Final Draft Research Paper

Hitler’s Psychological Tactics Enforced on the Jews
The Nazi’s needed a way to get around six million Jews to concentration camps without the Jews starting riots, and German citizens not noticing. They way the Nazi’s were able to accomplish the German people to not notice was through selective inattention. The way the Nazis got the Jews to the concentration camps and for everyone to follow was through fear. He used propaganda to deceive the Germans and outside nations.
The next psychological technique Hitler used against the Jews was propaganda. Hitler used propaganda to deceive the people of Germany and the Jews. “Propaganda works on the general public from the standpoint of an idea and makes them ripe for the victory of this idea." (Hitler 1962). Hitler used sold the idea of anti-Semitism to the general public and told them if they got rid of the Jews that they would become a perfect race. He said that the Jews were brining them down. Germany wanted to achieve Hitler’s goal of perfection so they followed his lead. "The function of propaganda is to attract supporters, the function of organization to win members” (Hitler, 1924). So he used his propaganda to bring in members into the Nazi regime. When he got more members to believe in the same goal he did he moved onto his goal of exterminating the Jewish race. Hitler not only used propaganda to attract Germans. He also used the propaganda on other nations such as Czechoslovakia and Poland. This propaganda was used to show their political loyalty and race superiority to them. After the invasion of the Soviet Union, Nazi propaganda was directed to soldiers, people home,  police officers, and non-German auxiliaries and it presented Germany as the defender of “Western” culture. Even in the newspaper there were political cartoons that were racial towards Jews (Picture, pg.43 Daily Life During the Holocaust).  Hitler was doing everything in his power to get the people on his side and despise the Jewish race. Propaganda was a great way to spread that idea around rapidly. Everyone got the newspaper and the word spread quickly and as the days went on Hitler’s support grew by a little bit. He was tricking the German people and other nations in to believing in him.
During World War II, Adolph Hitler used anti-Semitism to unite the Nazi’s with Non-Germans. Hitler used concentration camps as a way to “fix” the problem with society. The main group he targeted was the Jews, but there were other groups: homosexuals, gypsies, Jehovah’s Witnesses, Freemasons, African Americans, even people with disabilities. The Nazi’s wanted to get the Jews to these concentration camps with out everyone in Germany knowing because they knew that not everyone would be “ok” with the camps. The psychological tactic that Hitler used was selective inattention. “It is developed from within, and utilized defensively by the individual to serve his or her own needs.” (The Psychology of Death, pg. 427) What happens is the people had an idea that the Jews were going somewhere they just choose to not believe what the camps where doing and just block it out. People would rather not comprehend the facts then actually knowing and living through the misery. It was an escape for people to get away from the horrible reality the Holocaust was.  The reason people were doing this because they didn’t want to feel like they were letting their country down. “To screen out this sort of information before it fully registers upon thoughts and feelings is to contribute to one’s assent to the continued distress and vulnerability of many other citizens.”(The Psychology of Death, pg. 472) There was nothing really German citizens could do to prevent the concentration camps. The head power of Germany, Hitler, was in charge with the help of the Army. Hitler also threatened German lives if they decided to help the Jews hide away. You could risk your life for the Jews but that was part of the psychological mind game Hitler was using so that you would fear the consequences. Instead of trying to help out you just block it out and believe that there is nothing wrong and that the Jews are just going on vacation. Hitler brought a prevalent sense of optimism to Germany though. When people would go outside there were marches where people sang, dance, and then camped out on the countryside. (Picture in Life in Germany, pg.33). To help his cause even more he “expanded health, social security, and old age benefits. His public works included construction of a network of Autobahnen, reclamation of swamps and wastelands, and reforestation” (Life in Germany, pg. 33). Hitler was using this optimism to bring the attention of the camps and the anti-Semitism. There were some citizens who followed Hitler‘s ideas of anti-Semitism. Not everyone person blocked the concentration camps out, some people helped the Jews, some were for the camps. For instance Lydia Gottschewski praised what Hitler was doing. She was an organizer for many women organizations. She wrote in one newsletter “banish pity from your hearts when it comes to Jews.”(The Total Nazification of Germany, pg. 29). Her newsletter is in (Support from the Citizens, pg. 29). People that tried to help out would be the family that helped the Franks.
The way Hitler was able to get the Jews to the concentration camp without any riots were through fear. Fear was Hitler’s most valuable asset, because no one wanted to get shot by a soldier carrying machine guns. The Jews just got onto the trains not knowing where they were going until they arrived at the camps. When the Jews got to these camps they were forced to work in terrible conditions all day. The main purpose of this was for natural extermination. The Jews were frightened to die so they would do anything to stay alive. This was Hitler’s most powerful tactic and was the way he got the Jews to follow orders. The main objective of the Jews in the camps was to stay alive so they followed whatever rule or order. They believed if they could just make it through the camps by following orders they would eventually achieve freedom “forced oneself to believe life in camp was only temporary, that freedom would eventually come”(Coping with Life in a “Concentration” World, pg.108). By having the Jews fear death, but give them a little sense of hope they would do whatever the officers commanded them to do. One trick the Nazi’s used to show hope was they would have a guard at the showers so people wouldn’t get suspicious but when the got in he would leave and turn the gas on, killing the Jews. The Jews fear did not lead to any retaliation instead in did what Hitler wanted them to do follow orders. Also they made the appearance in the front of the camp likeable. They put flowers out front to make it seem like the place you where going to wasn’t too bad. Once you got into the camp though that thought process completely stopped. The camps were horrible and there were officers stationed everywhere with machine guns. They would line the Jews up and order them according to age and gender and maybe some other physical attributes. The Jews just thought they were going somewhere to work they could have never imagined that the concentration camps were going to be death camps.
The three psychological techniques Hitler used were selective inattention, fear, and propaganda. Each psychological technique helped his other techniques and that is why the holocaust was able to happen. If you didn’t support him through his propaganda techniques then you feared him or you just blocked out the realization of what was going on.  Hitler’s psychological effect on Germany at this time was incredible. It is amazing that he was able to get a country to back him on such a horrible/racial idea. Hitler took advantage of the struggles of World War I to come to power and take over using his techniques. He spread his ideals around and ultimately became one of the worst tyrants of all time.