Goebbels and "Der Angriff"

Abstract

The Berlin newspaper Der Angriff (The Attack), founded by Joseph Goebbels in 1927, was a significant instrument for arousing support for Nazi ideas. Berlin was center of political life of Weimar Republic, and Goebbels became an actor upon this frenetic stage in 1926, becoming Gauleiter of Berlin's Nazis. Focusing on period from 1927 to 1933, a time Nazis later called the blood years, Russel Lemmons examines how Der Angriff was used to promote support for Nazism. Some of most important propaganda motifs of Third Reich first appeared in pages of Der Angriff . Horst Wessel, murdered by German Communist Party in 1930, became archetypal Nazi hero; much of his legend began on pages of Der Angriff . Other Nazi propaganda themes-the Unknown SA man and myth of resurrection and return-made their first appearances in this newspaper. How could Germans, seemingly among most cultured people in Europe, hand over their fate to Nazis? As this book demonstrates, Der Angriff had much to do with rise of National Socialism in Berlin and cataclysmic results.