SOURCE: "Propagandist as Propagandee," in ETC.: A Review of General Semantics, Vol. 36, No. 2, Summer, 1979, pp. 204-08.

In the following essay, Haratonik considers the extent to which Goebbels himself believed in the principles and ideas that he fostered as propaganda minister for the Third Reich.

Diaries are a curious form of literary endeavor. They are simultaneously both a private and public document; private in that the material is quite often initially meant for the use of the author exclusively; public in that, once committed to the page, by that very act, all information is accessible. "Diary"; the very word has always conjured up the image of a small Moroccan leather bound volume, securely sealed with a neat brass hasp, opened with a filagreed key. It seemed the perfect vehicle for Victorian ladies or pubescent girls to document precious moments of social (and sexual) triumph and tragedy. As Oscar Wilde...