Explain how the Nazi regime used the arts and media as a method of control in Germany between 1933-1939. (AS Level-12 marks)

Between the years 1933-1939 the Nazi regime controlled Germany politically, socially and religiously. Socially, such was done so through the arts and media in forms including radio, newspapers, photographs, the cinema and films, paintings, theatre, music, literature, sculptures and architecture.  Head of the Propaganda Ministry from March 1933, Dr. Joseph Goebbles used his position to indoctrinate the German people to idolise the Nazi regime and its leader, Adolf Hitler. Such was done so through the censoring of Newspapers and literature that did not agree with Nazi belief of an Aryan race, or were written by ‘enemies of the State’ such as Jews and Gypsies. By 1939, the Nazi Regime owned 66% of the German press. From May 1933 the burning of books became a common sight throughout Germany, including the burning of books by Albert Einstein, Sigmund Freud,  Ernest Hemingway and Helen Keller. In terms of the radio, Goebbels controlled all broadcasting in Nazi Germany under the creation of the Reich Radio Company. In order for the ordinary person to hear the Nazi message, wireless radios became cheap enough for every household to have and by 1939, 70% of German homes owned a radio. With the development of the media, especially the film industry, Goebbels ensured the Nazi Regime controlled German cinema. Leni Riefenstahl, Hitler’s favourite film producer, gained worldwide acclaim after her film ‘Triumph des Willens’ (Triumph of the Will) about the 1934 Nuremburg Rally and ‘Olympia’, about the 1936 Olympic Games in Berlin, were published. These films helped push propaganda for the Nazi Regime forward. In relation to the arts, Arthur Kampf and Adolf Ziegler were two painters who reinforced the Nazi stereotype of women as mothers who belonged in nowhere but the home surrounded by  children. Kampf joined the Nazi Party soon after the Nazi’s gained power of Germany in 1933 and was acknowledged by the Nazi’s in 1944 for his tremendous work. His worked focused around the stereotypes of strong males in the workforce, and the adoration of the German Public to the swastika. Ziegler, Hitler’s favourite painter was asked to purge the art of Germany that did not glorify the Nazi Party.  In 1935 he became the Senator of the Fine Arts in the Reich Chamber of Culture.  By taking individuals and using their talents to morph them into the ideal German citizen, the Nazi’s were skilful in using the arts and media in controlling Germany between 1933-1939.