Using Prior Knowledge for Propaganda

Jud Süß and Der Ewige Jude are both examples of trying to use historical instruction as a propaganda tool. A very effective means of conveying a propagandistic message, historical instruction allowed National Socialist ideology to fit within and add to the audience’s preconceived notions. For instance, German viewers of Jud Süß may have known that ‘the people’ in the form of a council had a role in the government of 18th century Württemberg (or in other German cities). What they didn’t know and learned from the film—incorrectly of course—was that a stereotypically sly, manipulative, and greedy Jew tried and nearly succeeded to wrest control from the council’s hands. The effectiveness of the propaganda lay in the fact that it built upon prior knowledge. One of the reasons I think Der Ewige Jude was so unpopular at the box office was that it built so ineffectively upon prior knowledge. The degree of anti-Semitism among the German population has been debated among historians, but I think it can at least be said that the very extreme views on Jews expressed in the film were not broadly held. A lot of people had anti-Semitic thoughts or beliefs, but for most they were probably a lot milder than believing in a worldwide Jewish conspiracy. To these people, rather than building on prior knowledge, Der Ewige Jude was just a barrage of facts. If Jud Süß was an historical lecture, Der Ewige Jude was a sermon. This issue of prior knowledge was at the heart of the correctly held view that the film’s failure was due to its forcefulness.

The most disturbing fact about Der Ewige Jude is that, despite the made-up facts used to try to convince the public, the Nazis were deadly serious about their opinion of the Jews. They really did believe that there was an international conspiracy, that the Jews were responsible for both World War I and II, and that their calling was to do battle with the Jews. Although extermination was an option the Nazis arrived at over time in a complex manner, it is important to remember that the basic doctrine of Nazism was racism. The films on Jews, rather than being considered manifestos of Nazi opinions on the Jews, should be recognized for what they really were: attempts to gain public support (important even in a totalitarian state) for the exclusion, expulsion, and eventually extermination of Jews from German society. That is why, despite the almost comically overstated propaganda in Der Ewige Jude, we should be careful about laughing too much, because the basic belief behind the film is the same one that led to the deaths of so many millions of innocent people.