On January 30, 1933, Adolf Hitler was named Chancellor of Germany and this marked a new era of German politics and social influence over the society. The Nazi party also had influence over the German film industry during this period by using subtle propaganda in their films to gain support and to censor any criticisms of the party. Films such as “Triumph of the Will”, “Hitler Youth Quex”, and “Jew Suss” were propagandist tools of the Nazi party to indoctrinate the German citizens into a Nazi ideology mindset. These films were tools of Nazi propaganda which formed the building blocks of the World War II initiative of getting a loyal and dedicated foundation of youth to go along with war and genocide of the Jewish people.
{In the opening scene of Triumph of Will, Hitler is flying over the city of Berlin sending over his people like a Messiah about celebrate his triumph of his will and determination to take Germany out of it 16 years of misery of the Treaty of Versailles’s and World War I. The director used overhead shots of the city to show the scope of the support for the Nazi party, also show the scope of the military support and the devotion of the Hitler youth. In Triumph of the Will, the Hitler youth are shown as hard-working strong young men showing the pride and exuberance the Nazi party has infused within them.
This point was also drawn in the film Hitler Youth Quex as Heini Völker devotion to the Nazi party in the Hitler youth instills a sense of nationalistic pride within anyone associated with the group. The model of what an Aryan male should look like is depicted in both films as the theme from Hitler Youth Quex continues in Triumph of the Will German males are depicted as tall, thin, and fit with blonde hair. The speech composed by Rosenberg in Triumph of the Will spoke to the responsibility omission of the Hitler youth to continue the work of the German soldiers who fought in World War I and continue the nationalistic pride by adhering to the slogan that was over the heads of each speaker which was “Anything for Germany”. The statement anything for Germany meant more than just being loyal to the country, but it also meant a “pseudo-religious element” whether you joined the Hitler youth or embrace Nazi ideology you are showing your “love and trust” to Hitler. Each film as the common thread that the Nazi party is every man’s party with no discrimination to any social class. This is shown when Heini Völker enters Ulla home and is told that the party accepts anyone regardless of class because the Hitler youth is willing to “receive you into our great community of loyalty” because regardless of social status the party is united and devoted to each other. The speech by Ley in Triumph of the Will says that men of lower social classes such as farmers need to be “upright and strong” for the betterment of German society, and these citizens are on equal footing with men of higher social class status. In Joseph Goebbels speech in Triumph of the Will, he speaks of within the Nazi party to rejuvenate Germany to its former glory is what fuels “the creative art of modern propaganda” to steer the people into the direction the Nazi party sees fit.
The Nazi party tried to use the sentiment of the creative art of modern propaganda in the film Jew Suss. This film uses hateful propaganda demonize the Jewish people. The director sets out by doing this using the main character Joseph Süß Oppenheimer is the main villain. In the opening scene involving Oppenheimer, the first thing he asks is about the wealth of Wurtemberg showing Jewish people’s love for money. The film Hitler Youth Quex presented the Communists as strong opposition to their ultimate goal, while the film Jew Suss depicted Jewish people as a race that is a mortal enemy of the Jewish people. In comparison of the two enemies, the Nazi party deems the Jews as more of a threat to German life because they are intrinsically evil. The director of Jew Suss shows this in the scene of the blacksmith complaining over the raised toll tax, and his property being on Oppenheimer’s road. The situation led the blacksmith's house being split in half showing the Jew’s ability to be “sly and sharp” in their deceptive ways of handling economics as well as politics. Both films do a good job of depicting the appearance of both Communist and Jewish people as dirty and disheveled, and both were not showing the moralistic and reserved qualities of a good German by acting out as sexual deviants.
Physical differences of the two were quite different, while the Communist had different ideologies they were still German, while the Jews carried the stereo-typical traits of long beard hook noses and the eyes of a deviant. In the film Hitler Youth Quex, there was a scene where Heini Völker mother is confronted by the Communist leader threatening to harm her and Heini. The Communist leader does not harm’s mother. In contrast to this scene, Jew Suss dispels Jewish people as threatening to women. In the scene where Dorothea Sturm is raped by Oppenheimer, this dispels the Germans fear that no one should associate with a Jew “particularly not a German girl” for fear that the foreign races would taint the purity of Aryan blood. Both films do a good job of showing that both the Communist Party and Jewish people have no association with Germany and are deemed foreign. In Jew Suss in the scene where Oppenheimer and Dorothea enter the gates of Wurtemberg he had no association to any nation, this was to spread the Nazi ideology that “the devil, who in every land” will plunder and siphon wealth should be considered everywhere “as evil plague”. Although the Communists in Hitler Youth Quex showed loyalty to all Communists from abroad, they could be converted to being good Germans and possibly indoctrinated into the Nazi ideology. This wasn’t possible for the Jewish people because they were intrinsically evil.
Triumph of the Will”, and “Hitler Youth Quex” did the job of introducing a new generation to the Nazi ideology and to steer the people away from political opposition such as the Communist Party. Jew Suss took a different approach by demonizing the Jewish religion and categorizing them as a race of people who are in a long time struggle with the German people. The young people of Germany that were influenced by Triumph of the Will, and Hitler Youth Quex were soon to buy into the hate of Jew Suss and carry out the systematic murder of the Jewish people. The two films that focus on the Hitler youth and the ideology of the Nazi party was an introduction to the population as to how they must step in and embraced Nazi ideology, while not being turned off by its message of propaganda in favor of a party who didn’t have majority support in the early 1930s. Jew Suss message of demonization towards the Jewish people in the form of lies and stereotypes which are presented essentially to breed a fabricated lie of responsibility and obligation to recognizing and destroy their enemy the Jewish people. This propaganda was the vision of Joseph Goebbels in presenting the Jewish people as having no nation and no allegiance to Germany, and within them is an unbridled willingness to destroy Germany and the Aryan race.
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