In what city was Goebbels born? Goebbels' ten rules that still work today

Paul Joseph Goebbels

Goebbels on the podium.

Goebbels, Paul Joseph (Paul Josef Goebbels; 1897-1945) - German statesman, one of the leaders of the Nazi party, Reich Minister of Propaganda. Native of Rheidt (Rhineland). Member of the NSDAP (1922). In 1924 he moved to the Ruhr, where he worked as a journalist for the Völkische Freihet. In 1926, Gauleiter of the NSDAP in Berlin-Brandenburg. In 1927-1935 editor-in-chief of the weekly newspaper Angrif - the mouthpiece of the philosophy of National Socialism. In 1928 he was elected as a deputy of the Reichstag from the NSDAP. Since 1929, imperial head of propaganda for the NSDAP. Since March 13, 1933, Reich Minister of Public Education and Propaganda. On April 29, 1945, he committed suicide in the Imperial Chancellery.

The Wehrmacht on the Soviet-German front. Investigative and judicial materials from archival criminal cases of German prisoners of war 1944-1952. (Compiled by V.S. Khristoforov, V.G. Makarov). M., 2011. (Name commentary). pp. 718-719.

Goebbels, Joseph Paul (29.X.1897 - 1.V.1945) - one of the main war criminals of Nazi Germany. In 1922 he joined the National Socialist (Fascist) Party. In 1927-1933 - publisher of the Nazi newspaper "Angriff". In 1928, he headed the propaganda work of the Nazi Party. After the Nazis seized power (1933) - Imperial Minister of Public Education and Propaganda. During the 2nd World War he led the entire propaganda apparatus of Nazi Germany; in 1944 - Reich Commissioner for Total Military Mobilization. After the entry of Soviet troops into Berlin, he committed suicide. Fascist propaganda, directed by Goebbels, was based on preaching racism, praising violence and wars of conquest, and was characterized by demagoguery and unheard-of falsification of facts.

Soviet historical encyclopedia. In 16 volumes. - M.: Soviet Encyclopedia. 1973-1982. Volume 4. THE HAGUE - DVIN. 1963.

Literature: Rozanov G. L., The Last Days of Hitler, M., 1961; The Nuremberg trials of the main Germans. military criminals. Sat. materials, vol. 1-7, M., 1957-61.

Hitler and Goebbels.

Goebbels, Paul Joseph (Goebbels), (1897-1945), senior leader of the Nazi Party, chief propagandist of the Third Reich, close ally and friend Hitler . Goebbels was born on October 29, 1897 in Rheidt, Rhineland. His father worked as an accountant and was a very devout man; he hoped that his son would become a priest of the Roman Catholic Church. But Goebbels, dreaming of a career as a writer or journalist, after graduating from the burgherschule and gymnasium in Reidt, preferred to study the humanities. With the financial support of the Albert Magnus Society, from 1917 to 1921 he studied philosophy, German studies, history and literature at the universities of Freiburg, Bonn, Würzburg, Cologne, Munich and Heidelberg. At the University of Heidelberg, under the guidance of Professor Friedrich Gundolf, a literary historian and Jew, Goebbels defended his dissertation on romantic drama in 1921 and acquired an academic degree. His own literary works were rejected time after time by the editors of liberal publishing houses and newspapers.

When World War I began, Goebbels was declared unfit for military service due to a limp (he was disabled from birth), which hurt his pride, since he considered it a disgrace for himself not to be able to serve his country during the war. He was always very acutely and painfully aware of his own physical inferiority, since he constantly felt behind his back the humiliating ridicule of his comrades, who called him “little mouse doctor” behind his back. His wounded pride gave rise to deep-rooted hatred in him, which was aggravated in the future by the need to perform in front of a healthy, blue-eyed “Aryan” audience.

After World War I, having unsuccessfully tried his luck in the field of poetry and drama (his sentimental tearful play "The Wanderer" ("Der Wanderer") was rejected by the Frankfurt Schauspielhaus), Goebbels found an outlet for his energy in politics. In 1922, he joined the NSDAP, initially joining its left, socialist wing, whose leaders at that time were the Strasser brothers. In 1924, having moved to the Ruhr, Goebbels tried his hand at journalism - as editor of the Völkische Freiheit (People's Freedom) in Elberfeld, then at Strasser's NS-Brief. This period, colored by the fierce polemics between the Strassers and Hitler about the degree of socialism in the National Socialist movement, belongs to the famous statement of Goebbels: “The bourgeois Adolf Hitler must be expelled from the National Socialist Party!”

However, in 1926 his political sympathies changed sharply in favor of Hitler, whom he began to perceive “either as Christ or as St. John.” "Adolf Hitler, I love you!" - he wrote in his diary. Goebbels dedicated one of his first books to Hitler - “with deep gratitude.” His praise of the Fuhrer was ardent: “Even before the trial in Munich, you appeared before us in the guise of a leader. What you said there are the greatest revelations that have not been heard in Germany since the days of Bismarck. God gave you words to name the ills of Germany. You started from the very bottom, like every truly great leader. And like every leader, you became greater and greater as your tasks became greater.”

Such words could not help but attract Hitler's favorable attention. In 1926 he appointed Goebbels Gauleiter of the NSDAP in Berlin-Brandenburg. It was in the capital that Goebbels' oratorical abilities were revealed, which predetermined his future fate as the main agitator and propagandist of the Nazi party, and later of the entire Reich. From 1927 to 1935 he was the editor-in-chief of the weekly newspaper Angrif, the mouthpiece of the philosophy of National Socialism. In 1928, Goebbels was elected as a member of the Reichstag from the Nazi Party. At numerous rallies and demonstrations, this small man with a long nose, constantly dressed in an overcoat too long for him, with a strong and harsh voice, covering the Berlin city government, Jews and communists with sarcasm and insults, managed to attract wide attention. He "discovered" in the criminal Horst Wessel, a Nazi killed in a street fight, a political martyr and put forward Wessel's nasty poems as the official party anthem. Hitler was so amazed and delighted by Goebbels' activities in Berlin that he appointed him in 1929 as Reich Director of Propaganda for the Nazi Party. It is Goebbels, more than anyone else, who owns the laurels for Hitler’s rapid advancement to the heights of political power. In 1932, he organized and led Hitler's election campaigns for the presidency, doubling his popular vote. His propaganda was of decisive importance on the eve of Hitler's assumption of office as chancellor. Skillfully adopting modern propaganda techniques from the Americans and slightly changing them to suit German reality, Goebbels demonstrated amazing abilities to psychologically influence the audience. His “Ten Commandments of a National Socialist,” written at the dawn of the Nazi movement, became the prototype of the party’s ideological program:

Having become chancellor, Hitler on March 13, 1933 appointed Goebbels Reich Minister of Public Education and Propaganda, instructing him to use all means to implement the Gleichshaltung program. In this activity, Goebbels demonstrated that for him there were no principles or morals. He subordinated all elements of the country's life - the press, cinema, theater, radio, sports - to national socialist ideals and essentially became the dictator of the cultural life of the nation. To please Hitler, he launched vicious and violent attacks against the Jews. In May 1933, on the initiative of Goebbels, public book burnings were carried out in several German universities. The bonfires burned the works of Thomas and Heinrich Mann, Bertolt Brecht, Franz Kafka, Remarque, Feuchtwanger and many other authors who proclaimed the ideas of freedom and humanism.

Along with Heinrich Himmler and, later, Martin Bormann, Goebbels became one of Hitler's closest and most influential advisers. His wife, Magda Kwant, divorced a Jewish businessman, and their six children became special favorites among the Fuhrer's inner circle in Berchtesgaden. His numerous connections with theater and film actresses were widely known in the country. Once he was beaten by an insulted famous film actor who could not tolerate Goebbels' advances towards his wife. His relationship with Czech actress Lydia Barova almost led to divorce until Hitler intervened. Goebbels was constantly at odds with other Nazi leaders, especially Hermann Göring and Joachim von Ribbentrop, who were irritated by his closeness to Hitler.

During World War II, Goebbels was tasked with maintaining the morale of the nation. His propaganda machine was aimed at causing discontent with Soviet Russia and encouraging the Germans to hold out until final victory. This task became more and more difficult as the tide of the war turned in favor of the Allies. Goebbels worked energetically to maintain German morale by constantly reminding them of their fate if they surrendered. After the failure of the July 1944 Plot, Hitler appointed Goebbels as the chief mobilization commissioner for “total war” and instructed him to gather all material and human resources to fight to the last drop of blood. But it was already too late: Germany was on the brink of destruction.

In April 1945, true to his sense of mystical arrogance, Goebbels advised Hitler to remain in Berlin in the Führerbunker and, if necessary, there to face the dazzling mystical “Twilight of the Gods” (Gotterdammerung). Only in this way, Goebbels convinced, could the legend of the great Hitler be preserved. The Fuhrer, frightened by the possibility of being put naked in a circus cage by the Russians, agreed. One after another, the newly-minted Nazi leaders abandoned their leader, but Goebbels remained. When President Franklin Roosevelt died on April 12, 1945, Goebbels, in a state of euphoria, compared this event with a similar one in the fate of Frederick the Great, which ended in victory. Hitler's state of mind perked up for a while. In his political will, Hitler designated Goebbels as his successor as Reich Chancellor. Goebbels complemented this with his own propaganda gesture. Immediately after Hitler's suicide, Goebbels and Bormann made a last attempt to negotiate with the Russians. When it became clear that this was impossible, Goebbels decided to commit suicide. Magda Goebbels poisoned six of her children and killed herself. Then Goebbels also committed suicide.

Material used from the Encyclopedia of the Third Reich - www.fact400.ru/mif/reich/titul.htm

Goebbels Paul Joseph (29.10.1897, Reidt, Rhineland - 1.5.1945, Berlin), political and statesman, Reichsleiter (1933). Son of an accountant. Since childhood, he suffered from a physical disability - spiny legs. Thanks to the help of the Catholic Albert Magnus Society, Goebbels was able to attend lecture courses at Freiburg, Bonn, Würzburg, Cologne, and Munich universities in 1917-21; On April 21, 1922, he received a Doctor of Philosophy degree from the University of Heidelberg, having defended his dissertation “Wilhelm von Schütz as a playwright” from Baron M. von Waldberg. On the history of the drama of the romantic school." From 1921 he worked in the Cologne branch of the Dresden Bank as a stock exchange employee. In Aug. 1924 joined the NSDAP in Reidt (ticket no. 8762). Initially he joined the left socialist wing of the NSDAP, led by Goebbels Strasser. From 1924 he worked in the party press controlled by Strasser: executive editor of the newspaper “People's Freedom”, employee of the magazine “National Socialist Notes”. In 1921-24 he wrote the novel “Michael” (published in 1929), where he developed the idea of the tragic fate of Germany. During the controversy in 1924 between A. Hitler and Strasser, he demanded that Hitler be expelled from the party. In 1925 he met Hitler and went over to his side, and began to actively oppose Strasser. From June 1925 to September 26, 1925, together with K. Kaufmann, W. Lütze and Schmitz, he headed the GAU Rhineland - North. From 7.3.1926 to June 1926 - Gau Ruhr (together with F. Pfeffer). On 10/26/1926 he was appointed head of the most important GAU in Germany - Berlin and remained in this post until his death. By the time Goebbels arrived in Berlin, the Nazi organization (about 1 thousand people) was completely on Strasser’s side. He carried out a purge, expelling almost 400 people from the party. In a short time he recreated the Berlin Nazi organization, achieving a sharp increase in the number of its members. Organizer of clashes with communists. Because of Goebbels' actions, on May 5, 1927, the authorities banned the activities of the NSDAP and the SA in Berlin, and Goebbels was prohibited from making public appearances in the city. After this, the SA operated under the guise of various clubs and circles. In 1927-35, he was simultaneously the editor-in-chief of the Berlin weekly newspaper Angrif, which he founded. Through slanderous attacks, he achieved the resignation of the head of the Berlin criminal police, the Jew Weiss.

On March 31, 1928, the ban on the party in Berlin was lifted. On April 20, 1928, he was elected as a member of the Reichstag from Berlin.

Since January 9, 1929, the imperial head of propaganda (Reichspropagandaleiter) in the system of the imperial leadership of the NSDAP. In 1930, Goebbels, using propaganda methods, created the legend of H. Wessel, turning him into a Nazi hero, and the poems he wrote into the anthem of the NSDAP. In Jan. 1932 also widely used in the propaganda campaign the fact of the death of Hitler Youth member Herbert Norkus, who died in a fight. Through the efforts of Goebbels, who organized the obstruction of the American film based on E. Remarque’s novel “All Quiet on the Western Front,” the film was banned from showing in Germany on December 11, 1930, as “damaging the country’s reputation.” At the beginning of 1932, he actively advocated for Hitler to nominate himself for the presidency (despite the reluctance of Hitler himself). In 1932 he led Hitler's election campaign, achieving significant results. After the Nazis came to power, on March 13, 1933, he was appointed minister of the Imperial Ministry of Public Education and Propaganda, specially created for him.

Hitler, Goebbels and Goering at a rally. 1931
Photo from the book: The 20th century a chronicle in pictures. New York. 1989.

On May 10, 1933, he organized a grandiose public burning of books imbued with the “non-German spirit” (after which it was ordered that 14 thousand titles by 141 German authors be removed from libraries). On June 30, 1933, Hitler stated that Goebbels was responsible “for all tasks of spiritual influence on the nation... for culture and for... informing society at home and abroad about all this.” At the same time, Goebbels never fully managed to establish control over the entire propaganda machine in Germany: the press was in the hands of O. Dietrich and M. Amann, in addition, A. Rosenberg constantly interfered in the management of art. On September 22, 1933, he created the Imperial Chamber of Culture, which placed the entire German creative intelligentsia under his complete control, the President of the Chamber. On May 14, 1934, all theaters in Germany were transferred to Goebbels’ jurisdiction, and in the same year Goebbels achieved the ban on “Negro jazz.” In 1935 he created under his leadership the Imperial Senate of Culture. Goebbels was the creator of the German propaganda system, achieving brilliant success in this field. With the help of the system he created, Goebbels could freely manipulate public opinion in Germany, justifying any actions of the Nazi regime.

On November 9, 1938, having received information about the murder of diplomat E. vom Rath in Paris by the Jew Grünszpan, he spoke to the “old fighters” at the anniversary of the Beer Hall Putsch, calling for revenge on the Jews. He was one of the main organizers of the all-German Jewish pogrom on November 9-10, which became known as Kristallnacht. With the beginning of World War II, Goebbels' influence began to decline, which was primarily due to the strengthening of the role of M. Bormann, Goebbels, Himmler and, somewhat later, A. Speer. Tried unsuccessfully to intrigue against Bormann. Since November 16, 1942, Reich Commissioner for Defense of Berlin. 14.2.1943 spoke at the Berlin Sports Palace, delivering one of his most incendiary speeches, calling on listeners to mobilize all forces for a “total war” with the enemy. However, the leadership of all events remained in the hands of Bormann, Goebbels, Lammers and Speer. Since April 1, 1943, State President of Berlin. During the coup attempt on July 20, 1944, Goebbels's quick and decisive actions became one of the main reasons for the defeat of the conspiracy in Berlin. After this, Goebbels regained Hitler's unlimited trust. Since July 25, 1944, Reich Commissioner for Total War. One of the organizers and inspirers of the Volkssturm. On April 18, 1945, as Soviet troops approached Berlin, Goebbels began to destroy his archive, and on April 19. made his last radio address on Hitler's birthday. Before his death, Hitler appointed Goebbels as his successor as Imperial Chancellor, and legally Goebbels held this post from April 30, 1945. Together with his wife, he committed suicide, having previously killed his six children. The corpses of Goebbels and his wife Magda Goebbels were doused with gasoline and burned in the courtyard of the Imperial Chancellery.

Materials used from the book: Who Was Who in the Third Reich. Biographical encyclopedic dictionary. M., 2003.

Reich Minister of Propaganda J. Goebbels at a reception with Pilsudski. 1935

E. Nikisch about I. Goebbels:

"Around 1930, a serious conflict broke out in the National Socialist Workers' Party. Hitler entered into an alliance with Western heavy industry and thereby made his party a kind of praetorian guard for monopoly capitalism. Not all of his subordinate leaders and ordinary followers were ready to humiliate themselves and become just servants of the leaders of heavy industry, the rebels rallied around. Otto Strasser , who broke with Hitler under the slogan “Socialists are leaving the party” and created his own organization, which later continued its work under the name “Black Front”.

Goebbels hesitated for a long time whether to remain loyal to Hitler or leave the party along with Otto Strasser. His instincts as a demagogue pushed him towards Strasser, but he nevertheless realized that the course of general development was playing into the hands of Hitler, as a result of which the latter had better prospects. Therefore, Goebbels suddenly broke with Otto Strasser, with whom he had already agreed on an alliance, and returned to Hitler."

Ernst Nikisch. The life I dared. Meetings and events. St. Petersburg, 2012, p. 281-282.

When Hitler instructed Goebbels to create a movement of intellectuals, he had in mind first of all Junger . Jünger and Goebbels met several times, but the conversation between them never took the direction that Goebbels wanted it to take. Goebbels was jealous of Jünger; he was jealous of Jünger's literary fame. In his arrogance he harbored the crazy idea that he could compete with Jünger. One day, Goebbels intended to give a speech to a small circle of selected guests, wanting to demonstrate his intellectual potential. He persuaded Junger to come to this event. Jünger was sitting in the front row, but all this empty chatter was so disgusting to him that he could not stand it for long. He left the premises and went to the nearest restaurant, where he hoped to fill up the bad aftertaste left by Goebbels' words with good wine. Later, Goebbels appeared in the same restaurant and expressed his feelings to him: he was deeply offended, even outraged, when he learned that he had not made any impression on Jünger and that he had even run away from him.

Ernst Nikisch. The life I dared. Meetings and events. St. Petersburg, 2012, p. 296-297.

One day Bronnen came to my home and invited me to his apartment for a conversation with Goebbels. Bronnen said that Goebbels had read my book “Choice,” which had been published shortly before. He, according to Bronnen, did not accept the basic idea, but considered it worthwhile to make an attempt to get the author of this book for National Socialism. It was no longer enough for Hitler to see all kinds of uncouth louts in his retinue. I replied that Goebbels would fail with me the same way he failed with Jünger. Nevertheless, Bronnen begged me not to shy away from meeting Goebbels.

When I came to Bronnen, I found Goebbels there in an animated conversation with radio announcer Alfred Braun, who was then still in the ranks of the Social Democratic Party; the announcer came with his wife. Brown asked Goebbels what he would do if the National Socialists suddenly came to power. It was immediately felt that Goebbels had gotten on his high horse. He replied that the “system government” had no idea what radio could be turned into. He would have extracted from the radio all its hidden possibilities that only exist in propaganda and agitation plans. All propagandists of the Weimar parties are hacks and incompetents. Thanks to radio, he would ensure that everyone saw events from the same point of view, in the same light, and would approve of everything that the “Führer” demands and does.

After we sat down at the round table, a conversation began between Goebbels and me. Goebbels asked me what I had against National Socialism. I answered him that National Socialism has a false picture of world politics and, because of this, will take the wrong steps in the foreign arena. Goebbels began to object vigorously. I told him that National Socialism overestimated Germany's ability to pursue policies from a position of strength. The West does not need Germany. He sees Germany first and foremost as a competitor in the economic sphere. Joining the West would mean joining a community in which every member seeks to harm the German partner. splendid isolation policy, based on the belief that one could gain advantage by using the West against the East, and the East against the West, was once pursued by Holstein and Bülow, but after 1918 it was no longer possible. In contrast, it is precisely the most successful German politicians, such as Frederick II And Bismarck , from their own experience, they were convinced that a policy fruitful for Germany can only be pursued by cooperating with its eastern neighbor - Russia. Frederick II was saved thanks to the “Russian miracle”; without Russian support, Bismarck would not have been able to found the Empire. Agreement signed with Russia in Rapallo , for the first time since the collapse of 1918, allowed Germany to gain weight in world politics.

After several weak objections, which were not difficult to parry, Goebbels accepted the correctness of my reasoning. But he said that the first task was to defeat communism in Germany; If this can be done, then we can choose to focus on Russia without any internal complications. I asked him a counter question: does he realize whose hands he is playing into by destroying the communists? Destroying communists is work in the service of big industry tycoons. Goebbels, it seemed to me, was thoroughly offended by this argument. He tried for a long time to prove that National Socialism is hostile to communists only because it views them as henchmen of Bolshevism. The presence of such Bolshevik henchmen on German soil in this situation ties the hands of the German government, preventing it from developing relations with the Soviet Union. If any conflict arises between the interests of the Germans and the interests of the Soviets, the German government is forced to fear that the Communists will stab it in the back. I replied to this that if the German government honestly strived for German-Soviet friendship, then in any case it could count on the support of the German communists. I added that Goebbels was apparently mistaken about the internal logic of National Socialist policy. Even if the German communists are destroyed, National Socialism will never choose a foreign policy orientation towards the East. Hitler's thoughts in his book "My struggle" full of immense hatred for the Soviet Union. Just as the communists in Germany cause horror and disgust among the tycoons of big industry, Bolshevism is hated by the imperialist rulers of all Western countries. Hitler's political speculation is to obtain from these imperialist overlords the powers to destroy the Soviet Union and then to raise Germany under his leadership to the status of a great world power.

Goebbels tried to downplay the significance of Hitler's statements about the Soviet Union; he said that this was just a tactical ploy designed to win over the masses, and not at all a serious statement of a political goal. Goebbels was clearly annoyed, even angry. When I doubted that Hitler's statements could be interpreted so innocently, Goebbels suddenly broke off the dialogue and began a monologue; he viewed those present as an audience that should learn the necessary lessons from his monologue. “Whoever does not now make a choice in favor of National Socialism,” he threatened, “will no longer have any political future. Once Hitler comes to power, these people will be relegated to the background; they will no longer be able to say anything, will not be able to insert even a word into someone else’s conversation, and will probably be reduced to silence in an even more thorough manner.”

There was dead silence in the room. The tension, about to burst out, was felt by everyone present. It seemed that something completely unexpected was about to happen. After a pause, I broke the silence and calmly said: “Mr. Goebbels, you have descended to the level that is usual for your party meetings. Perhaps you will be so kind as to return to the level appropriate for our meeting.” The tension subsided as if by hand. Bronnen told me later that he expected me to slap Goebbels in the face, which is probably what he himself would have done. But the way I chose to solve the problem was much better and much more effective.

Goebbels was clearly deeply hurt; he didn't even try to return the blow. The discussion died down and Goebbels made no impression. Soon he finished speaking and said goodbye. As he left the room, Alfred Brown exclaimed with slight self-irony: “I do not remember that ever in my life I was present at a discussion and did not interfere in it, demanding the floor. Today’s conversation captivated me so much that I was only able to listen!”

Goebbels was often portrayed as a man of flexible intellect, inventive in propaganda matters, but absolutely deceitful. He must have been a highly talented advertising executive. Intellectually, he was slippery and cunning, able to elude like an eel, but there was no sense of solidity behind him, and above all there was nothing genuine about him. His agile intellect was inexhaustible, but it had no connection with real things. He was just playing with his mind and shamelessly grabbing at any thing he could use to increase his influence. He did not feel the inner weight of this thing, its inner dignity, and thus it turned out that he abused everything he touched. He was a typical representative of an era that, in its nihilism, was not bound by any obligations and was not limited by any boundaries, and therefore did not hesitate for a second in using the highest benefits, the highest values for momentary success, as a result devaluing them and turning them into kitsch. Nothing could be taken seriously anymore, everything in the world and everyone in the world turned into theatrical props, theatrical backstage into theatrical artificial tinsel.

Leni Riefenstahl. "Victory of Faith". (Circumstances surrounding the filming of "Triumph of the Will").

NSDAP(National-Sozialistische Deutsche Arbeiterpartei), NSDAP, 1920

"Katyn case"- execution of Polish officers in 1941

Germany in the 20th century(chronological table).

Historical figures of Germany(biographical reference book).

Literature:

Rozanov G. L., The Last Days of Hitler, M., 1961;

The Nuremberg trials of the main Germans. military criminals. Sat. materials, vol. 1-7, M., 1957-61.

Goebbels was born on October 29, 1897 in Rheidt, Rhineland. His father worked as an accountant and was a very devout man; he hoped that his son would become a priest of the Roman Catholic Church. But Goebbels, dreaming of a career as a writer or journalist, after graduating from the burgherschule and gymnasium in Reidt, preferred to study the humanities. With the financial support of the Albert Magnus Society, from 1917 to 1921 he studied philosophy, German studies, history and literature at the universities of Freiburg, Bonn, Würzburg, Cologne, Munich and Heidelberg. At the University of Heidelberg, under the guidance of Professor Friedrich Gundolf, a literary historian and Jew, Goebbels defended his dissertation on romantic drama in 1921 and acquired an academic degree. His own literary works were rejected time after time by the editors of liberal publishing houses and newspapers.

Name: Paul Joseph Goebbels

State: Prussia, Germany

Field of activity: Policy

Greatest Achievement: He became one of Hitler's closest associates. Served as head of propaganda for the NSDAP

The Third Reich became one of the darkest pages in world history. And it’s not even about politics - similar states existed in an more ancient era. Rather, it’s about the individuals who led this state and created conditions for life.

Nazi Germany is forever associated with the name of its leader, Adolf Hitler. But there were other names that made a significant contribution to the development of the Reich and its popularity both within the country and abroad. You can admire them, fear them, but these people did not leave anyone indifferent. One of Hitler's closest associates is Joseph Goebbels.

The beginning of the way

Paul Joseph Goebbels was born into an ordinary German family in the town of Mönchengladbach on October 29, 1897. The mother was of Dutch origin. In addition to Joseph, there were five more children in the family - one can imagine that the Goebbels family lived difficultly, there was not enough money, since only the father was the breadwinner and the main labor force.

Probably, it was precisely this circumstance – a difficult childhood – that became the impetus for the minister’s future. Goebbels grew up with anger inside that rich people have everything, but they take advantage of the labor and resources of ordinary citizens.

As a child, Joseph was not distinguished by good health - he was constantly sick, suffered severe pneumonia, from which he almost died. In addition, he had a physical defect - his right leg was shorter than his left and bent inward. This was the result of osteomyelitis suffered in childhood.

The parents tried to somehow correct the situation, went to doctors, had operations, but to no avail. Looking ahead, we note that this defect allowed Goebbels not to serve in the army and avoid being drafted to the front (which he greatly regretted).

Josef was an excellent student - his grades were only high. He liked to study. At first he attended a real school. The parents hoped that their son would enter the Faculty of Theology, but fate (and Goebbels himself) decreed otherwise.

He had a burning desire to become a journalist, so he devoted all his energy to studying the humanities.

He entered several universities in Germany, improved his knowledge, and even defended his dissertation at the University of Heidelberg.

In addition, Goebbels wrote poetry and prose, which he tried to publish in various newspapers, but for a very long time he had no success in this field. The only outlet is his diary, which Josef kept throughout his life. It is from there that we can find out the details of his biography.

Goebbels faced the First World War in Germany. He really wanted to volunteer for the front, but it didn’t work out. This circumstance hit Joseph’s pride even more.

Raised in a strict Catholic family, instilled with theological views, Goebbels became increasingly convinced that religion was not something important in a person’s life.

If God really existed and helped people, he would not have allowed his lameness. Also, his defect soon became the lever that would be pulled down on the purity of the Aryan race - suddenly mixed marriages really affected the health of future children.

Goebbels continued to write after the war, trying to promote his works to newspapers. He even writes the play “The Wanderer,” which, however, is refused to be accepted and staged at the city theater. After another refusal, Josef decides not to write anymore. He is attracted to politics.

Beginning of political activity

In 1922, Goebbels joined the NSDAP. The leaders of the party at that time were the Strasser brothers. At first, Joseph was skeptical - bad luck took its toll. But over the years (although not much time passed - only about 5 years) he changed his point of view, and abruptly.

If at first Goebbels criticized Hitler and his speeches, then after meeting him personally he became sympathetic and became a loyal ally. It must be said that the future Fuhrer himself made a lot of efforts to lure Joseph to his team.

Goebbels's journalistic background allowed him to develop his oratorical talent. In the mid-20s of the 20th century, Hitler came up with the idea of national propaganda as a source of inspiration for citizens.

He writes his main work, Mein Kampf, and plans to create a special unit responsible for propaganda when power comes into his own hands. It is not difficult to guess who became the leader of the Imperial Ministry of Education and Propaganda, which opened in 1933.

Third Reich and Goebbels

Goebbels's oratory was not in question - he knew how to talk to a crowd so that they would see the NSDAP not as an enemy, but as a best friend who only wanted a good life. After his speeches, clashes took place in the streets between supporters of National Socialism and communists. This was another huge plus in Joseph's favor.

His speeches contained criticism of Jews and propaganda of Nazism as the only correct and best ideology. Goebbels also supported the Fuhrer in foreign policy, which was not distinguished by peaceful intentions.

There is probably nothing more terrible than the extermination of a people. And what’s even worse is that the danger comes from people like you. The Jewish question still remains one of the most pressing on the world stage. Goebbels was one of the first to openly declare that he was an anti-Semite. Where this prejudice came from is unknown. One can only assume that

it came from childhood (but where and when could young Goebbels pick up this anti-Semitic “infection”)
The influence of Hitler affected him, whom Goebbels sought to please by any means.

There were quite enough speeches here, but Joseph went even further. After all, time will pass and the famous speaker and friend of Hitler will be forgotten. What will remain? That's right, books. Which you need to get rid of. On May 10, 1933, in Berlin, on the Opera Square, in the presence of thousands of students and party representatives, books that were objectionable to the government were burned - mainly by Jewish authors, as well as works that did not fit the ideals of Nazism.

It’s somehow strange to see Goebbels’ joy, although at one time he studied with Jewish professors at universities, even admired and imitated them. Now he has different ideals. Which will cost many concentration camp prisoners their lives.

The last moments of the life of Goebbels and his children

In 1944-45 it becomes clear that Germany will lose the war. The leader of the Third Reich and his henchmen had many crimes on their conscience, for which you simply cannot serve time in prison. Hitler understood this and promptly committed suicide in April 1945. For Goebbels, the death of the leader was a real blow. Although the Fuhrer appointed him Reich Chancellor, Joseph understood that.

Therefore, he must relinquish his powers as ruler and follow Hitler. He did not want to fall into the hands of the Allies, so as not to be tried and executed. Goebbels, his wife and 6 children take refuge in a bunker in Berlin, where the kids are given morphine injections (on the orders of their father), and they are also forced to swallow cyanide. The couple themselves use hydrocyanic acid.

According to official data, the Goebbels family died on May 1, 1945. The next day, their charred bodies were discovered.

Paul Joseph Goebbels(Right Goebbels, German Paul Joseph Goebbels, October 29, 1897, Reidt, Rhine Province, Prussia - May 1, 1945, Berlin) - statesman and politician of Nazi Germany, Reich Minister of Public Education and Propaganda of Germany (1933-1945), Reichsleiter for NSDAP propaganda (since 1930) , President of the Reich Chamber of Culture (1933-1945), Gauleiter of Berlin (1926-1945), Reich Commissioner for Defense of Berlin (1942-1945), City President of Berlin (1944-1945), Reich Commissioner for Total War Mobilization (1944-1945), Reich Chancellor (April 30 - May 1, 1945).

Pronunciation of the name

The correct German pronunciation is Goebbels; German Paul Joseph Goebbels , mostly used his middle name.

Biography

Born in Rheidt on October 29, 1897 into the family of an accountant Friedrich Goebbels and his wife Maria, born Oldenhausen. As a result of an illness suffered in early childhood, his right leg was deformed. Goebbels grew up with five brothers and sisters in cramped conditions.

In 1914, with the outbreak of the First World War, he wanted to volunteer for the front, but due to his lameness he was declared unfit for army service.

After graduating from the gymnasium in Reidt from 1917 to 1921, partly with the financial support of the Catholic Albert Magnus Society, he studied at the universities of Freiburg, Bonn, Würzburg, Cologne, Munich and Heidelberg, where he studied German studies, philology and history.

In 1919, he began writing the novel “Michael,” which was published in a revised form in 1929.

On April 21, 1921, at the University of Heidelberg, under the guidance of Professor Baron von Waldberg, he defended his doctoral dissertation “satisfactorily” (“rite superato”). Thesis topic: “Wilhelm von Schutz as a playwright. On the history of the drama of the romantic school." Since then, he called himself nothing more than Dr. Goebbels.

In 1921-1924, he tried unsuccessfully to get a job as a playwright or journalist, including in well-known Jewish publishing houses such as Ulstein. His literary works remained equally unsuccessful.

On August 21, 1924, as a result of the first contacts with National Socialist and “populist” circles (among which was retired General Erich Ludendorff), at a congress in Weimar, Goebbels organized a cell of the National Socialist Liberation Movement of Greater Germany in Mönchengladbach, a camouflaged organization banned after Hitler’s putsch National Socialist German Workers' Party (NSDAP). From October 1, 1924, he was editor of the weekly newspaper Völkische Freiheit.

On March 1, 1925, he was elected a member of the board of the Gau Rhineland Nord NSDAP. He repeatedly opposed the foreign policy of Gustav Stresemann. In September 1925, he became the manager and editor of National Socialist Letters, the organ of the anti-capitalist wing of the NSDAP around the brothers Gregor Strasser and Otto Strasser, who also criticized Hitler's party centralism.

On January 24, 1926, at a conference of party leaders in Northern Germany, held in Hanover at the apartment of Gauleiter Bernhard Rust, Goebbels allegedly jumped up on a chair and proposed expelling the “petty bourgeois Adolf Hitler” from the party. This is how Otto Strasser described this scene, whom Goebbels’ biographers are not inclined to trust. “If he had acted so boldly, he would probably have boasted about it in his diary. In fact, the proposal to expel Hitler from the party at that conference was made not by Goebbels, but by Rust,” write Heinrich Fraenkel and Roger Manwell. Helmut Heiber also doubts the authenticity of this scene: “Undoubtedly, none of this happened in this form, but since both brothers often talked about it, it is quite possible that Goebbels said something similar in a narrow circle (“actually, it should have ...”) . In any case, his attitude towards Hitler noticeably worsened in those months..."

However, on February 14, 1926, at the party conference in Bamberg, Goebbels unconditionally sided with Hitler, turning away from the Strasser brothers. On October 28, 1926, Hitler officially appointed Goebbels as Gauleiter of the NSDAP in Berlin-Brandenburg (Greater Berlin). In red Berlin, the NSDAP then numbered only 500 members. Goebbels ended his five-year love affair with teacher Elsa Jahnke, whose mother was Jewish.

On July 4, 1927, the first issue of the NSDAP propaganda newspaper Angrif, founded by Goebbels, was published. Der Angriff"). In it, Goebbels constantly opposed the Berlin vice-president Bernhard Weiss, for whom he coined the name “Isidor”. Since December 1927, Weiss sued Goebbels about 26 times for misrepresentation of name and insult.

Since 1928 he was a member of the Reichstag. He attracted attention with his cynical demagogic speeches against Jews and left-wing politicians.

On February 23, 1930, 23-year-old stormtrooper and son of a priest, Horst Wessel, whom Goebbels successfully stylized as a “victim of the National Socialist movement,” died in Berlin as a result of a gunshot wound. That same year, Hitler appointed Goebbels as Reichsleiter of the NSDAP for propaganda matters. His main task was preparation for the Reichstag elections of 1930 and 1932.

In December 1930, Goebbels organized a series of protests against the screening of the anti-war film All Quiet on the Western Front, based on Remarque's novel of the same name, and as a result got it banned.

In 1931, in his work "Nazi-Socialist", Goebbels wrote "10 commandments for every National Socialist":

Your fatherland is called Germany. Love him above all else and more in action than in words.
Germany's enemies are your enemies. Hate them with all your heart!
Every compatriot, even the poorest, is a piece of Germany. Love him as yourself!
Demand only responsibilities. Then Germany will find justice!
Be proud of Germany! You should be proud of the fatherland, for which millions gave their lives.
Whoever dishonors Germany will dishonor you and your ancestors. Point your fist at him!
Beat the villain every time! Remember, if someone takes away your rights, you have the right to destroy them!
Don't be a scandalous anti-Semite, but be on the lookout for the Berliner Tageblatt!
Do what you need to do without shame when it comes to the new Germany!
Believe in the future. Then you will be a winner!

In July 1932, on the eve of the Reichstag elections, Goebbels organized Hitler's flights across Germany. Within a month, he visited more than 50 cities.

After the National Socialists came to power on January 30, 1933, Goebbels was initially left without a ministerial portfolio. Obviously, Reich Chancellor Hitler did not want to irritate representatives of conservative circles in his government and, first of all, Reich President Hindenburg so quickly. As Reichsleiter for Propaganda, Goebbels focused on preparations for the Reichstag elections on March 5, 1933.

On March 7, 1933, at a government meeting, Hitler proposed creating a central institution for “broad propaganda and educational work” so that “political lethargy” would not set in after the elections. Four days later there was talk of creating a “Ministry of Public Education and Propaganda.”

On March 13, 1933, Hitler appointed Goebbels Reich Minister of Public Education and Propaganda, making him the youngest minister in the government. “Well, the trumpeter also wants to become one of the people,” Hindenburg allegedly said, signing the decree on the appointment of Goebbels the next day.

Shortly thereafter, the minister made the following statement: “The Ministry of Propaganda is not an administrative agency. This is a ministry for the people, and the people will always have access to it. There will never be a concept of bureaucracy in this house. We do not manage, we work, and we work under the constant control of the people, and all our work will be carried out exclusively for the people as a whole. Great impulses should come from here. There are two types of revolution. You can shower the enemy with machine gun fire until he recognizes the superiority that the machine gunners have. This is the easier way. But you can also remake a nation through a revolution of the spirit and thereby not destroy, but even attract the enemy to your side. We National Socialists have taken the second path and will continue it. To attract all the people to the side of the state is our most important task in this ministry.”

Goebbels's first major event as minister was "Potsdam Day", a solemn ceremony to mark the convening of the new Reichstag, held on March 21, 1933.

On April 1, 1933, Goebbels organized a boycott of Jewish firms and shops. On April 23, he visited his hometown of Reidt, which declared him an honorary resident. On May 10 of the same year, he made a “fiery speech” during a book burning organized by the student union on the Opera Square in Berlin (“Action against the un-German spirit”).

The “Decree of the Reich Chancellor on the tasks of the Reich Ministry of Public Education and Propaganda” dated June 30, 1933 stated that “the Minister of Public Education and Propaganda is responsible for all tasks of spiritual influence on the nation, for agitation in favor of the state, culture and economy, for the education of domestic and foreign public about it and for the management of all institutions serving these purposes." In accordance with Hitler's decree, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Ministry of the Interior transferred the areas previously included in their field of activity to the Goebbels Ministry. In addition to public education and propaganda, it also took on the tasks of the Ministry of Culture.

On November 15, 1933, on the occasion of the opening of the Imperial Chamber of Culture, Goebbels, who declared himself president of the chamber, declared: “We do not need a dramatized party program. As an ideal, we imagine a deep connection between the spirit of the heroic depiction of life and the eternal laws of art.”

During the “unification”, Goebbels subjected all spheres of cultural life in Germany to his unlimited control and influence. He focused primarily on cinema and radio as tools to influence the masses and spurred the production of cheap “people's receivers,” popularly nicknamed “Goebbels' throat.”

In 1934, in a large-scale propaganda campaign on radio and in the press, Goebbels justified and justified the execution of the top SA (“Night of the Long Knives”).

In 1937, he organized the confiscation of works of so-called degenerate art from museums and an exhibition of the same name. In the same year, he forced Alfred Hugenberg to sell the studio Universum-Film AG (UFA) and thereby made it a state enterprise.

In 1938, Magda Goebbels was ready to file for divorce because of her husband’s affair with the Czech actress Lida Baarova. And Goebbels was seriously thinking about resigning. However, Hitler vetoed the divorce, sending the minister to Rhodes for several months.

On November 9, 1938, in a speech to the party leadership in Munich, Goebbels gave the signal for action against the Jewish population (“Kristallnacht”).

With the outbreak of World War II in 1939, it intensified its propaganda with special radio news reports and extended newsreels.

On May 26, 1940, the first issue of the weekly Das Reich, founded by Goebbels, was published, for which he constantly wrote editorials, aimed primarily at the educated segments of the population in the Reich and beyond.

After the defeat at Stalingrad, Goebbels tried once again to convince Hitler to change his political course towards the Slavic peoples, thereby hoping to improve the combat conditions for German soldiers in the Soviet Union. In his diary, he wrote: “... the slogan that in the East we are fighting only Bolshevism, and not the Russian people, will significantly facilitate our struggle there.”

Until mid-February 1943, Goebbels worked on a corresponding proclamation based on the proposals of the generals. However, Hitler rejected the initiative of the Minister of Propaganda. The culprit of this was, as Goebbels himself believed, his intimate enemy Alfred Rosenberg, who “at the wrong time” turned to Hitler with similar proposals.

In an effort to create “a masterpiece of his oratory,” on February 14, 1943, the Minister of Propaganda began dictating a speech about total war, which he edited that same evening and revised several times in the following days. The performance took place on February 18, 1943 at the Sports Palace in Berlin. A banner with the slogan “Total war is the shortest war” was hung on the balustrade. By appealing to national consciousness in his speech, Goebbels may have been guided by Stalin, who seven days after the German attack, in his radio address, declared war on the Soviet Union as the “Great Patriotic War.”

“The British declare... I ask you... I ask you for the eighth time... I ask you for the ninth time... I ask you for the tenth and last time...” The speech also contained the famous fourth question: “Do you want total war? Do you want it, if necessary, more total and radical than we can imagine it today?” The hall was filled with enthusiasm. When Goebbels asked the fifth question: “Do you trust the Fuhrer today more, stronger, more unshakable than ever?”, the crowd of thousands, as noted in the transcript, rose from their seats in a single burst of inspiration, and the hall was shaken by a wave of exclamations of “Heil! » and “Yes!” Goebbels spent an hour on the final part of his speech. He left the stand having lost seven pounds.

At the same time, Goebbels was forced to admit that in fact the man who waged the war totally was Stalin. The Soviet leader began to serve as an example for him to follow.

On July 20, 1944, Goebbels' decisive actions greatly contributed to the defeat of the generals' conspiracy. As a result, on July 25, Hitler appointed him commissioner for total military mobilization. In this capacity, he could give orders to everyone and thereby became the second man in the Reich.

On April 22, 1945, Goebbels and his family moved to a bunker under the Reich Chancellery (“Führer's Bunker”). On April 29, he witnessed Hitler's wedding to Eva Braun. On April 30, after Hitler's suicide, in accordance with the Fuhrer's political will, he became his successor as Reich Chancellor. On May 1, Goebbels attempted to conclude a truce with the Soviet troops, who were already only 200 meters from the Reich Chancellery. A response from Moscow was received at 10:15 a.m.: the Soviet side insisted on unconditional surrender. “There will be no act of surrender under my signature!” Goebbels said. After negotiations broke down, he finally decided to inform Admiral Dönitz about Hitler's death.

“Tell Dönitz,” Goebbels allegedly told Hitler’s personal pilot Hans Baur, “that we knew how not only to live and fight, but also to die.” At the request of Magda Goebbels, Helmut Gustav Kunz, adjutant to the chief physician of the SS sanitary department, sedated her six children with morphine. Then, in all likelihood, she herself poisoned them with potassium cyanide, ampoules of which were given to her by Professor Theo Morell, Hitler’s personal physician. The details of the death of Joseph and Magda Goebbels will never be known. It is reliably known that they were poisoned with potassium cyanide received from Morell. It was never possible to find out whether Goebbels was able to shoot himself in the head at the same time. The question also remains open whether they died in the bunker or in front of the emergency exit, where the Soviet military found their half-burnt corpses on May 2, 1945.

After identification, the corpses of the Goebbels, along with the corpses of Hitler, Eva Braun and General Krebs, were buried at the location of the Smersh counterintelligence department of the 3rd Shock Army - first in the Berlin district of Buch, then in the cities of Finow, Stendal, Rathenow and, finally, Magdeburg.

The act dated February 21, 1946, signed by the head of SMERSH of the 3rd Shock Army, stated: “In the mountain area. Rathenov opened a pit with the corpses of Hitler, Brown, the Goebbels and their children and General Krieps (sic)... All of the listed corpses are in a semi-decayed state in wooden boxes and in this form were delivered to the mountains. Magdeburg, to the location of the SMERSH counterintelligence department of the army and again buried in a hole at a depth of 2 meters in the courtyard of house No. 36 on Westendstrasse.”

On March 13, 1970, the Chairman of the USSR KGB, Yuri Andropov, sent a secret letter to the General Secretary of the CPSU Central Committee Leonid Brezhnev with a proposal to destroy the remains, since the military facility was to be transferred to the German authorities. On March 16, the proposal was approved, and on March 26, Andropov approved the plan for the top secret operation “Archive”.

On the night of April 4-5, 1970, an operational group of the KGB special department for the 3rd Army opened a burial in the courtyard of house 36 on Klausenerstrasse (formerly Westendstrasse). On April 5, the remains were taken to the training ground area, crushed and burned. The ashes were scattered near one of the tributaries of the Elbe.

Goebbels' Diary

Since October 1923, Joseph Goebbels kept a diary - in total more than 6,000 handwritten and 50,000 typewritten pages. Various fragments of the diary were published in West Germany in 1948, 1960 and 1977. In 1969, the USSR transferred part of the diary on microfilm to the GDR, and at the same time most of the remaining fragments were found in the bunker. In 1972, the GDR sold these documents to the Federal Republic of Germany. All handwritten fragments formed the basis of a four-volume edition published by Dr. Elka Fröhlich commissioned by the Institute of Contemporary History in Munich in 1987.

In 1992, Goebbels' diary on photographic plates was discovered in the Central State Special Archive in Moscow (today the Russian State Military Archive). As a result, between 1992 and 2005 another edition of the diary was published in 29 volumes. It contains 98% of the texts written or dictated by Goebbels. From the point of view of many historians, Goebbels' diary is the most important source for the study of National Socialism. For example, Angela Hermann, author of the study “On the Character and Instructive Value of Goebbels’ Diaries,” expresses the view that the diaries represent, although subjective, reliable, private and highly expressive evidence that can help clarify many open questions regarding period of National Socialism.

In Russia, the book “Goebbels Joseph. Diaries from 1945. Latest entries”, by decision of the Miyakinsky District Court of the Republic of Bashkortostan dated January 13, 2011, was included in the federal list of extremist materials and prohibited.

Goebbels' Propaganda Rules

Wilfried von Oven, one of Goebbels’s referents in the last years of the war, with reference to Hitler’s “Mein Kampf”, as well as Gustave Le Bon’s “Psychology of Peoples and Masses”, compiled the following “propaganda decalogue” of his boss:

Propaganda is always only a means, not an end.
Propaganda can and should, especially during war, abandon humanism and aesthetics, no matter how highly we value them, since in the struggle of a people we are talking about nothing else but their existence.
Propaganda is a “truly formidable” weapon in the hands of an expert.
Propaganda must be carried out as accurately as possible and thereby successfully, since - according to Moltke - in war the most humane method is the one that achieves its goal most quickly.
Propaganda is always addressed only to the masses, and not to the intelligentsia, so its level should be oriented towards the perception abilities of the most limited among those whom it is intended to influence.
Propaganda should influence feelings more than reason, since the masses are essentially feminine in nature, and therefore feelings are more intelligible than thoughts.
Propaganda should not entertain, but be a means to achieve a political goal. Therefore, entertainment is the mortal enemy of her success.
Propaganda should be limited to the minimum and repeat this constantly. Perseverance is an important prerequisite for her success.
Propaganda cannot be objective; it must be fundamentally subjectively one-sided.

Attempt to assassinate Goebbels

At the end of 1942, an assassination attempt was being prepared on Goebbels. Dr. Hans-Heinrich Kummerow, an engineer at Lewe-Radio, was going to plant a remote-controlled bomb under the bridge leading to the island of Schwanenwerder and, under the guise of a fisherman from a boat, detonate it. But the assassination attempt was averted. Kummerov was arrested, sentenced to death and executed. Goebbels's houses were turned into fortresses, visitors to the ministry were carefully searched, and the minister received additional security. For Christmas 1942, Hitler gave him an armored Mercedes. Naturally, the assassination attempt was not reported in the press. The word “attempt” was an absolute taboo before July 20, 1944. Goebbels believed that such concepts, if used in print, could too easily lead people to undesirable thoughts.

Goebbels' anti-Semitism

“Goebbels was not an anti-Semite in the sense of his Fuhrer,” notes his biographer Helmut Heiber. “He acquired hostility towards Jews along with his party card and used it as an improvised tool.” Ultimately, he was one of the leaders of the party of racial intolerance. However, he never became a metaphysical anti-Semite like Hitler. Its highest level was the “intellectual struggle” against the “plastic demon of decay.”

Christian T. Barth, author of Goebbels and the Jews, concludes that Goebbels' anti-Semitism was "a mixture of ideologically fanatical and politically pragmatic elements." In the group of Reich leaders, Goebbels could not significantly influence the “Jewish question,” but he fully supported Hitler’s racial anti-Semitism oriented toward destruction.

Common noun

The name of Goebbels is still associated with cynical, shameless propaganda. His biographer Helmut Heiber writes: “Perhaps in the minds of his descendants, only the name that has become a stereotype of discredit will remain from Joseph Goebbels.” Comparisons with Goebbels are usually used to discredit a political opponent. For example, in the fall of 1986, German Chancellor Helmut Kohl compared General Secretary of the CPSU Central Committee Mikhail Gorbachev to Goebbels.

Coming from a low-income family, Joseph Goebbels became one of the most recognizable political figures of the 20th century, about whom books are still written (“The Prelude of Barbarossa”) and films are made. In poor health, Goebbels could command a crowd with just one word, for which he received the favor of the main ruler of the Third Reich.

Childhood and youth

The future Gauleiter was born on October 29 in Germany, in Reidt, a small industrial town. There were no government officials or politically inclined people in the Goebbels family.

Joseph's father Friedrich worked as an employee in a lamp factory, and then did accounting, and his mother Maria ran the household and raised the children. In addition to Joseph, there were five more children in the family: two sons and three daughters. Maria was a native of Holland and did not have primary education, so until the end of her life she spoke a colloquial German dialect.

Seven people lived in cramped conditions, sometimes there was not even enough money for food, because Friedrich was the only breadwinner.

Therefore, from early childhood, Joseph was embittered because of the injustice in the world: the rich have a lot of money and profit from the work of ordinary working people, which was the family of the future politician.

There were no aristocrats or eminent personalities in the Goebbels family. Goebbels personally publishes his family tree, refuting rumors that there were Jews in the Gauleiter family.

The family in which Joseph grew up was distinguished by piety; the father and mother of the future politician professed Catholicism and taught their son to be religious. Friedrich taught his children that success in life can be achieved through frugality and hard work, so Joseph from childhood knew what saving was and what it was like to deny yourself luxury.

Personal life

Paul Joseph Goebbels was far from handsome: a lame and short man, 165 cm tall, with nimble eyes and a long nose, tried to increase his self-esteem, which was expressed in his sexual preoccupation.

On December 19, 1931, Goebbels married his beloved Magda, who admired Joseph's speeches. The couple has six children. Hitler adored Magdalena and considered her a close friend.

Legal marriage did not prevent Goebbels from enjoying female company on the side: the German politician was more than once spotted in the circle of girls of easy virtue and often participated in orgies.

The Nazi was also fond of the Czech actress Lida Baarova, which contradicted German ideology. Goebbels had to humiliatingly explain himself to party members for his love affair.

Goebbels' contemporaries said that the doctor was a cheerful person: in many photographs and videos, Goebbels does not hide his sincere laughter. However, Brünnhilde Pomsel, Joseph's former secretary, recalled in an interview that the propagandist was a cold and callous person.

Death

On April 18, 1945, a hopeless Goebbels burned his last personal notes. After the defeat of the fascist army, the ruler of the Third Reich, deified by Goebbels, commits suicide together with his wife. According to Adolf's will, Joseph was to become Reich Chancellor.

The Fuhrer's suicide led Goebbels to mental shock: he regretted that Germany had lost such a man and declared that he would follow his example.

After Hitler's death, Joseph had hope of being saved, but the Soviet Union refused to negotiate. The propagandist, along with his children and wife Magda, move to a bunker located in Berlin.

In the spring of 1945, on the territory of the bunker, at Magdalena’s request, all six children are given morphine injections, and cyanide is placed in the children’s mouths. At night, Goebbels and his wife went to collect hydrocyanic acid salts. Further, nothing is known about the murder of children and the suicide of the Goebbels spouses: on May 2, 1945, Russian soldiers found the charred remains of seven people.

Quotes

“The goal of the national revolution must be a totalitarian state penetrating all spheres of public life.”
“We pour out a cold shower of denials.”
“A dictator does not need to follow the will of the majority. However, he must be able to use the will of the people.”
“Propaganda loses its power as soon as it becomes explicit.”
“Jurisprudence is the corrupt girl of politics.”