NAZI MOVIES AS PROPAGANDA MACHINE: How Goebbels Changed the German Film Industry Into an Ideological Weapon

The German film industry transformed from a collection of independent studios into a division of the Nazi Party between 1933 and 1945. German film became a crucial component of the Nazi campaign to ideologically indoctrinate the German populace as part of the Ministry for Popular Enlightenment and Propaganda, led by Joseph Goebbels. However, the business kept up its prior commercial practices and made movies aimed at paying German consumers. Even though Goebbels worked hard to turn German cinema into an ideological weapon, the theater served as a popular consumer marketplace, and the various film tastes of German moviegoers continued to affect the kinds of films made. Therefore, filmmaking in Nazi Germany was influenced by popular taste and Goebbels' ideological objectives.

This book will look at several movies that demonstrate Goebbel's evolving propaganda objectives and the changing preferences of the German audience for movies during the Nazi era. Box office statistics from the years before and after the start of World War II offer unique insight into German film consumption and serve to highlight the extent to which the general public supported the war in Germany.