Carter Weiser
Professor Scott Olsen
English 110
1 November 2024
Burying Atrocities: Holocaust Censorship in World War II
As the world has developed, humanity has established civil liberties like freedom of speech and intellectual freedom, that are to be protected. The protection of these is fundamental in any human life. During World War II, these fundamental liberties were stripped from the German people through extensive censorship. Censorship during the war led to the deaths of millions because the people were unable to hold the government accountable and inform others of what was transpiring. The film Lee by Ellen Kuras depicts the violation of rights by showing an act of censorship that distressed Elizabeth “Lee” Miller, a famous war photographer. Photographers in war serve as vital witnesses, creating historical documents of truth and sharing them to the world. It is crucial that people can access information, and photographers offer a window into events that could never be seen otherwise. Accessibility of information empowers the public to resist human rights violations and when atrocities happen oceans away, photographers are one of the only sources of the truth for the public. If access to information is so important, why would countries restrict access if not for malicious purposes? What gives countries the right to control what the public knows?
Freedom of the press affects much more than just the press; it affects the public too. When the press is restricted in their ability to spread the truth, it comes at the cost of the people’s right to be informed. This restriction strengthens the ability for governments to keep their actions hidden. Nazi leaders knew that if they maintained control of the media, they could eventually control the German people. This is why they targeted the press soon after they came to power through the creation of laws and government offices to limit access to information. How does one country manage to keep a genocide affecting millions under wraps? Censorship of opposition played a key role.
There are two main ways the Nazis used censorship and propaganda to prevent information on the Holocaust to reach the masses as well as other countries. The United States Holocaust Memorial Museum speaks about how control of the media and destroying evidence both were used to suppress the truth and make sure the public is unaware of what is taking place before them. It is hard to believe that none of the citizens of Nazi Germany knew what was going on and that speaks to the effort put in towards suppressing the truth.
The Nazis provided the power of censorship and propaganda to themselves by abolishing the civil rights of the German people soon after they came to power. Due to their lack of power, the people were unable to “write or say whatever they wanted” (USHMM). In turn, the Nazis had control of several sources of information “newspapers, magazines, books, art, theater, music, movies and radio” (USHMM). Control of these sources gave Nazis unprecedented power over their people. According to the Simple History YouTube channel, all German media was overseen by the Ministry for Propaganda and Public Enlightenment which gave the Nazis supreme authority over most news sources. The ministry chose who could work in places that had the ability to spread information to the public. They would choose people that were part of the ministry to head parts of the media controlled by their corresponding chamber of the ministry (SH). When people are not free to express themselves, they are discouraged and are unwilling to speak out against their oppressors. The inability to spread information about their injustice kept the Nazis empowered.
Control of media empowered the Nazis to keep all their activities under wraps and allowed them to gain support for their actions using propaganda. A way the Nazis were able to spread their propaganda was using radios. Radios gave the ministry a “mouthpiece right into the homes of millions of German citizens” (SH). The Nazis had a large reach to spread their ideology due to the accessibility of radios. Radios were in most homes, but after the Nazis began using them to spread propaganda, they made sure to put radios in nearly every public space (SH). The Nazis would play speeches on loudspeakers in public areas to hammer in the ideals of the totalitarian government (USHMM) and they eventually made it illegal to listen to foreign radio stations to prevent the spread of ideologies that countered the Nazi’s (SH). The silencing of opposing ideologies is another way of limiting intellectual freedoms. The people were not free to get information from unbiased sources which made it nearly impossible for them to know what is and is not true. This limited the human desire to express themselves. It is human nature to speak to others about what one believes, but when one is afraid to speak their mind, their ability to inform others of the evil actions of the Nazis is taken. The restriction of human nature and freedoms, such as intellectual freedom, directly leads to dehumanization which was a key aspect of the Nazi treatment of the Jewish people.
Intellectual freedom, the freedom to indulge and learn from different sources, was not allowed in Nazi Germany. The Nazis prevented people from researching forbidden subjects by creating “mandatory lists of national literature to be kept in all libraries” (SH). This created a list of books that would be accessible to all Germans, making the Nazi ideology more prevalent in everyday life. To create this list, they’d have to be rid of all opposing ideology that was accessible. Years before, the Nazis burned books to destroy works that were created by people named “enemies of the German spirit” as quoted by the Central European University. Outside of Friedrich Wilhelm University, Joseph Goebbels, a notorious Nazi leader and future leader of the Ministry for Propaganda and Public Enlightenment, led a speech in front of a massive pile of burning books. The Nazis turned this book burning in to a public event and encouraged everyone to partake in the destruction of important documents. (USHMM). This brought more support to the Nazis and made the public more likely to support further book burnings, making them complicit in their own censorship. These books represented “the dreams, stories, and ideals of previous generations and so-called undesirables being burned to ashes” (SH). The demoralization of the public through the destruction of people’s dreams and ideals was essential in controlling the publics hope. The Nazi’s control of the people’s hope enabled their control of the public’s lives. The destruction of literature directly led to the demoralization of the German people and diminished their ability to attempt an uprising.
The people who spoke up faced persecution. In a case of protest, the White Rose group, a group dedicated to fighting the totalitarian government of the Nazis, handed out leaflet papers discussing the mistreatment of Jews and the group’s desire to overthrow the Nazi government. An article from Facing History and Ourselves explains what happened to the group, “In February 1943, the Nazis arrested the Scholls and Probst and brought them to trial. All three were found guilty and were guillotined the same day” (FHO). People who desired freedom were quickly silenced and even killed. The same goes for editors of publications in Nazi Germany, the ministry controlled everything that was published and if an editor did not publish what was desired, they could be placed in concentration camps. Most publications that were associated with ideas the Nazis deemed “unsavory” were destroyed or removed from circulation. The Nazis prevented Jewish people and people associated with Jews to work in the press after the Editors Law of October 4th, 1937. They did this by threatening prosecution (SH). The idea that anyone who speaks out will be killed or jailed perpetuated the public’s silence and strengthened the Nazis’ grip on their lives.
The atrocities committed by the Nazis had to be hidden, and they were willing to murder whoever had the ability to spread the truth. Their ultimate way of censoring those that were a threat to their grip on German society was genocide. The regime’s desire to keep their actions hidden only increased as the war trudged on. Their genocide intensified towards the end of the war as the allies grew closer to victory (USHMM) and their use of media censorship laws continued even into the dying days of the regime even as Berlin was being bombed (SH).
According to the Auschwitz-Birkenau Sate Museum, when the Nazis hid their mass killings, they employed three tactics “First: they limited the written record of their crime to a minimum; Second: they falsified the record, to the degree that the technical and organizations made its existence necessary; Third: they destroyed the superfluous and the most incriminating part of the record,” The most fundamental human right is the right to life and the Nazis took that from their victims and tried to hide it from history. The Nazis control of all German media made it easy to keep the truth from the populous and enabled them to continue their human rights violations. A quote of Heinrich Heine, a German poet and writer, provided by the Central European University, speaks to the connection between censorship and murder “those who burn books will in the end burn people,” If the government is given full control of the media and can censor any information they desire, they will have enough power to commit crimes against humanity as well as hide them.
How did the Nazi propaganda and censorship affect the people’s liberty? Nazi propaganda kept the German people ignorant of the true evil that was occurring and even garnered support for the Nazi war effort. By controlling all German press through the Ministry of Propaganda, the regime ensured that the public could not get accurate information on the war and the evil actions of the Nazi party. Limiting intellectual freedom prevented the public from educating themselves on subjects that were deemed contradictory to Nazi ideology. This limited their capacity for free thinking. Additionally, the inability to educate oneself led to the demoralization of the German people. When the public is uneducated, they are unable to properly assemble and protest. The Nazi’s hold on society came from their control of information; ultimately, that empowered them to commit their crimes without protest.
The Nazi’s censored their country heavily for purely malicious reasons that enabled them to harm others. However, the Nazis were not the only group responsible for censorship during the war; the Allies used censorship to their advantage. The Allies used censorship to maintain morale and to protect military information. Although the Nazi’s had similar reasons for censoring media, they abused their power to oppress, not to protect.
The Allies were responsible for censoring certain aspects of the war and restricted press coverage in several countries. In the movie Lee, Lee Miller’s pictures of the Holocaust are delayed in publishing by British Vogue Magazine due to their disturbing nature and the inability to display the truth causes distress. She is not just distressed that her work won’t get published, she is much more distressed about the fact that the truth is being silenced. This is because Lee Miller was a photojournalist, her mission was to share the truth. If she and other photographers had not been there, it would be difficult to discern the truth. The importance of photographs in capturing the truth leads to the question of why they were censored in Ally countries. The censorship in this case is due to cultural differences between the United State and Great Britain. British Vogue at the time chose to protect their readers from suffering further from the Holocaust, they saw those pictures as “too real” and did not want to subject their readers to the harmful material. There is a balancing act between protecting freedom of the press and the public’s right to be informed with the ethics of publishing material as gruesome as the Holocaust. The pictures Lee Miller took are documents of fact, it is proof of what the Nazis were doing. If those images were kept hidden, the Nazi’s horrific crimes could be denied. Because there were photographers, the truth is forever held within the photos taken and the world knows now what evil occurred. There is a powerful moment in the film where Lee Miller talks about how she was assaulted as a child and remained quiet. She remained quiet and the perpetrator was not punished, and she speaks to how horrible things happen and people just get away with it. The United States has always stood for freedom of the people and press, and this culture of freedom is why American Vogue was willing to publish Holocaust photography much quicker regardless of the brutal nature of her photos. If the Allies were to have remained quiet and had not published the photos taken by Lee Miller and others, there would be a much greater chance of the Nazis getting away with it or denying the allegations outright.
As the world has continued into the 21st century, information has become widespread and has allowed others to become more informed. Technology allows the public to become aware of actions taking place from all around the Earth. This access to technology and information has made it increasingly difficult for governments to censor the public. This is because the public is empowered and refuses to remain quiet about injustice.
Censorship is much more difficult in the age of technology. The murder of Palestinians in Israel is the event most similar to the Holocaust in recent years and information regarding it is everywhere. According to the Palestinian Children’s Relief Fund, “One of the key benefits of social media is its ability to disseminate information rapidly.” the ability to get information widespread rapidly has allowed the truth to be shared faster than ever. The ability to spread information as fast as the world sees now is something that was not around during World War II and the amount of resistance is much larger and faster than ever before because of the access to information. If atrocities are happening, the people are empowered now more than ever to find out and protest the violence taking place. Populations are enabled to raise support and spread awareness (PCRF) which prevents further loss of life and helps lobby governments to step in and stop conflicts quicker. When the people are empowered to educate themselves and advocate for an end to violence, the ability for governments committing crimes is greatly diminished. When governments are held accountable, the people’s liberties are protected.
During World War II, countries of the Axis and Allies alike used censorship to benefit themselves. The use of censorship against people attacks the public’s freedom and the use of censorship enables governments to commit crimes against humanity. Photographers play a crucial role in capturing the truth and are often the last source of truth in a world of misinformation. When photographers can spread the truth, they are able to protect people’s liberty. The key to protecting civil liberties is holding governments accountable for their actions and staying vigilant against human rights violations. Since World War II it has become increasingly difficult to censor or hide crimes against humanity, this is because the public is now empowered to protect human rights through social activism. As long as the public remains vigilant, they can work to ensure a safer, freer world for all.
Works Cited
Auschwitz-Birkenau State Museum. “Holocaust Denial / History / Auschwitz-Birkenau.” Www.auschwitz.org, 2022, www.auschwitz.org/en/history/holocaust-denial/.
Central European University. “The Tale of Two Book Burnings: Heine’s Warning in Context | Central European University.” Www.ceu.edu, 13 Mar. 2014, www.ceu.edu/article/2014-03-13/tale-two-book-burnings-heines-warning-context.
Facing History & Ourselves. “Protests in Germany.” Facing History & Ourselves, 2 Aug. 2016, www.facinghistory.org/resource-library/protests-germany#citation-information-1185. Accessed 9 Oct. 2024.
Lee. Directed by Ellen Kuras, performances by Kate Winslet, Andy Samberg, StudioCanal UK, 2024.
Palestinian Children’s Relief Fund. “The Role of Social Media in Modern Conflicts.” PCRF, www.pcrf.net/information-you-should-know/item-1707234928.html.
Simple History. “Censorship in Nazi Germany.” Www.youtube.com, 8 Apr. 2022, www.youtube.com/watch?v=7Lm6U4vxEhI.
United States Holocaust Memorial Museum. “Nazi Propaganda and Censorship.” Holocaust Encyclopedia, United States Holocaust Memorial Museum, 15 Jan. 2021, encyclopedia.ushmm.org/content/en/article/nazi-propaganda-and-censorship. Access on 9 Oct. 2024.