"The power which has always started the greatest religious and
political avalanches in history rolling has from time immemorial
been the magic power of the spoken word, and that alone."—Adolf
Hitler, Mein Kampf
As historians have long noted, public oratory has seldom been as
pivotal in generating and sustaining the vitality of a movement as it
was during the rise and rule of the National Socialist Party, from
1919 to 1945. Led by the charismatic and indefatigable Hitler,
National Socialists conducted one of the most powerful rhetorical
campaigns ever recorded. Indeed, the mass addresses, which were
broadcast live on radio, taped for re-broadcast, and in many cases
filmed for play on theater newsreels throughout the Third Reich,
constituted one of the most thorough exploitations of media in
history.
Because such evil lay at the heart of the National Socialist
movement, its overwhelming rhetoric has often been negatively
characterized as propaganda. As Randall Bytwerk points out,
however, the "propaganda" label was anything but negative in the
minds of the leaders of the National Socialist movement. In their
view, the clear, simplistic, and even one-sided presentation of
information was necessary to mobilize effectively all elements of
the German population into the National Socialist program.
Gathered here are thirteen key speeches of this historically
significant movement, including Hitler's announcement of the party's
reestablishment in 1925 following the unsuccessful Beer Hall
Putsch, four addresses by Joseph Goebbels, the 1938 Kristallnacht
speech by Julius Streicher, and four speeches drafted as models for
party leaders' use on various public occasions. The volume
concludes with Adolf Hitler's final public address on January 30,
1945, three months before his suicide. Several of these works are
presented for the first time in English translation.
Bytwerk provides a brief introduction to each speech and allows
the reader to trace the development and downfall of the Nazi party.
Landmark Speeches of National Socialism is an important volume
for students of rhetoric, World War II, Nazi Germany, and the
Holocaust.
_________________________________________________________
RANDALL L. BYTWERK is a professor of communication arts and
sciences at Calvin College in Grand Rapids, Michigan. The author of
two previous volumes on Nazi rhetoric and propaganda, he holds a
Ph.D. from Northwestern University.
Landmark Speeches: A Book Series
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