Iris_chapter10

Ok....as the German in the class I was kind of struggling with it...but I feel I have to "add my mustard to it" (German saying)

I am not sure if Hitler was that brilliant storyteller: I didn't read "Mein Kampf" (illegal in Germany!) but I heard from a philology professor that the language he used was pretty crappy (grammatical structure etc). The point is that Hitler had a huge propaganda apparatus behind him.
Joseph Goebbels was the propaganda minister and a very skillful demagoge. Hitler was the "Hero" (or main character) of the story a particular party/group of people created. The Nazis tried to use the latest scientific findings to work out their strategy and the German culture of obedience provided a fertile soil.
Germany's additional problem were/are "The silent masses"(and/or CYU-mentality)...the ultra national socialists were actually a minority...a very loud one, I have to admit! To the followers the propaganda spawned hatred (towards everything Non-Germanic) and pride (in a totally made-up heritage) , to the rest it spawned tremendous paralyzing fear (of being punished for "wrong-doing") and some just did not care unless it affected them.