Audiences of Nazism: Using Media in the Third Reich

Traces of audience responses to propaganda in the Third Reich are particularly sparse given that the public sphere was so highly regulated. By taking an interdisciplinary and innovative approach to found historical sources of audiences’ responses, the contributions to __Audiences of Nazism__ critically approach the effectiveness of the Nazi media. The volume presents a comprehensive array of case studies including, but not limited to, Jewish responses to anti-Semitic media, personal reports from Nazi party rallies, responses to “degenerate art” exhibitions, and the afterlife of visual documentations of Nazi crimes. It uncovers the target groups of certain Nazi media products; how effective these products were in disseminating propaganda; and their chances to win over readers, listeners, and spectators not yet convinced of Nazism. Contents List of Figures Acknowledgments Introduction. Media and Their Users in Nazi Germany 1. “To Constantly Swim against the Tide Is Suicide”: The Liberal Press and Its Audience, 1928–33 2. Active Audiences: Stürmerkästen and the Rise of Der Stürmer’s Activist Readership 3. Reading Fake News: The “Röhm Putsch,” the Hitler Myth, and the Consumption of Political News under the Nazis 4. Beyond Approved Reactions: Assessments of the NSDAP’s Nuremberg Party Rallies in Diaries and Letters, 1933–38 5. Call and Response: The Creation of the National Socialist Public 6. Advertising and Its Audiences in Weimar and Nazi Germany 7. Concert Programs, Ideology, and the Search for Subjectivity in National Socialist Germany 8. The “Entartete Kunst” Exhibitions and Their Audiences 9. Amateur Films from National Socialist Austria as Visual Responses to Nazi Propaganda 10. The Media of Occupation: German Books and Photographs in France, 1940–44 11. The Migration of Topoi from Atrocity Films to Their Heirs: Modes of Addressing the Audience in German Postwar Cinema 12. Finding an Unintended Audience: An SS Photo Album and Its Postwar Editions Postscript Index

Traces of audience responses to propaganda in the Third Reichare particularly sparse given that the public sphere was so highlyregulated. By taking an interdisciplinary and innovative approachto found historical sources of audiences' responses, thecontributions to Audiences of Nazism critically approachthe effectiveness of the Nazi media. The volume presents acomprehensive array of case studies including, but not limited to,Jewish responses to anti-Semitic media, personal reports from Naziparty rallies, responses to "degenerate art" exhibitions, and theafterlife of visual documentations of Nazi crimes. It uncovers thetarget groups of certain Nazi media products; how effective theseproducts were in disseminating propaganda; and their chances to winover readers, listeners, and spectators not yet convinced ofNazism.