Despite coming from a humble background, Joseph Goebbels rose to prominence as one of the most well-known politicians of the twentieth century, inspiring numerous novels and motion pictures (such as “The Prelude of Barbarossa”). Goebbels’s ability to inspire a throng with a single phrase, even in terrible health, won him the support of the Third Reich’s supreme leader.
Childhood
The future Gauleiter was born in Reidt, a small industrial town in Germany, on October 29. The Goebbels family did not contain any public servants or politically engaged individuals.
Joseph’s mother Maria managed the home and brought up the kids, while his father Friedrich first worked in a lamp factory before switching to accounting. The family had five children in total: two sons and three daughters, in addition to Joseph. Due to her lack of formal education, Maria was born in Holland and spoke a dialect of German until the end of her life.
Friedrich was the only provider for the seven of them, and they often did not even have enough money for food.
As a result, Joseph was enraged by injustice from a young age: the wealthy make a lot of money and benefit from the labor of the working class, which included the future politician’s family.
The Goebbels family was not composed of nobles or well-known figures. Goebbels dispels claims that the Gauleiter family was Jewish by publishing his own family tree.
Joseph grew up in a deeply religious family; the politician’s mother and father were devout Catholics who instilled a strong religious upbringing in their kid. Joseph knew from an early age what it meant to save money and what it meant to forgo luxury as Friedrich instilled in his kids the belief that hard work and thrift may lead to success in life.
The future ally of Adolf Hitler had a difficult childhood due to poor health and potentially fatal illness. The young man most likely got a cold because the Goebbels family didn’t have any money for heating.
The young kid developed osteomyelitis, a purulent inflammation of the bone marrow, when he was 4 years old. As a result, he started to hobble and required hip surgery, which caused his leg to grow by 10 centimeters.
In his autobiographical journal, Goebbels noted that his classmates did not like him because of the deformity in his right leg. As a result, the young youngster was alone and frequently played the piano because he had very few friends.
Even though Dr. Goebbels’s family was religious, Joseph started to doubt religion in all its forms; his illness made this easier to do. The young man thought there couldn’t be a greater power because he was unfairly inferior to other people physically. From a young age, the boy developed the following character traits: cynicism, skepticism, and embitterment.
Later, the accident also served to undermine young Josef’s self-esteem because, unlike his contemporaries who were 16 to 17 years old, he was turned down for military service during the height of the First World War because of a physical injury. According to Goebbels, this situation is the worst shame in life. In addition, Joseph was thoroughly degraded by those who went to the front.
Goebbels found solace in books during his lonely childhood: the future politician was a voracious reader and well-read beyond his years. Young Joseph’s interests extended beyond literature to include Greek and Roman mythology.
Attending one of Reidt’s top schools, Goebbels made a name for himself as a bright student who excelled in all subjects.
Following his high school graduation, Goebbels attended the universities of Munich, Würzburg, Bonn, and Freiburg to further his education. Goebbels’ parents were members of the Albert the Great Catholic organization, which provided an interest-free loan for the young man’s education since Maria and Frederick wanted their son to become a preacher.
The student, however, disregarded his parents’ expectations and did not study theology with diligence; instead, the youthful Goebbels was more interested in philology, history, literature, and other humanitarian subjects. Dostoevsky is one of Paul’s favorite authors. Subsequently, the politician addressed the Russian philosopher as a “spiritual father.” This is hardly shocking, either, as Goebbels resembled the characters in Fyodor Mikhailovich’s writings in real life.
Paul Joseph Goebbels experimented with being a poet and playwright in his teens, but his true ambition was to become a journalist. Joseph started writing “The Young Years of Michael Forman,” his debut autobiographical tale, in the summer of 1919.
Goebbels defended his doctoral dissertation on the work of the little-known playwright Wilhelm von Schutz at the Ruprecht-Karl University in the city of Heidelberg. Later on, Gauleiter frequently brags about this accomplishment, earning the nickname “Dr. Goebbels” from his admirers.
Activities of the Nazis
Hitler’s future partner Paul tried to publish his writings, but his efforts were not successful. Hitler’s writing endeavors did not succeed.
Goebbels’s patience reached its limit when the theater declined to present Joseph’s emotional and melancholic play, Der Wanderer (English as “The Wanderer”).
These incidents led Goebbels to conclude that literature was not his calling and to prioritize political objectives.
Thus, Joseph joined the National Socialist German Workers’ Party’s left wing in 1922 under the leadership of Otto Strasser.
Dr. Goebbels made his debut in journalism in 1924 when he took a position as editor of the propaganda publication Völkische Freiheit. Paul Joseph contributed to the party’s press organ, the “National Socialist Letters,” which focused on the Strasser brothers, in the fall of 1925. Adolf Hitler was considered a lousy politician during Goebbels’s editorial career, particularly following his abortive effort to take over the state (Beer Hall Putsch, 1923).
As a result, Joseph first publicly denounced the Fuhrer in his writings, branding him a “bourgeois.” Goebbels also treated the USSR with respect, viewing it as a sacred nation, and saw himself as a socialist and devoted worker’s advocate.
Hitler angrily defended his belief that Germans are members of the superrace during a two-hour discussion in Bamberg in 1926 that was devoted to criticizing Strasser’s worldview. Hitler denounced socialism, calling it the invention of the Semites. Goebbels was displeased with Hitler’s speech, and he wrote about it in his journal.
Hitler made a concerted effort to win the doctor over to his ideological viewpoint, and he was soon successful in doing so. Goebbels drastically altered his views on party membership and attempted to keep quiet about his previous affection for the Soviet Union after meeting Adolf Hitler.
After serving as the party’s leader for a few years, Goebbels went back to writing, finishing the play “The Wanderer” and modifying the narrative “Michael,” which was performed in Berlin in the fall of 1927. Under Joseph’s direction, Der Angriff was the sole publication that did not disparage Der Wanderer.
Minister of Information
Hitler was the inspiration for the entire concept of Nazi propaganda following the Beer Hall Putsch of the 1920s. The Fuhrer writes Mein Kampf, or “My Struggle,” while he is being held captive, and it captures Adolf’s spiritual state. The Reich Chancellor chose to establish the Reich Ministry of Public Education and Propaganda on March 11, 1933, and appointed Joseph Goebbels as its head in light of this experience.
The media’s and the party leaders’ persuasive speeches had a major role in the popularity of Nazi ideology among Germans. Josef’s early passions for journalism and literature were useful. Goebbels’s psychological acumen and skill at articulating his ideas clearly allowed him to manipulate the throng into raising their hands in the “Heil Hitler!” cry.
Paul thought that people on the street are primarily listeners rather than talkers, so it’s important to speak to them in plain, clear English, even if you have to say the same thing over and over.
Goebbels’s comments caused bloody clashes between national socialists and communists to occur on German streets. Horst Wessel, the priest’s son, was shot in the head by Communist Party members (“Union of Red Front Soldiers”) on January 14, 1930. Goebbels was happy to hear this news since Joseph was able to turn society against the Untermensch, or Communist Party members, with the help of the information in his press.
Goebbels used the Fourth Estate to his advantage to deceive people, promote Nazism, and incite hatred among Germans toward Jews and communists. If journalism served only as a political instrument in many other nations, then the media represented unbounded power to Joseph. Furthermore, it was crucial that the populace obeyed the leader; it didn’t matter if they were aware of the precise duties assigned to the Third Reich.
Historians contend that Joseph did not utter the words “Give me the media, and I will turn any nation into a herd of pigs,” which some credit to Goebbels.
The Second World War Goebbels backed the Fuhrer’s aggressive strategy, proposing to the German armed forces in the winter of 1933 to seize East German land and break the terms of the peace Treaty of Versailles.
During World War II, Joseph focused mostly on spreading anti-communist propaganda. Goebbels’s flawless speeches gave front-line soldiers optimism, while Joseph avoided dealing with diplomatic matters or the war’s direction. In other words, Goebbels served as an inspiration and Hitler as the head of the German nation.
The propagandist made a well-known lecture about “Total War” in 1943, when the Nazi army faced defeat and was advised to employ whatever means necessary to prevail.
Josef was made chief of mobilization in 1944. Goebbels still persisted in his support of the German soldiers, declaring that even in the case of defeat, he would be waiting for them at home.
Holocaust
The definitions of this phrase are both broad and narrow. First and foremost, the Holocaust is associated with the widespread persecution and extermination of Jews residing in Germany; broadly speaking, this idea encompasses the eradication of numerous non-Aryan races during World War II. The old and crippled were also targets of Nazi persecution, according to fascist ideology.
The first official member of the Third Reich to publicly express anti-Semitic sentiment was Joseph Goebbels. Historians cannot agree about the source of the anti-Semitic sentiment toward the Jewish spokesman of German propaganda. Some people think Goebbels despised our country from an early age. Some are certain that a fervent supporter of Hitler wanted to give him everything: after going into politics, Joseph insisted that Adolf settle the Jewish issue as soon as possible. Hitler and Goebbels talked about the Jewish problem at practically every meeting.
Goebbels was a paradoxical individual, which is intriguing because he vehemently disagreed with the notion of “scientific racism.”
Estimates for 1942 place the number of Semites in the German capital at roughly 62,000, and they attempted to drive them out of the country. Although Joseph was aware that the majority of the people he detested were being cruelly murdered and subjected to torture in concentration camps, the propagandist did not oppose the policy because he thought the Jews deserved it.
The socialist doctrines of Marx, Engels, and other political figures were mass-burned on Goebbels’ orders. Books by literary authors including Tolstoy, Gorky, Rolland, etc. were also destroyed in the fire.
Individual existence
Paul Joseph Goebbels was not an attractive man at all. Standing at 165 cm tall, he was short and limp with a large nose and nimble eyes. His obsession with sex was an attempt to boost his self-esteem.
Goebbels wed his beloved Magda on December 19, 1931. Magda had been a fan of Joseph’s talks. Six kids are raised by the couple. Magdalena was loved and regarded as a personal friend by Hitler.
Goebbels continued to enjoy the company of women even after being legally married. The German politician was frequently observed among the group of easy-going girls and frequently took part in orgies.
Lida Baarova, a Czech actress, was also a favorite of the Nazi, which went against German propaganda. Party members had to hear Goebbels apologize in a humiliating way for his liaison with another woman.
According to Goebbels’ colleagues, the doctor was a happy person since he frequently displays genuine laughter in pictures and movies. But in an interview, Joseph’s former secretary, Brünnhilde Pomsel, noted that the propagandist was a heartless and icy individual.
Death
Hopeless, Goebbels burnt his final personal notes on April 18, 1945. Goebbels’s deified ruler of the Third Reich, together with his wife Eva Braun, commit suicide following the fall of the fascist army. Joseph was to become Reich Chancellor, per Adolf’s will.
Goebbels went into emotional shock after the Fuhrer committed suicide. He mourned that Germany had lost a man of that caliber and vowed to emulate him.
Joseph thought he may be rescued after Hitler’s death, but the Soviet Union would not bargain. The propagandist relocates to a Berlin bunker with his wife Magda and kids.
At Magdalena’s request, all six of the kids received morphine shots and had cyanide put in their mouths in the spring of 1945 on the bunker’s grounds. Goebbels and his spouse went to gather hydrocyanic acid salts at night. Furthermore, nothing is known regarding the Goebbels spouses’ suicides or the murder of their children. On May 2, 1945, Russian soldiers discovered the burnt corpses of seven individuals.