The radio propaganda as an innovative element of the military tactics and strategies of the Nazi Germany 1933-1941

Abstract

The role of radio as one of the parts of the Nazi information space, formed in Europe before and at the beginning of the Second World War, is revealed. Radio propaganda is presented as an integral element of Nazi Germany's military tactics and strategy, which became important in the psychological treatment of the population before the hostilities. Spreading radio broadcasting to foreign countries by Nazi authorities, ambitions to gain popularity that would allow it to compete with the media of England, France, the United States of America and the USSR, and radio broadcasts from foreign countries, were considered. Almost all Nazi propaganda programs were targeted primarily at the occupied territories. Significant role was played by the programs that promoted Germany's great mission. Having secured a European radio space, Hitler's propaganda headquarters began a true radio war in the East Europe. The purpose of the article is to expose radio propaganda as one of the parts of the information space that Hitler's authority sought to form in the occupied territories of Eastern Europe. The article analyzes the state of scientific development of the problem in domestic and foreign historiography. The basic approaches to the research of the problem and the methods of research of the content of radio transmissions, their influence on the population of Germany in the 1930s of the XX century are determined. The scientific novelty of the presented research is the demonstration of radio propaganda as an integral element of Nazi Germany's military tactics and strategy. The outlined research period is 1933-1941, which explained by the fact that the Nazi authority, spreading radio broadcasting to foreign countries, sought to gain popularity that would allow it to compete with the media of England, France, the United States of America, Austria and the USSR. Almost all Nazi propaganda programs focused primarily on the consolidation of ethnic Germans abroad. Research confirmed that already during the German-Soviet War, technological advances in radio broadcasting were used not only by the Nazi authority, but also by the authorities of England, the United States and the USSR. German radio propaganda was carried out using specially developed techniques and methods. Among them are: official announcements in which good news were reported in detail, unprofitable - superficial; the repetition of the enemy's official announcements between information news which had a certain propaganda purpose - to undermine the belief in the success of the enemy's action; sensational broadcasts that focused on one important propaganda topic or event; the broadcasting of completely falsified material, that is, fictitious, that the listeners could not immediately understand truth; official radio programs forged with reference to fictitious sources were broadcast, as well as broadcasts based on a source of information secretly controlled by Germany.