Hitler, Adolf

Following the establishment of the National Socialism Movement and the ascendance of the Nazi Party in Germany in 1933, the name Adolf Hitler became irrevocably intertwined with the concept of lying. The environment within Germany was ripe for Hitler's utopian promises because the country was still reeling from its defeat in World War I, and its pride had been bruised by the punishment meted out in the Treaty of Versailles. Hitler's entire career was founded on the principle that lies were justified if they allowed him to achieve his ends. Calling on the enormous resources at his command, Hitler waged a lengthy campaign of deception designed to undermine trust in one's own government, raise questions about the reliability of allies, convince the world that Germany was invincible, and assure the German population that his end goal was utopia for the German people. Because the web of deception was so extensive, it became almost impossible to sort out fact from propaganda within a Germany controlled by Hitler and the Nazi Party.

Adolf Hitler was born in 1889 in Braunau in Upper Austria but became a German citizen. Throughout his public life he had been known for his anti-Semitic views. By 1921, he had been officially named chairman of the Nazi Party. Hitler laid out his plans to make Germany the dominant world power in Mein Kampf (My Struggle) in 1927. He expressed his views on lying clearly [Page 478]in what became known as the Big Lie, stating that lies should be big and simple, and he maintained that people would begin to believe any lie that was repeated often enough. He devoted two chapters of the book to propaganda.

Almost immediately upon attaining power, Hitler set up the Ministry of Public Enlightenment and Propaganda and installed Joseph Goebbels as its head. The ministry was assigned to direct and monitor the activities of art, music, theater, films, books, radio, education, and the press. It was also charged with keeping foreign media out of the hands of the German public. The overriding goal was always to protect the image of Hitler and the Nazi Party so that the German people did not rise up in revolt. Anyone who threatened that image was likely to be hunted down by German storm troopers or the Gestapo.

Identifying his major external enemies as Great Britain and the Soviet Union, Hitler was willing to use any means at his disposal to bring those enemies down. In August 1939, the news that Germany and the Soviet Union had signed a non-aggression pact sent a ripple of surprise around the world. The pact paved the way for Hitler to proceed with his plans to invade Poland on September 1, 1939, while allowing him to keep quiet about the possibility that, despite the alliance, Germany would later invade the Soviet Union. The invasion of Poland was allegedly justified by perceived mistreatment of Germans living in Poland. Records made available after Germany's fall have made it clear that by 1941, plans for the invasion of the Soviet Union were already underway. That invasion was timed to coincide with mass extermination of European Jews.

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