During his rise to power, the country of Germany was also in a slump after their defeat in World War I and the huge reparations and loss of dignity that the Treaty of Versailles brought. If Hitler wanted Germany to become a large world power, and if he wanted to accomplish his goals, he needed to bring pride and love for the country back to the people as well.

The Nazis enforced their ideas starting at a very young age. Boy Scouts and other youth groups in Germany at the time were banned and replaced with the Hitler Youth. The goals of this group were to train young people - boys and girls – in the ideology of Hitler, to build a large military, and to convince the children that their parents who might disagree with Nazi beliefs were wrong. Large parades were hosted often with mandatory attendance and lasted several hours, putting on a display of love for country and Hitler. Propaganda posters were placed to encourage men to join the army, the boycott of Jewish services, and other Nazi goals. To push anti-Semitism through the country and proclaim it as the “right thing to do,” messages were painted on Jewish property and in towns to single out the Jews. Propaganda was even used to convince captured Soviet soldiers to turn on their commanders in order to get home safely during World War II.

The propaganda removed all the German people’s free thinking and replaced it with one small world view. Jews and other groups the Nazis deemed ‘undesirable’ took the largest hit, being mass slaughtered while the people around either were convinced to see nothing wrong with it or did not have the power to speak out.

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