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Joseph Goebbels: Two Speeches on the Tasks of the Reich Ministry for Popular Enlightenment and Propaganda (March 15 / March 25, 1933)

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II. Address to the Officials and Directors of the Radio Corporation, Berlin, House of Broadcasting (March 25, 1933)


[ . . . ]

The Ministry has the task of achieving a mobilization of mind and spirit in Germany. It is, therefore, in the sphere of the mind what the Defense Ministry is in the sphere of defense. Thus, this ministry will require money and will receive money because of a fact which everybody in the Government now recognizes, namely that the mobilization of the mind is as necessary as, perhaps even more necessary than, the material mobilization of the nation. The proof is: in 1914 we had been mobilized in material terms as no other nation had—what we lacked was the mobilization of the mind within the country and in other countries which provided the basis for the material mobilization. We did not lose the war because our artillery gave out but because the weapons of our minds did not fire. Because people who knew nothing about it were employed to explain Germany to the world. Because people believed that any old privy councilor could do it, without his having any contact with every day life. No, this is a task for men who have come from the people and understand the people.

[ . . . ]

I consider radio to be the most modern and the most crucial instrument that exists for influencing the masses. I also believe—one should not say that out loud—that radio will in the end replace the press.

[ . . . ]

First principle: At all costs avoid being boring. I put that before everything.

[ . . . ]

So do not think that you have the task of creating the correct attitudes, of indulging in patriotism, of blasting out military music and declaiming patriotic verse—no, that is not what this new orientation is all about. Rather you must help to bring forth a nationalist art and culture which is truly appropriate to the pace of modern life and to the mood of the times. The correct attitudes must be conveyed but that does not mean they must be boring. And simply because you have the task of taking part in this national enterprise you do not have carte blanche to be boring. You must use your imagination, an imagination which is based on sure foundations and which employs all means and methods to bring to the ears of the masses the new attitude in a way which is modern, up to date, interesting, and appealing; interesting, instructive but not schoolmasterish. Radio must never go down with the proverbial disease—the intention is clear and it puts you off.

[ . . . ]

I am placing a major responsibility in your hands for you have in your hands the most modern instrument in existence for influencing the masses. By means of this instrument you are the creators of public opinion. If you carry this out well we shall win over the people and if you do it badly in the end the people will once more desert us.

[ . . . ]



Source of English translation: Jeremy Noakes and Geoffrey Pridham, eds., Nazism, 1919-1945, Vol. 2: State, Economy and Society 1933-1939. Exeter: University of Exeter Press, 2000, pp. 188, 191-92.

Source of original German text: Deutsches Rundfunk Archiv (DRA), Nr. C 1117 (77’ 50”); reprinted in Helmut Heiber, ed., Goebbels-Reden. Volume 1, 1931-1939. Düsseldorf, 1971, pp. 90, 94, 95, 106-07.

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