Adolf Eichmann and the Immense Power of Propaganda

World War II was the most brutal and destructive war in the history of our species, as the war caused over 80 million deaths, a significant waste of resources, and the development of concentration camps where millions of Jews were tortured and murdered. Many different leaders enabled the German Nazi Party to attain power of the country and to commit atrocious actions during the development of World War II. Adolf Eichmann was one of the most impactful leaders of the regime, and Eichmann’s hateful attitudes and destructive actions as a leader were significantly influenced by the widespread propaganda being perpetuated by Hitler, popular slogans, and films such as the Triumph of the Will.

Adolf Eichmann rose up the chain of command for the Schutzstaffel organization, or the SS, which was an organization designed as a protection service for the Nazi Party and for Germany. In the years preceding the 2nd world war, Eichmann’s extensive studies and comprehensive knowledge about the Jewish population enabled him to become appointed as a leader of the SS, and one of his primary obligations was to develop plans and implement strategies during World War II to solve the “Jewish question” regarding how to reduce or eliminate the Jewish population in Germany and in many other countries. Before and during World War II, Eichmann became one of the most powerful leaders of the Party, as he established location sites for Jewish ghettos and concentration camps, coordinated the details and actions of those camps, and arranged for different sets of Jewish communities to be sent and delivered to the most appropriate ghettos or camps (Holocaust Timeline: Adolf Eichmann). Thus, Eichmann had the powerful role of sending soldiers to execute Jewish communities or to capture the Jews and have them brought to the camps. At the camps, Eichmann and the soldiers often compelled the Jews to work under brutal and torturous conditions, forced them to endure terrible physical and mental abuse, and conducted mass executions of the Jews by gunshots and by gas chambers.

Eichmann was unfortunately successful in his mission and would often boast to Hitler and the other leaders of the Nazi Party regarding the abundant murder count that his strategies and concentration camps had fulfilled. By 1944, Eichmann had reportedly been responsible for the murders of 4 million Jews that died in concentration camps and another 2 million Jews who died from executions by mobile German soldiers (Holocaust Timeline: Adolf Eichmann). 10 years after the Germans lost the war to the powers of the Americans and the Soviets, Eichmann was discovered hiding in Argentina, captured by Israeli military forces, and held on trial in Jerusalem for murder and for several war crimes.

During the trial, Eichmann constantly repeated the concept that he had just been following orders and that it is unfair to prosecute him and not the many soldiers who actually killed Jewish people. However, Eichmann was found guilty on all counts and was sentenced to die by hanging in 1962 (Holocaust Timeline: Adolf Eichmann). Although in retrospect it can be difficult to understand how a man can commit such atrocious actions and justify such horrific violence, Eichmann was impelled to develop his anti-Semitic attitude and convinced to commit mass murders against the Jews and other minority groups because of the propaganda that was encouraging that behavior during the Nazi Party’s political reign over Germany.

One source of propaganda that reports indicate had dramatically influenced the values and behavior of Adolf Eichmann were the many slogans being expressed during the Nazi era. Many of the slogans were designed to express quick and purely rhetorical statements, and the catch phrases encouraged the Germans to remain patriotic and loyal for the Nazi Party and to develop a hateful attitude towards the Jews and other minority groups (Arendt). The slogans often established the Nazis as fulfilling a noble action and engaging in a virtuous battle, which in turn triggered the emotions of the German people, instilled the soldiers with a sense of pride, and motivated the country to support their cause of establishing a superior race and destroying groups that the Nazi Party considered inferior.

For instance, Heinrich Himmler was one of the most revered speakers and slogan writers of the Nazi era. The Nazi Party commonly utilized Himmler’s catch phrases and rhetorical statements to perpetuate propaganda slogans that could best maximize the morale of the solders and most effectively entice the German people to demonstrate loyalty for the Nazi movement. Some of the catch phrases that were written by Himmler and that were repeated by Nazi leaders such as Eichmann included, “My honor is my loyalty” and “these are battles future generations will not have to fight again.” Additionally, the Nazi leaders often quoted statements from speeches delivered by Himmler, including statements such as, “To have stuck it out and, apart from exceptions caused by human weakness, to have remained decent, that is what has made us hard. This is a page of glory in our history which has never been written and is never to be written.” Another popular passage of Himmler was, “The order to solve the Jewish question, this was the most frightening order an organization could ever receive (Arendt).” Thus, the messages of the slogans often provided Germans with the perception that they were engaged in a grand, virtuous, and historically significant struggle, and this perception further enhanced the motivation of the German people and Nazi supporters.

Many reports indicate that Eichmann and most Germans were dramatically inspired and encouraged to demonstrate loyalty for the Nazis because of the many slogans that were being perpetuated during the Nazi era. Thus, the propaganda being spread in speeches and slogans were capable of establishing the values and actions of Eichmann and the Germans, for the slogans caused people who most likely would not have naturally become killers to subscribe to the Nazi ideals and to develop an overwhelming fear of minorities, a hateful attitude towards Jews, and to become capable of committing murder against vulnerable and innocent people. This demonstrates the immense power of propaganda and the influential ability of slogans to determine the values we appreciate and the behavior we exhibit.

Another source of propaganda that influenced Eichmann was the movie, Triumph of the Will, which is a film that was produced by Leni Riefenstahl in 1935 and that documented the massive 1934 Nazi Party Congress. The 1934 Congress was held in Nuremberg and was attended by an enormous crowd of over 700,000 loud and enthusiastic Nazi supporters. Additionally, the film also contains several clips that depict large crowds cheering for Hitler and the Nazi Party, parades celebrating the Nazi movement, young children preparing to join the Party and soldiers training for combat (Triumph of the Will). However, the film is widely considered one of the most powerful and impactful pieces of propaganda ever made, as the film was responsible for increasing the size, support and momentum of the Nazi Party.

Showing large and excited crowds was one of the effective tactics utilized in the film to enhance the impact of the propaganda. In the introduction of the film and scattered all throughout the film, numerous scenes depict extraordinarily large crowds lined up in the streets, and during these scenes the massive crowds are screaming and erupting with passionate enthusiasm and jubilant excitement to demonstrate their overwhelming support of the Nazi Party (Triumph of the Will). The many scenes with large crowds shouting to display their passionate support of Hitler and the Party was an effective propaganda tactic, for humans have a tendency to become intrigued with curiosity at the sight of large crowds and often desire to join large crowds under the perception that something special must be associated with the distinctly large size of the crowd. The scenes also established a perception that joining the crowd can enable people to participate in a movement that is special, important and virtuous. Thus, the many scenes of loud crowds looking joyful and jubilant while demonstrating support for the Nazi Party enticed other people to also join the jubilant atmosphere of the movement and attracted people to also support the Party. The propaganda of the large crowd scenes also helped to instill Eichmann with a false sense of heroism that encouraged him to amplify his support of the Nazi regime.

The film also portrays many scenes in which children are in the crowd and cheering for Hitler, and this is also a strategic propaganda tactic. The many shots of children cheering and watching Hitler with a look of awe and reverence on their faces established a perception throughout the country that the Nazi leaders were excellent role models that deserved to be admired and appreciated. Additionally, there was a long scene that depicted very young children at a training camp and preparing to join the Nazi movement. The strangest aspect of the training camp scene was that the camp resembled the joyous attitude and jubilant atmosphere of a modern day summer camp, as the kids were all smiling, laughing, working together and playing games (Triumph of the Will). The camp was portrayed in a positive tone and was depicted as a comfortable environment to effectively entice more children to participate in the camps and join the Nazi movement.

Although the kid scenes are primarily for propaganda purposes, the scenes with kids cheering for Hitler or happily playing at Nazi camp, and the speech Hitler gave about the importance of the youth also served to help increase the success of the party in the future. All regimes need to attract children to continually increase the size of the regime and to ensure the movement is perpetuated deep into the future, and thus the many scenes involving children served as propaganda to attract more people towards the party and encouraged children to preserve and sustain the party in the succeeding generations. This filled Eichmann with the perception that he was fulfilling the obligations for a Party that was going to be remembered throughout history as being virtuous and victorious in achieving important and noble goals. The fact that Eichmann believed he was a part of a heroic and historically significant organization concealed him from the fact that he was actually engaged in a horrific movement spreading death and destruction around the world.

The music in the film also fulfilled the purpose of effective propaganda. The music was consistently symphonic, featured several horns and produced a very heroic and triumphant sound. While this heroic music served to glorify the Nazi Party, the music also asserted the message that the party and its supporters were fighting for a noble cause, were engaged in a heroic struggle of epic proportions and were achieving a triumphant victory. Thus, despite the atrocious values and deplorable actions of the party, the music deceived Eichmann and many German people into believing that the Party was involved in a noble struggle and a virtuous movement, and this false perception further encouraged people to join and passionately support the party.

The speech that Hitler delivered at the 6th Congress in Nuremberg was the main feature of the film and a powerful source of propaganda utilized by the filmmaker. During the speech, Hitler preaches about the importance of demonstrating unbridled loyalty to the party and repeatedly compliments the party for its elite ideals and powerful ability to control all of Germany. Hitler also emphasized a perception that the Nazi Party was the party of the people capable of eradicating all national divisions, uniting Germany and ensuring that the movement of the people was successful. Although the Nazi Party may have become the party of the people, the party was unfortunately instilling the people and their followers with horrendous attitudes and preparing them to engage in dreadful crimes against humanity, for Hitler’s speech was also replete with statements that expressed the need to reject what is bad and eliminate all groups who did not belong to their superior race with superior blood (Triumph of the Will). Thus, while the Hitler speech encouraged the Germans to demonstrate unbreakable loyalty to the Nazi Party, subscribing to the movement also required the people to adopt the terrible attitudes being perpetuated by the party, including asserting the arrogant belief that the traditional white Christians represented a superior race, expressing an astonishingly hateful attitude towards Jews and minority groups, and willingly becoming capable of killing other innocent people. Thus, the immense popularity of Hitler and the excitement of “Triumph of the Will” deceived Eichmann into believing he was being patriotic, participating in a heroic movement, and justified in killing 6 million Jewish people.

Being separated by multiple generations enables us to wonder how Eichmann and other seemingly nice German people could possibly adopt such ignorant and hateful attitudes and commit such violent and destructive crimes. However, the era of the Nazi reign over Germany demonstrates the immense power of propaganda, for the disingenuous propaganda of the era deceived and convinced ordinary German people to become extremely hateful killers, and thus we must be careful in the future to prevent deceitful propaganda from ever causing such hateful attitudes and destructive violence in the future. Although Eichmann may not have initially been a bad person inclined to commit murder, the propaganda regarding the popularity of Hitler, the many slogans being perpetuated at the time, and the film “Triumph of the Will” all convinced Eichmann to adopt terrible values and to commit atrociously violent crimes.

Works Cited

"Holocaust Timeline: Adolf Eichmann." The History Place. N.p. 15 Jan. 1997. http://www.historyplace.com/worldwar2/holocaust/h-eichmann.htm.

Arendt, Hannah. Eichmann in Jerusalem; a report on the banality of evil. New York: Viking Press, 1963.

Triumph of the will. Dir. Leni Riefenstahl. Perf. Adolf Hitler. Crown Video, 1935. Film.