Purging Germany of Nazi Propaganda - United States Holocaust Memorial Museum

The Allies vowed to destroy German militarism and Nazism. After Germany’s defeat in May 1945, the United States, Great Britain, France, and the Soviet Union began to fulfill that pledge. They disarmed Germany and abolished its military forces. Allied authorities instituted the denazification and reeducation of the German people.

Allied orders outlawed the Nazi Party. Over the next several years, the occupation authorities attempted to purge Germany of Nazism. They demanded that libraries, bookshops, schools, and universities turn over all Nazi propaganda materials. They removed all posters, statues, monuments, street signs, and emblems that glorified the Nazi Party. In addition, they banned the distribution and display of Nazi symbols.

Even today, the distribution of Nazi symbols and propaganda continues to be illegal in Germany.

A black poster with painted red text and an illustration that resembles Hitler's face as a skeleton. — Jürgen Freese, “Nuremberg—Guilty!” 1946.
*United States Holocaust Memorial Museum, the Abraham and Ruth Goldfarb Family Acquisition Fund*

Prosecution of Propagandists at Nuremberg

The wrongs which we seek to condemn and punish have been so calculated, so malignant, and so devastating that civilization cannot tolerate their being ignored, because it cannot survive their being repeated.

—Justice Robert H. Jackson, United States chief of counsel, Nuremberg, November 21, 1945

In October 1945, the International Military Tribunal (IMT) indicted 24 German officials as major Nazi war criminals. Of those, 21 men stood trial in Nuremberg.

Two defendants faced prosecution specifically for their propaganda activities. The first, Julius Streicher, was the editor of the German antisemitic newspaper titled Der Stürmer. His weekly newspaper had only one function: to spread anti-Jewish propaganda. Every single issue and every article was devoted to promoting hatred of Jews. The second, Hans Fritzsche, was the chief of the broadcasting division of the Nazis’ propaganda ministry. The IMT charged both men with crimes against humanity for inciting the hatred that led to the persecution and murder of Europe’s Jews.

For the first time in history, an international court prosecuted propagandists for provoking murderous crimes.

An older man wearing a suit with balding white hair and a mustache stands, wood paneling is visible behind him. — Julius Streicher in the Nuremberg courtroom, August 29, 1946.
*United States Holocaust Memorial Museum, courtesy of National Archives and Records Administration, College Park*

The Verdicts

Julius Streicher

The International Military Tribunal convicted Julius Streicher, the editor of the antisemitic newspaper Der Stürmer, of crimes against humanity. The court sentenced him to death, and he was subsequently hanged. The IMT ruled that Streicher knew of the mass killings of Europe’s Jews. The court found that dozens of his articles had called for the “annihilation of the Jewish race,” which constituted a direct incitement to mass murder and was a crime against humanity.

A man walks, wearing a suit, two men wearing military unforms follow closely behind him. — Defendant Hans Fritzsche is escorted by US military guards into the Nuremberg courtroom. Circa 1945.
*United States Holocaust Memorial Museum, courtesy of Harry S. Truman Library*

The Verdicts

Hans Fritzsche

Journalist Hans Fritzsche held various leadership positions within Nazi Germany’s Ministry of Public Enlightenment and Propaganda. Although he stood trial before the International Military Tribunal in Nuremberg, the IMT found no evidence that Fritzsche’s antisemitic broadcasts called for the annihilation of Jews and therefore his actions did not constitute a crime against humanity. He was acquitted by the court. Shortly after his release, a German denazification court sentenced him to nine years in prison.

Nazi Minister of Public Enlightenment and Propaganda Joseph Goebbels committed suicide during the final week of the war and therefore could not be held to account for his crimes.

Setting Precedents in International Law

Crime does not begin when you murder people.… The moment propaganda turns against another nation or against any human being, evil starts.

—Hans Fritzsche, Nuremberg defendant, in an interview with an American psychiatrist with the International Military Tribunal, April 6, 1946

To prove the defendants’ guilt, the International Military Tribunal prosecution had to show a direct and causal link between a defendant’s words, either spoken or written, and the commission of mass murder. The court ruled that Hans Fritzsche had made vile, antisemitic statements. But unlike Streicher, he had not called for the physical destruction of Jews.

The Streicher and Fritzsche judgments set legal precedents in international law. They have since influenced the prosecution of individuals charged with incitement to genocide.

Defendants in the main courtroom of the Palace of Justice in Nuremberg during a session of the International Military Tribunal.

Stadtarchiv Nuernberg

A man stands holding a sign reading Dietrich — Mugshot of Otto Dietrich for the International Military Tribunal at Nuremberg.
*National Archives and Records Administration, College Park, Md.*

Additional Trials of Propagandists

Otto Dietrich

In 1949, the US Military Tribunal at Nuremberg convicted Otto Dietrich, the former Reich press chief of the Nazi Party, of crimes against humanity. It found that he had directed the German press “to enrage Germans against the Jews” and to justify measures against them. The court sentenced Dietrich to seven years in prison. In 1950, his sentence was commuted to time served. He died in 1952.

Clothes of victims of the Rwandan genocide hang at the Murambi Genocide Memorial Center, 2007. In 1997, the United Nations International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda indicted three Rwandans for incitement to genocide.

Responses to Dangerous Propaganda since Nuremberg

The Holocaust and other Nazi crimes shocked the world’s conscience. They triggered an ongoing discussion of how to best combat harmful forms of speech. The Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide in 1948 made incitement to genocide a crime under international law. It stipulated that individuals who incited genocidal violence could be prosecuted even if no genocide occurred. Some countries, including Germany, have criminalized Nazi propaganda as well as speech aimed at inflaming national, religious, ethnic, or racial hatred.

In the United States, Nazi propaganda is generally protected under the right of freedom of expression. Free speech advocates argue that in the marketplace of ideas, truth will triumph over evil. They argue that counter speech is a more effective weapon than censorship.

The Legacy of Nazi Propaganda and the 21st Century

In the 20th century, the Nazis showed the world how dangerous propaganda could be in the hands of experts. They used the most current technology available to promote their radical goals.

In the 21st century, the information landscape is far different from that of the 1930s and 1940s. The internet and social media have created the greatest marketplace of ideas in human history. At the same time, they are key transmitters of propaganda.

The study of Nazi propaganda during the Holocaust raises questions relevant for today:

What makes us vulnerable to dangerous propaganda?
How do we counter disinformation?
Does the audience bear responsibility for the success of propaganda?
How do we address the spread of dangerous propaganda without endangering civil liberties?