealt with by either the
crowd itself or by security personnel. One did not even have to be resistant or cause a
disturbance to be viewed as subversive; indifference alone was enough to infuriate the
crowd (Bosamajian 69-70).

Freud said that a crowd demands “strength or even violence” of its leaders: “It wants to be
ruled and oppressed and to fear its master” (70). Hitler and the Nazis fulfilled this
psychological need by infusing the Volk with the idea that the Nazi Party was strong and
powerful, and thus, to the feeble mind of the crowd, trustworthy. This was accomplished
through a myriad of ways, some obvious and others subtle. One of the most overt ways
that Hitler conveyed a sense of strength and power was through his speeches, during
which he would yell and wave his arms violently. The Nazis displayed strength through
demonstrations of military might. During the frequent military parades, the army would
march with its distinctive goose-step walk. The Heil salute made famous by the Nazis
added to their powerful image, as did Hitler’s title, Der Führer, which meant “the leader.”
Some of the more subtle ways that strength was portrayed include the excessive use of
common Nazi symbols such as the eagle, the swastika, and trigger words such as
“sword”, “fire”, and “blood” (Bosamajian 70).

advertisement

The infamous salute. | Source

Hitler’s inordinate use of trigger words helped him to maintain the support and attention of
his audiences and allowed them to get exceedingly excited about his speeches. These
words added to Hitler’s tactics of persuasion by creating word association. When referring
to Germany, he used words that conveyed strength. When speaking about enemy nations
or about Jews and Marxists, he used words that alluded to weakness, his favorite of which
was pacifist; he used this term to refer to anything and everything that he disagreed with.
To Hitler, pacifism was the ultimate sign of weakness (Bosamajian 71).

Another technique Hitler employed in his speeches was the “either-or” fallacy. By creating
a false dilemma in the mind of his audience, he was able to convince them that although
something was unethical, it was the only option. The shallow nature of the group was not
able to comprehend that a statement such as “either the German people annihilate the
Jews or the Jews will enslave them” is not logically true. According to Bosamajian, “either-
or” dilemmas “appealed to the crowd mentality…because of the definiteness and strength
in the ‘either-or’ presentation. There is no compromise…[or] weakness in ‘either-
or’....‘Either-or’ [is] power and strength” (73-4). These arguments created a sense of
urgency in the audience; they were a call to action.

The final tactic Hitler used to persuade the Volk through his speeches was convincing his
audience that the rest of the world thought of Germany as inferior, second-class citizens.
This angered the crowd, who had been comprehensively indoctrinated to believe that they
were the master race. Hitler offered up as evidence the Treaty of Versailles, which he
believed treated the Germans as subhuman. The average German must have thought,
“How dare those pacifist cowards call us, the perfect Aryan race, second class or
inferior?” He would have doubtlessly been enraged. Hitler furthermore blamed Germany’s
relegation to second-class status on the Jews, who he claimed both caused Germany to
lose World War I and stole wealth that rightfully belonged to those of German descent.
The irrational nature of the crowd caused the Germans to be very accepting of this idea
and to defer blame to those it felt possessed something of which they were undeserving
(Bosamajian 74-6).

advertisement
 An error occurred.

Try watching this video on www.youtube.com, or enable JavaScript if it is disabled in your browser.

The Legacy of Hitler's Persuasion

Hitler and his use of persuasion have had an inestimable impact on the world. His
persuasive and inspirational abilities catapulted him from the lowly status of a high school
dropout to the most feared man in the world, a dictator who used his persuasiveness to
unite and inspire a nation to wreak havoc on the rest of Europe. Many historians regard
Hitler as the man solely responsible for starting World War II (“Adolf Hitler,” par. 38), which
changed Europe forever and will never be forgotten. Hitler’s policies, though quickly
repealed after he committed suicide and Nazi Germany was defeated, had far-reaching
effects. Families were torn apart, entire nations were laid to waste, and an entire race was
nearly exterminated. As a result of the “scientific” horrors performed on Jews during
Hitler’s administration, many countries, including the United States, realized how
inhumane the idea of eugenics was, and immediately aborted all efforts to create an
advanced or super-race. Sadly, some of Hitler’s ideas are still alive today; there are
various neo-Nazi sects scattered throughout the world that cling to a version of Hitler’s
racist beliefs.

Adolf Hitler was an extraordinary orator and persuader of men; the fact that no matter how
vile his policies became he retained the support of German popular opinion bears witness
to this. He used this gift not to benefit society, but rather to deceive and destroy millions of
lives. Hitler’s name will forever remain in the annals of history, but it is not categorized as
he had believed it would be. He is not remembered as the man to cleanse the master race
from all impurities, nor is he remembered as the patriarch of a new empire. He is instead
remembered as a merciless tyrant who murdered millions based only upon their race,
political views, or sexuality. He is remembered as the man who inspired millions to march
willingly to their deaths in defense of this vile cause, and he will forever be remembered
as the coward who committed suicide rather than do the same.

References
"Adolf Hitler." Encyclopædia Britannica. Encyclopædia Britannica Online. Encyclopædia
Britannica, 2011. Web. 24 Jan. 2011.

"Adolf Hitler: quote on propaganda." World History: The Modern Era. ABC-CLIO, 2011.
Web. 24 Jan. 2011.

Bosmajian, Haig A. "Nazi Persuasion And the Crowd Mentality." Western Speech 29.2
(1965): 68-78. Communication & Mass Media Complete. EBSCO. Web. 25 Jan. 2011.

Craig, Albert, William Graham, Donald Kagan, Steven Ozment, and Frank Turner. The
Heritage of World Civilizations. 8th ed. Vol 2. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson Education,
2009. Print. 2 vols.

"Mein Kampf." Encyclopædia Britannica. Encyclopædia Britannica Online. Encyclopædia

Britannica, 2011. Web. 27 Jan. 2011.

advertisement

POPULAR RECOMMENDED

HISTORY HUMANITIES

The 10 Most Important Adam Was Not the First

Moments and Events in Human, for the Bible
History Tells Us So
by Rebecca Graf 271 by HeadlyvonNoggin 0

HISTORY HUMANITIES

25 Facts About Vlad Hades: Greek God and

Tepes the Impaler Archetype of the
by Thomas Swan 22
Underworld
 by Jean Bakula 0
HISTORY
HUMANITIES
The Greek Myth of
Demeter and the Ball Games in the
Abduction of Her Medieval Period
Daughter Persephone by bamuscarella 0

by SarahLMaguire 5
HUMANITIES

Adolf Hitler: Quick Facts

by Larry Slawson 0

COMMENTS

Sign in or sign up and post using a HubPages Network account.

Name

Add Your Comment...

Post Comment 0 of 8192 characters used

Lee
2 months ago

Wow this article just described what the news is doing and how some
politicians are getting children to try and influence politicians and their
decisions. They also are having mobs go around and harass and intimidate
people. Very scary you can see where we are headed. They threaten and
harass those who chose to have their own opinion or who choose to think
for themselves. You can see what is coming.

guardian41
2 months ago

Good article, thanks. I found some parallels with current politics, particularly
that Hitler was unfit to govern. His lack of experience was overcome with
bluster and bravado. I was not surprised that the tactics needed to achieve
dictatorship were still in use..

Right One
4 months ago

I read the comments of the triggered Lefists and laugh. You read into part
of a story of a man who manipulated children to manipulate adults and fail
to see that the Democrat party is doing this to your youth as you sit on your
pedestals! Hitlers youth and ANTIFA are one in the same and they were
both Leftists Socialist parties. First indoctrinate the children and then go
after the parents and the guns. Maybe you should buy a book about WWII
and read more about Hitler and learn more about history before you speak
out of turn. SMH

One Word
6 months ago

People often ask how the German people could have elected such a
monster to power such as Hitler.

To answer that question is to ask another question.

How did Trump get elected?

Barack Obama
8 months ago

This is uh....... good.

Alan R Lancaster
13 months ago from Forest Gate, London E7, U K (ex-pat Yorkshire)

Further to what I wrote earlier, the idiocy of Far Right and Nazi ideology has
raised its head again in the USA. That DT belatedly stamped on their antics
after the recent demo reflects badly on him. That the Holocaust Deniers still
exist - and flourish - in the Bible Belt doesn't say much for them, or maybe
they don't know the Old Testament they use in Church is an almost
verbatim translation from the Hebrew.

A combined alliance of nations and partisan movements defeated Hitler

(more accurately Schickelgruber, Hitler was his mother's maiden name) in
1945, with his wretched underlings. Why revere a failure when there are so
many historical figures who didn't let their own personal outlook colour their
successes?

Maybe folk in the mid-west need to get to the coast more often, to get some
ozone air into their systems. That might clear them up a bit (come to think
of it, Hitler and a lot of his contemporaries came from landlocked Austria or
Bavaria, including the failed chicken farmer, Himmler).

bobby
15 months ago

Any examples of these trigger words he used t manipulate Germans?

Martin
17 months ago

He was telling the truth

Ed Schofield
19 months ago from Nova Scotia, Canada

Another part of persuasion used from the very beginning was the politically
inspired violence - shootings at meetings of the opposition, murder of
judges who sentenced Nazis, disappearances of journalists or editors,
intimidation and beatings of teachers, street marches with pistols in their
pockets. Silencing the opposition made it easier for them. These tactics are
used today to keep undesirables in office, and effectively defeat
democracy.

advertisement

Roger
19 months ago

Actually, Hitler never oversaw personally nothing related to the ways Jews
were being muredered. He never wanted to know anything related. He just
wanted solutions no matter what.

Alan R Lancaster
20 months ago from Forest Gate, London E7, U K (ex-pat Yorkshire)
Anti-Semitism was - still is in places - endemic in Central and Eastern
Europe from Germany and Austria, Switzerland, Poland, Croatia, Poland,
Slovakia, the Ukraine and parts of Russia. The Germans blamed losing
WWI on the Jews, and Hitler used this hatred (shared also by Kaiser
Wilhelm, who had several other mental issues) to fan support for his
policies. He didn't personally oversee activities on the 'Jewish Problem',
that was left to Himmler, Heydrich and the various 'Gauleiters' (regional
governors), although he did take part in the Wannsee Conference in Berlin
that decided on the 'Final Solution' in 1942 before Heydrich was
assassinated near Prague.

With a clever shyster or defence lawyer he might have got off at Nuremberg
with insanity, as he rarely signed any documents that authorised the
programme, unlike Himmler who was 'in it up to his ears'. It is still not
certain he did die in the bunker, as the remains found in the Reichs
Chancellery Gardens were disputed. What was there was taken to Moscow
for analysis.

真実くん
22 months ago

The Jewish population actually increased during the 30's and 40's. There
were no gas chambers in the work camps and there aren't any today. I
challenge anyone to go to Auschwitz and scrutinize these claims. There is
no evidence systematic killings. Yes, Jews were oppressed during Hitler's
regime. Hitler targeted the Jews because of their influence on society.
Sexual degeneracy, the corruption of art and usury were visible and hated
by the general population. Hitler did not need convince anyone. He was just
adamant at discussing it publicly. You should realize the concept of
'antisemitism' was not a taboo back then. Yeah, he had a great charisma,
but he also turned Germany into an economical miracle. There's no
denying it, but people don't take notice of that because they are continually
fed shoah propaganda. Why do you think the 'Holocaust' needs state laws
to enforce its validity? Germany is still paying reparations to what they
supposedly did and it seems like every Jew had a relative in Auschwitz.
Isn't that weird?

Anne Horsey
22 months ago

A wonderful article.
Bob
23 months ago

AMAZING! I used so much of this information! I like how it includes

everything about Hitler's past. I now know how people can say Hitler is a
hero.

Hitlerhimself
2 years ago

I believe Hitler was a wonderful influential spiritual individual. Amen

Hoorah!

Kuan Leong Yong

2 years ago from Singapore

Wonderful hub! Definitely one of the most informative and disturbing hubs
too! I remember the first time I watched a footage of Hitler, a B/W jumpy
one, and I thought, Oh Gosh, I can feel the magnetism from this man,
despite knowing what a monster he was. Those assertive gestures, that
switching between hysteria and cold determination, he could be very
hypnotic.

Might I also share what I learned from a researcher when I went on one of
those Berlin walks. According to him, Hilter's message was further
reinforced by the illusion that he strengthened Germany. Germany in the
30s was suffering badly from repatriations for WWI and the Great
Depression. The Nazis created the illusion of economic growth through
arms manufacturing. At the same time, WWI never reached the German
homeland in 1918. In other words, the Germans never felt the real horror of
war. Because of these, Hilter's militaristic message actually gained a
romantic sort of draw, on top of seemingly fulfilling all promises. Many
Germans fell prey to it.

advertisement

McKenna Meyers
3 years ago from Bend, OR

Fascinating! I will think of these strategies Hitler used whenI listen to others
who try to lead and persuade -- politicians, religious leaders, etc.

Jeb Stuart Bensing

3 years ago from Phoenix, Arizona

Your take on Hitler is top notch in my book. This is the second time I have
viewed this insightful perspective on History. Regardless of all the other
villains who have walked this earth, Hitler has created an everlasting stain
on our interwoven tapestry of history. You have created an impressive work
of art.

Nick
3 years ago from Gilbert Arizona

I would just comment your article is not totally accurate . Many today
including organizd groups view Hitler as a hero. Leaders emulate his tactics
of ethnic cleansing across the world. He was also not the only leader to be
persuasive Joseph Stalin had he not been an ally would have gone down in
history as a greater villain and no leader has done more evil and remains
revered to this day as Mao is in China.

Hitler runs a poor number three to his colleagues perhaps where he is

unique is he wrote a book saying what he was going to do ahead of having
any real power and the world was constantly surprised yet he did not stray
from what he had written.

Japan carries a good deal of the burden for they began WWII and their
duplicity and Stalin's greed contributed much to pushing Hitler onward .

Sara
4 years ago

If I were to cite this how would I do it?

Bendizzy
4 years ago

May we have another essay but this time on Churchill?

Adam
4 years ago from Overland Park, Kansas

I am dumbfounded when people try to justify Hitler's actions on solely being

 intelligent. Anyone can be intelligent, it's how you use the intelligence that
makes you a fool or wise. Obviously, Hitler was fool because he committed
a flaw in letting his subordinates infight so he could stay in power. For the
short while it worked, but when he was losing the war they turned on Hitler.
A house cannot stand when it fights against itself.

Jeb Stuart Bensing

4 years ago from Phoenix, Arizona

Wow! This article is very insightful and well written. You did such a great
job, it was like reading an article from the History Channel. I am
speechless.

Ronald E Franklin
4 years ago from Mechanicsburg, PA

Interesting topic. And useful because Hitler's techniques did not die with
him - they remain on full display in today's political arena.

A Little TRUTH
5 years ago

Your passion for history is awesome! If we could just collectively pay more
attention to it, we could stop repeating the same mistakes - but most
people have very little interest. I used to be that way myself. It’s great that
you’re shedding light on it.

Indeed, to know Hitler is to know how to foil the next one that comes along.
I think his constant and repetitive use of simple slogans and pictures was
his most powerful instrument of persuasion.

I suspect that you might enjoy the book “The Synchronicity Key” by David
Wilcock. It's an enlightening study of the repeating patterns of History.

Josh Wilmoth
5 years ago from North Carolina
AUTHOR
Thanks for reading! Levertis, I too am struck by the horrific acts that Adolf
Hitler committed. Movies that humanize Hitler, such as the German film
Downfall, are even more frightening because they make you realize that
Hitler was a human being and in some ways was not unlike any normal
person you might meet on the street. It's hard to believe that someone who
in some ways seems rather ordinary could be capable of such atrocities.
 Panagiotis Tsarouchakis
5 years ago from Greece

Very interesting!

Levertis Steele
5 years ago from Southern Clime

Welcome to HubPages, Josh. Enjoy!

Levertis Steele
5 years ago from Southern Clime

I am speechless. Even though I have read much about Hitler, I find myself
at a loss of words each time I read about him. I refuse to hate him because
hatred is burdensome and soon proves to be a waste of time. He certainly
destroyed a lot of lives, the dead and the living, but the world has survived
him. I hope the world never knows such a person again. When I think about
the many pictures I have seen of starving, oppressed people at
concentration camps, I can only assume that Hitler was mentally ill. I do not
understand why the world stood mesmerized as if it did not know what to
do while millions of innocent adults and children perished at the hands of a
tyrant and all of his accomplices. Often there are complexities that ordinary
citizens do not understand.

Many years ago, after reading THE DIARY OF ANNE FRANK, I understood
what it was like for a child to suffer persecution during that time, although
Anne's situation was probably not the worse among the children. Her father
was the only survivor while the rest of the family perished at a
concentration camp.

Your hub is informative and quite interesting. Thanks for sharing.

About Us Editorial Policy Copyright Terms of Use Privacy Policy

Copyright © 2018 HubPages Inc. and respective owners. Other product and company names shown may be trademarks of their respective

owners. HubPages® is a registered Service Mark of HubPages, Inc. HubPages and Hubbers (authors) may earn revenue on this page
based on affiliate relationships and advertisements with partners including Amazon, Google, and others.