The Holocaust as a Testament to the Power of Persuasion | The Holocaust as a Testament to the Power of Persuasion

Through utilizing various techniques of persuasion, Hitler convinced a nation of ordinary people to assist in committing the greatest genocide that the world had ever seen. The Holocaust would not have been possible without the cooperation of the millions of men and women who kept Hitler's plan moving. These men and women were not all sadistic, or stupid, or crazy, they were merely Seems ridiculous that someone was able to convince people to do this, so going to look at how it was made possible.

Propaganda is commonly used in times of conflict as a tool of mass persuasion. Cultural context is key to any persuasion attempt. Cultural context can determine in which way people are most successfully persuaded; whether dual process, peripherally etc1.

Western Cultures are more persuaded by appeals to personal benefit and success of the individual, whereas other cultures are more easily persuaded by promises of the achievement of group goals.

This comes into play in analyzing the success of Hitler in persuading the German people. It is important to consider the social climate at the time of Hitler's rise to power. Germany had only recently been defeated in the World War and humiliated in the Treaty of Versailles. The Depression came next, bringing with it poverty and unemployment to millions. The German people were angry, uncertain, and sought to return their country to its previous glory. The Nazi Regime provided the Jews as the nation's scapegoat. They were targeted through propaganda and speech after speech blaming them for Germany's unemployment and impoverishment, for the loss of the war and even for the Treaty of Versailles. Though neutral and completely unrelated to the dire state of the nation, they were picked out and specifically targeted.

According to the Heuristic Model of persuasion, the fact that the Jews had previously been a neutral group also may have assisted Hitler in shifting blame onto them. Most Germans would not have been highly concerned with the Jews as a people. The lack of cognitive processing given to information concerning the Jews would have impacted upon the willingness to accept all the new information on this group that was suddenly being presented to them. The lack of mental effort needed to accept Hitler's extreme stance on the Jews also appealed to the peripheral route of those who heard his message.2

The Nazi regime employed classical conditioning methods. The word "Jew" was deliberately and repeatedly associated with everything the Germans hated or resented. These aren't the only models of attitude formation that can be used to explain the techniques of Hitler and his government.

According to the Learning Model, attitude change is most encouraged when the communicator, the audience, and the message source, meet a variety of criteria.3. During his campaign, Hitler and his government managed to cover almost every different aspect.

Hitler, as a message source, communicated his ideas very well. He was in fact a trained orator and his speeches may have been even more convincing because of their rapidity4. He was also a man with which Germans could relate. He was no stranger to failure, having wanted to be an artist and even an architect, however ending up as a house painter. He had entered the war with high hopes and returned with nothing but disappointment. He presented himself as the savior who, with the help of his people, could redeem the German nation. Hitler appealed to the politically influential middle yet neglected middle class by promising them everything they could want. Socialism to the laborer, partition of the great estates to the peasant; trusts and economic security to the middle class citizen, rearmament of the Reich, and national liberation.

The arousal of strong emotions, especially fear, by a message, greatly increases the message's effectiveness.5 Nazi propaganda was more emotionally charged even than that of World War 1. Fear and anxiety were also essential characteristics of many of the messages that were presented to the German people.

The self-esteem of the audience is also believed to have an impact on how easily they are persuaded, with those with lower self-esteem more easily convinced6. The low socio-economic state of the German Nation during the time of Hitler's reign surely would have impacted on the average German's sense of himself and his country. To his followers, Hitler was respected, unquestionable and all-powerful.

Repeating a message as frequently as possible is also known to wear down an audience's resistance to it. During the years that Hitler was in power, it is important to remember that his government had the moral and financial support of many prominent German businessman, as well as that of Colonel Franz von Papen and other officials of the Weimar Republic.8 Soon to come was the establishment of the National Socialist Regime. Every source of public information, even schools, fell under Nazi control, and terror tactics were employed to discourage any production of counter-propaganda.9

Hitler's campaigns also appealed to various other factors that increase the persuasiveness of a message10 Messages that present a course of action that, when taken, will relieve any fear or anxiety. Hitler did this by vilifying the Jews and presenting to the Germans his "Final Solution", the eventual extermination of the Jewish people.

The Holocaust was merely one man seeking a horrible ideal; the redemption of his country and its ideals through the eradication of an entire group of people. But had it not been for the advanced techniques of persuasion employed by the Nazi regime, he would not have come as close as he did.