Goebbels on Propaganda
The source: Der Kongress zur Nürnberg 1934 (Munich: Zentralverlag der NSDAP., Frz. Eher Nachf., 1934), pp. 130-141.
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Goebbels at Nuremberg - 1934
by Joseph Goebbels
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It is difficult to define the concept of propaganda thoroughly and precisely. This is especially true since in past decades it was subject to unfavorable definitions, particularly as the enemy defined it with regards to us Germans. First, then, we must defend it. Those abroad sometimes claim that in the past we Germans were particularly good in this area, but that unfortunately is not consistent with the facts. We learned this all too clearly during the World War. While the enemy states produced unprecedented atrocity propaganda aimed at Germany throughout the whole world, we did nothing and were completely defenseless against it. Only when enemy foreign propaganda had nearly won over the greater part of the neutral states did the German government begin to sense the enormous power of propaganda. It was too late. Just as we were militarily and economically unprepared for the war, so too with propaganda. We lost the war in this area more than in any other.
The cleverest trick used in propaganda against Germany during the war was to accuse Germany of what our enemies themselves were doing. Even today large parts of world opinion are convinced that the typical characteristics of German propaganda are lying, crudeness, reversing the facts and the like. One needs only to remember the stories that were spread throughout the world at the beginning of the war about German soldiers chopping off children's hands and crucifying women to realize that Germany then was a defenseless victim of this campaign of calumny. It neither had nor used any means of defense.
The concept of propaganda has undergone a...