PROPAGANDA AND THE HOLOCAUST
Albert Ziegler
The influence of the media on human beings was immeasurable. The influence of the media on human beings under a ruthless totalitarian regime, in most cases, was used as a state operated propaganda machine. Its sole purpose is to prepare the fertile soil of the mind and heart for belief in the ideology of the state. Under the Nazi’s, during the Holocaust, the propaganda, machine prepared everyday people not only for the acceptance of the destruction of human beings but also for the participation in this destruction. The one hour and forty-four minute, 1996, Channel Four Films and Goldwyn Entertainment Co. film, Bent, was based on Martin Sherman’s stage play and screenplay, directed by Sean Mathias. The premise of the film is the story of “One man’s struggle to maintain dignity while imprisoned in a Nazi concentration camp.”[1] The main character Max pretended to be Jewish-because gays; in the eyes of the Nazi’s are the lowest forms of human being. But it takes a forbidden relationship with an openly gay prisoner to teach Max that without the love of another, life is not worth living.” The Film takes the viewer on a journey that explores homosexuality during the 1930s, as well as the destruction of homosexuals and their lifestyle, including those in the German military. It also demonstrates the lack of concern for homosexual men by everyone around them, including their family. Because of the brutality and adult themes of the movie, a mature audience should only view it. It contains a scene of the forcible rape of a young innocent female, as a demonstration of Max’s heterosexuality; this rape proved he was only a Jew and not a homosexual. This essay will argue that the media is directly responsible for the ability of the Nazi’s to implement the destruction of Homosexuals, Jews, Communists, Trade Unionists, Jehovah Witnesses, dissenting clergy of any faith, and all others deemed to be enemies of the state. This thesis will be proved by an examination of the media’s role in the persecution of Jews and homosexual men during the Holocaust, preparing the population to reject nonconforming lifestyles and forcing love to take place against all odds, and justifying ‘the ends justify the means’ mindset which allowed the Holocaust to take place.
The propaganda machines played a major role in the persecution of homosexual men during the Holocaust of the 1930’s. They put forth the ideology that homosexuality was bad and abnormal. The propaganda machines also put forth the ideology that homosexual men are freaks or fluffs as they are called in the movie. For example, there was a scene in the movie where the main character Max is talking to an older gentlemen, the older gentlemen tells Max that homosexuals are not allowed to have fluff thoughts. He tells him “They are not allowed to walk like a fluff or talk like a fluff. If they do these fluff things, they will be caught and imprisoned.”
We see these things happening in our society today. There are no concentration camps in existence that we know of today, but a portion of mainstream society, still view homosexuality as wrong. Even though we do not still call them fluffs, we do call them fags, queers, and freaks. We as a society, still persecute homosexual men today; for example, hate crimes are committed in our society today against homosexual men. We as a society, also persecute homosexuals by making fun of them, for example, when comedians crack jokes about homosexuals, we laugh without even giving it a second thought.
Next, we are going to examine the role the media played in preparing the population for rejecting the non-conformist life styles and the role the media played in love against all odds. The movie beings with the main character Max walking through a homosexual club. If German society and the propaganda machines were more accepting of homosexuality during that time, there might not have been a need for an exclusively gay club. In addition, in the movie it was said that being homosexual was worse than being Jewish. Therefore, when the main character Max was being taken by train to a concentration camp, he lied and said he was Jewish, and not homosexual, in order to prove he was not homosexual he was forced to rape a young girl.
In the movie, we also see how the propaganda machines and German society forced love against all odds, for example, the main character Max was forced to hide his love for an openly gay male in the concentration camps. The one time when Max and his lover made love, they could not touch each other so they made love to each other in their minds. If they did touch each other, they would be either tortured or killed. Toward the end of the movie, Max’s lover was killed as some sort of twisted sport. Max had to get ride of the body. While carrying his dead friend to a ditch, Max realized that he had fallen in love with the now dead man. At the end of the movie, Max killed himself because he could not bare the pain of losing his lover; but not before exchanging his own jacket with a yellow triangle indicating he was Jewish, for his dead lover’s jacket with its pink triangle, indicating he was a homosexual.
In today's society we too reject non-conformist lifestyles, for example main stream society is currently fighting to keep marriage between a man and a woman, excluding same sex marriages, which in turn is a way of rejecting the homosexual life style which certain parts of society participate in. Not only did the media play a role in the persecution of Jews and homosexual men, preparing the population to reject non-conformist live styles, and forcing love against all odds, they also played a role in selling the ‘ends justify the means’ mind set.
During the Holocaust, the Jews and homosexuals were considered a big problem in Germany. So, Germany thought of different ways of ridding themselves of their problem. They tried repressive laws against homosexuals and allowed the rest of the population to make life unbearable for them, so they would get up and leave Germany. When that did not work, the Germans had to figure out a way to cleanse Germany of these freaks. So the propaganda machines justified in their mind that the homosexual and Jewish problem was so important to Germany, that no matter what had to be done, it was justifiable because once it was over Germany would be free of Jews and homosexuals. The mindset put forth by the propaganda machine, that murdering innocent men, woman, and children was acceptable and a righteous act, justified the murder of these innocent people because ultimately it gave them the results they wanted.
The main point of this movie was to show that not only were Jewish people killed during the Holocaust but also homosexual men and woman as well. This film is important to us as a society, for numerous reasons, however this essay will focus on four. First, this film helps us to see what hatred, intolerance, and ignorance can do to a whole group of people. The Holocaust was a result of hatred, intolerance, and ignorance. Second, this film helps us to see how we in American society, treat people that are what we consider to be different. Do we reject people who are homosexual, lesbian, or bisexual? For most people the answer is yes. Third, this film was meant to help us see that just because someone lives a lifestyle, that some of our society do not consider normal, we as a society do not have the right to put a whole culture of people through what the Jews and homosexuals were put through in Germany. Finally, this movie helps us to see that the propaganda machines have an influence over the way we see and value certain groups of people. We need to be aware of these influences and sometimes we need to go against these influences to prevent another Holocaust.
In conclusion, it has been demonstrated above that under the Nazi’s, during the Holocaust, the propaganda machine prepared everyday people not only for the acceptance of the destruction of human beings but also the participation in this destruction. The film, Bent took the viewer on a journey that explored homosexuality during the 1930s, as well as the destruction of homosexuals and their lifestyle, including those in the German military. This essay demonstrated that the media was directly responsible for the ability of the Nazi’s to implement the destruction of Homosexuals, Jews, Communists, Trade Unionists, Jehovah Witnesses, dissenting clergy of any faith, and all others deemed to be enemies of the state. The thesis was proved by an examination of the media’s role in the persecution of Jews and homosexual men during the Holocaust, prepared the population for the Holocaust to take place. Beware the media, for it has the power to change the world.
[1] Channel Four Films and Goldwyn Entertainment Co. VHS sleeve information, same source of all information regarding the film itself