The 1930s : The Strongmen

The first time Heinrich Hoffman tries to take a photograph of Adolf Hitler he is beaten to a pulp and his camera smashed. And then the Nazis change their minds, and hire Hoffman as Hitler's official photographer. It is the beginning of a propaganda campaign carefully orchestrated by propaganda minister Joseph Goebbels that is built around the image of the "Führer”. A film called Triumph of the Will, directed by Leni Riefenstahl shows the whole world how powerful Hitler has become. It is the most sophisticated piece of demagoguery anyone has ever seen in any medium. Throughout the 1930s Hitler and his propaganda minister Joseph Goebbels, use propaganda to terrifying effect as they stoke German pride and spread hatred toward the Jews and other minorities.

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S01E02 - 1939/1940 : Selling War