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Megan Guerrieri Theory Application Paper Communication Theory Swarts December 4, 2013 Applying Communication Theory to the Third Reich When people look at Nazi Germany and the Holocaust, its almost impossible to imagine people rallying behind a person like Adolf Hitler. Its easier to say this with hindsight being much clearer, but what must be understood is that Hitler gave the people of Germany something to hope and strive for, something which they hadnt had for a long time. This was mostly due in part to his great speech-making skills. He was so skilled in terms of persuasion that he kept most of the people of Germany in the dark about the Holocaust and those who were involved thought that they were doing these things, mass murdering millions of people, for the greater good. The Holocaust is one of the worst events in human history. The Holocaust was the systematic mass murder of over six million people lead by Hitler and the Nazi party. People were round up into concentration camps and ghettos in different cities and towns where they were starved and overworked. It all started with the implementation of the Nuremburg laws, where Jewish people were forced to wear stars on their clothing and adhere to a curfew. These laws culminated into what has come to be known as the Final Solution in which Jewish people, prisoners of war, and other groups of people were sent to death camps to be exterminated. Throughout all of that, most of the German people were kept in the dark as to what was going on. Only people in Hitlers inner circle were told the plans and those in the army were told to follow orders. Everyone went along with the plan and no one questioned Hitlers decisions.

Guerrieri 2 In this paper, I will analyze the events of Hitlers reign as dictator of Germany and the Holocaust using the Spiral of Silence Theory, Groupthink, and The Rhetoric. The Rhetoric Theory came into being with the teachings of Aristotle on public speaking. Rhetoric is based on persuasion persuading an audience that you are speaking the truth and that you know what youre talking about. (West & Turner) A speaker does that using three kinds of proof, ethos, pathos, and logos. Ethos is ethical proof, which reveals the speakers character. Pathos is emotional proof, which draws on the feelings the speaker is emoting from the audience. Logos is logical proof based on the line of arguments present in the speech. Aristotle then revealed the five canons of rhetoric. They are invention, arrangement, style, memory, and delivery. Invention is using effective examples and audience knowledge to create a speech. Arrangement is a basic structure a speaker uses to organize the information. Style is the actual words used in a speech. Memory is the effort of the speaker to memorize the content of the speech. Delivery is how the speaker delivers the actual words. The Groupthink Theory states that the more cohesive a group is, the higher the risk in failing to seek other alternatives. (West & Turner, 2010) There are four antecedent conditions that, when present in a group, promote groupthink. First is group cohesiveness. This means that the group works together well and all members of the group want to work well together. The group can share the same attitudes, values, and patterns of behavior. Second is structural factors. This includes group insulation, where a group unaffected by outside influences, lack of impartial leadership, the leader puts their own interests ahead of the group, and no clear decision-making guidelines, where the group goes along with whatever the leader says. The fourth antecedent condition is group stress, in which members of a group rally around a leader in times of stress.

Guerrieri 3 These conditions lead to a certain set of group values and beliefs symptoms of groupthink. One symptom of groupthink is a groups overestimation of themselves, this includes the illusion of invulnerability and belief in the inherent morality of the group. This means that the group thinks that they are more than they actually are and that they are special enough to overcome any problem, that they are invulnerable to outside problems, or the illusion of invulnerability. The group believes that they are all good and moral people and that the decisions they make, therefore, are good. A second symptom is close-mindedness, including out-group stereotypes and a collective rationalization. The group refuses to listen to any ideas or perceptions of out-groups, such as enemies or competitors. A collective rationalization is when group members reach a decision and ignore warnings from others about those decisions, believing that their opinion is the only one. The third and final symptom is a pressure in the group towards uniformity, which includes self-censorship, an illusion of unanimity, a group of self-appointed mind guards, and pressure on those who dissent on group decisions. Self-censorship is when a group member keeps their mouth shut regarding any personal doubts they have about the groups decisions. This self-censorship results in an illusion of unanimity where leaders believe that silence is equal to agreement. A pressure is then placed on any dissenters who are afraid to interrupt the silent agreement reached by the group. The final theory I will apply to the events of the Holocaust is the Spiral of Silence Theory. This theory centers around societys pressure on the minority to keep their opinions silent. (West & Turner, 2010) The first assumption of Spiral of Silence Theory states that society threatens minority opinions with isolation and that fear of isolation leads to silence. This

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theory says that the media is a big factor in pervading majority opinion, keeping the minority opinion out of sight and out of mind. Using The Rhetoric Theory, Im going to analyze Adolf Hitlers rise to power. Despite the horrible things he used his power and influence for, Hitler was one of the greatest public speakers of our time. He has the amazing gift of sensing what is in the air. He has the ability to express things so clearly, logically and directly that listeners are convinced that that is what they have always thought themselves. (Goebbels, 1936) With his commanding voice and passionate speeches, it was easy for the people of Germany to get behind Hitler as a leader. Germany wasnt used to having prolific public speakers, according to Ross Scanlans article, The Nazi Rhetorician (1951). "We Germans have always cultivated the art of public speaking very poorly. . . In Germany, the National Socialist Revolution first brought great speakers . . . to the front. Even today the asset of effective public speaking is not frequently to be found among the German people. (p. 436) Hitler was, at the time, the premier public speaker and the German people hung on his every word. Hitler drew mostly on ethos and pathos in his speeches. Through his words, Hitler found a common ground with the people of Germany and made them believe that they are one in the same. He spoke with equal measures of logic and heart that he was considered a genius. (Goebbels, 1936) Hitler also used the five canons of rhetoric laid down by Aristotle. He used invention when he thought about the audience he was going to be speaking in front of and on what subject. He was masterful at creating a certain mood in his speeches to get the crowd behind him. He used arrangement and style to create flow in his speeches and to keep the audience captivated by what he was saying. Hitler was knowledgeable and passionate about the topics he was speaking on, addressing the last two canons, memory and delivery. Combining

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these, Hitler was able to move an entire nation to get behind war and genocide and made people believe that he was Germanys salvation that would save them from troubled times and deliver them to the forefront of a new and better life. The Third Reich that Hitler built for himself also embodied the ideas laid down in the Groupthink Theory and is one terrible, but great, example of the devastating effects of Groupthink. Hitler built such a sense of cohesiveness in his regime that people were willing to murder millions of people because they thought that was the best decision because Hitler thought that was the best decision. No other alternatives were thought of and no one became a whistleblower against his policies. A part of the Spiral of Silence Theory can also be applied to Groupthink Theory and Nazi Germany. Anyone who went against what Hitler and the Third Reich deemed to be right, would be met with the fear of isolation and isolation itself. Hitler established the Gestapo, his own police force, to ensure that if there were any dissenters against his policies, they would be taken care by being thrown in prison and forced to stop their protests. The Nazis met all of the symptoms of Groupthink, which I will analyze in the following paragraphs. Overestimation of the Group: Hitler and the Nazis thought that they were right in everything that they were doing in Germany from starting World War II and conducting the mass genocide of the Jewish and other groups of people, engaging themselves in the overestimation of their group. German victories at the beginning of the war affirmed the sense of German superiority . . .. (Fritzsche, 1996, p. 606) They believed that everyone will go along with their decisions and that, in order to maintain harmony, would agree with them as well. This created an illusion of invulnerability that the Nazis were untouchable they had the support of the people, other countries, like Italy,

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and were being unchallenged about their decisions. The Nazis held all the power in Germany and exercised that power in the war and in their country. All of those things culminated into the Third Reich thinking that everything they did was inherently moral that the people comprising the group itself were all substantially moral people. They believed that they were making decisions for the greater good of Germany and, if their ideals were spread, for the greater good of the world. Closed-mindedness: During his reign as leader of Germany, Hitler ostracized anyone who was against his policies and made them out to be enemies to the German people. This created out-group stereotypes against anyone and everyone, most notable the Jewish people. The Nazis ignored any differences between themselves and other groups. The Third Reich was convinced that their way was the best way and wanted to spread that to other parts of the world. The cohesiveness of the group gave them a sense of collective rationalization. This rationalization goes hand-in-hand with the belief that there is an inherent morality with group decisions. Because of the morality of the group, there is a rationalization that all decisions made are good ones and will work with few consequences. The group uses the same rationalization in solving problems. Pressures toward uniformity: With highly cohesive groups, there will always be a pressure towards uniformity because in order for the group to succeed, there must be no debate on solutions to problems or questions. This uniformity causes some people to self-censor themselves if they think differently from the group. This form of self-censorship happens because the person who disagrees is afraid of the possible repercussions from the group. Barbaric actions are justified by Hitler . . .;

Guerrieri 7 sentimentality must give way to necessity. (Fritzsche, 1996, p. 609) There are many people, especially Nazi officers, who have said that they didnt agree with what Hitler was doing concerning the Jewish people of Germany and Poland, but they went along with it anyways because they didnt want to cause any trouble. In Christopher Brownings book, Ordinary Men: Reserve Police Battalion 101 and the Final Solution in Poland (1992), he showed how people could go along with something they thought was wrong, but instead of speaking up, they just went along with the decisions made. The book shows that the men of the battalion were given the option to opt out of killing the Jewish people if they felt like they couldnt do it. Surprisingly, however, most men carried out killings on a regular basis. (Browning) This is only one example of self-censorship in Nazi Germany. The self-censorship goes along with the illusion of unanimity. Since nobody spoke up, then it was assumed that everyone agreed with the plan. . . . [P]eople tend to accept adefinition of reality provided by . . . their government . . .. They develop a view of reality which justifies cruelty. (Staub, 1985, p 78) The idea given to the citizens of Germany was that the Jewish people were responsible for the hardships the country had been facing and they, therefore were targeted. Because many people were suffering they needed a scapegoat and it was unanimously decided that that scapegoat would be the Jewish people of Europe. It is ironic that Elisabeth Noelle-Neumann, the creator of the Spiral of Silence theory, worked for a Nazi propaganda publisher and that the Holocaust, arguable one of the most vivid examples of a mass spiral of silence on record are note examined at all in that text. (Simpson, 1996, p. 160) With all of the theories coming together, Groupthink, The Rhetoric, and

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Spiral of Silence, it is clear to see that these all culminated in one horrifyingly terrible piece of history that allowed people to do terrible things. The work of killing became normal in a matter of a few months. It was a task that could be mastered. These circumstances, together with the achieved efficiencies, produced the feeling among participants that many things could be undertaken. . .. as quoted in Fritzsche, 1996, p. 608 It wasnt until Germany started losing in the war that the hard core way of thinking, critics of Nazi policies such as the Final Solution, started getting more and more attention from the public. After the war ended, a common phrase adopted by the German people, we didnt know anything about that, (Fritzsche, 1996, p. 610), became widely popular. Whether or not they knew of all the activity going on with the Jewish people, not just deportations, but the systematic extermination of them, and how supportive they were of it has been widely discussed. Even if they did, according to the Spiral of Silence Theory, they would feel pressuring into agreeing with the majority for fear of isolation and, during the Nazi regime, possible death. Its easy to focus on the negatives of the Third Reich because of the depressive weight added to it with the Holocaust, but without that, it is an impressive show of how just one charismatic leader can get an entire country to adopt their values and ideals. Groupthink does often lead to poor decision making, but it is amazing that Hitler could get that large a group of people to go along with his decision-making. Another easy thing to do when analyzing the Holocaust is to blame Hitler, the Nazi party, and the German people for allowing something that awful to happen and making it happen. It just goes to show that when the conditions are right and everything falls into place, anything can happen.

Guerrieri 9 Its hard to analyze the Holocaust with just one theory, because the different aspects of all three of these theories, Spiral of Silence, Groupthink, and the Rhetoric, play off of each other and make the Holocaust that much more interesting to analyze with different theories. One of the major things I learned while conducting this research is that more people knew about what was going on with the Jewish population in Europe than previously let on. Even though they didnt know the extent of what was happening, they flourished in the fact that the so-called source of their problem, the Jewish population, was being taken care of. The Holocaust is something that has been analyzed for years and will continue to be analyzed for years to come. With the gathering of more information and the expansion and creation of new and existing theories, the facts wont change, but the way we view and interpret the facts will. Through the three existing theories I chose, it is easy to analyze the top layer of the Nazi regime and to get a clear picture of the logistics of what happened. It doesnt explain the reasons why it happened, but it shows how easy it can be to get caught up in one persons ideas.

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References Browning, C. R. (1992). Ordinary men: Reserve police battalion 101 and the final solution in poland. New York, NY: HarperCollins Publishers, Inc. Fritzsche, P. (2008). The holocaust and the knowledge of murder. The Journal of Modern History, 80 (3). Retrieved from http://www.jstor.org/stable/10.1086/58959592 Goebbels, J. (1936). The fhrer as a speaker. German Propaganda Archive. Retreived from http://www.calvin.edu/academic/cas/gpa/ahspeak.htm Scanlan, R. (1951). The nazi rhetorician. Quarterly Journal of Speech, 37 (4). Simpson, C. (1996). Elisabeth Noelle-Neumanns spiral of silence and the historical context of communication theory. Journal of Communication, 46(3). Retrieved from https://sru.illiad.oclc.org/illiad/illiad.dll?Action=10&Form=75&Value=2622 Staub, E. (1985). The psychology of perpetrators and bystanders. Political Psychology, Vol. 6 (1). Retrieved from http://www.jstor.org/stable/3791271 West, R..& Turner, L.H. (2010). Introducing communication theory: Analysis and application. New York, NY: McGraw-Hill Higher Education.