“The receptivity of the great masses is very limited, their intelligence is small, but their power of forgetting is enormous. In consequence of these facts, all effective propaganda must be limited to a very few points and must harp on these slogans until the last member of the public understands what you want him to understand by your slogan.”     -  Adolf Hitler, Mein Kampf 1926 Shortly after Hitler came to power in 1933, he leveraged "Aryan" fears of Jews and Communists to implement measures that restricted civil liberties and eradicated democracy. Opposition political parties were banned along with hundreds of their newspapers. Soon, the Nazi government also established control of the independent press. Joseph Goebbels, Minister of Popular Enlightenment and Propaganda, assured that a "racially clean" German press spread the same message (Gleischaltung). Jewish and liberal editors and journalists were sacked. All remaining editors had to prove that they were not married to a Jew. The Vőlkischer Beobachter, edited by the Nazi intellectual Alfred Rosenberg, was the Nazi Party’s primary media vehicle. Goebbels also had his own newspaper, Der Angriff  founded in 1927 with a front page column by ‘Dr G’. Another party newspaper, the fiercely anti-semitic Der Stűrmer was rumored to be Hitlers' favorite.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WVUAIPMsZ60 After gaining control of the government in the early 1930s, the Nazis radically altered Germany's educational system. History was re-written along the intolerant lines of Aryan beliefs. Old texts, non-conforming teachers, clergy and many parents were pushed aside. Naïve youth, mesmerized by rhetoric telling them that they, and not their parents, were the future of Germany eagerly followed their Führer.

This heavy-handed 1933 Soviet propaganda cartoon is quite disturbing, but unfortunately reflects some aspects of our society at the time. Although we've come a long way since then, recent inner-city riots remind us that racism is still a significant problem in the USA.

  In the 1930s, most european radio stations were controlled by a government monopoly with emphasis on political programs. When Hitler came to power in 1933, the Reich Broadcasting Corporation became the major propaganda vehicle for the Nazi party. From 1933-39, the Nazi government subsidized the manufacture of over 7 million affordable Volksempfänger (people’s radio receivers). Few Volksempfänger came with short wave, and sensitivity was generally limited to reception of local stations that broadcast propaganda, news, folk and classical music. Large version Volksempfänger were often wired to loudspeakers in public places. At the start of the war in 1939, all radios sold came with a warning attached to the tuning knob: “Think about this: listening to foreign broadcasts is a crime against the national security of our people. It is a Führer order punishable by prison and hard labour.” As the war progressed, many Germans realized that news from government broadcasts was deceptive and unreliable. But even the small Volksempfänger could provide long wave reception of the BBC or Radio Moscow after dark. Using more powerful pre-war radios or augmenting their Volksempfänger with antennas, many Germans took the risk of listening to Allied radio broadcasts. read more: Hitler’s Radio - Radio - Transdiffusion.

With undocumented belief that an arm stretched forward with palm facing down was an ancient Roman military salutation, Italian Fascists first adopted it, then the Nazis. (Ironically, the original American Pledge of Allegiance was similar until changed to hand over the heart). The Nazi salute Deutscher Gruß (German Salute)) was reminiscent of a social greeting used among medieval German civilians.  Although often used in Nazi rallies, the Deutscher Gruß, did not become mandatory  in any service until the failed attempt on Hitler's life in July 1944.  

  Beginning in 1933, the Reich Culture Chamber (composed of chambers for film, music, theater, press, writing , fine arts and radio) regulated all aspects of German culture. Denouncing modern, innovative art as "degenerate" or 'Bolshevist," Nazi artists such as Arthur Kampf and Adolf Ziegler  glorified the peasantry, "Aryans" and military heroism. German architects such as Paul Troost and Albert Speer constructed monumental edifices intended to convey the neoclassical greatness of Nazism. Nazi writers such as Adolf Bartels and Hans Baumann were promoted, and politically unacceptable books were removed from public libraries. Peasant literature, historical Volk novels and war novels were considered most appropriate. The state- subsidized motion picture industry was an important propaganda tool with films such as Leni Riefenstahl's "Triumph of the Will" and Wolfgang Liebeneiner's "The Dismissal." In music, the Nazis promoted the works of German composers such as Johann Sebastian Bach, Ludwig van Beethoven, Anton Bruckner, and Richard Wagner, while prohibiting performances of works by "non-Aryans" such as Felix Mendelssohn and Gustav Mahler. Theater companies produced National Socialist dramas and plays by great German writers such as Johann Wolfgang von Goethe and Friedrich Schiller .  

“Brother national socialist, do you know that your Führer is against smoking and thinks that every German is responsible to the whole people for all his deeds and omissions, and does not have the right to damage his body with drugs?” "Nazi Germany was governed by a health-conscious political elite bent on European conquest and genocidal extermination.” The Nazi War on Cancer by Robert N. Proctor. In 1939, German scientists presented the first epidemiological study linking tobacco use and cancer.  German research also reported the harmful effects of secondhand smoke. Nazi Germany launched an anti-smoking campaign that limited advertising, discouraged smoking in the workplace, and banned it in cinemas and schools. Men in uniform could not smoke and women could not buy cigarettes in public places. 

As the mother of four sons on active duty, the First Lady, Eleanor Roosevelt became an important symbol of patriotism during WWII.  She insisted that the White House practice the same food and gas rationing system as the rest of the country, participated in air raid drills and learned how to use a gas mask. In her volunteer wartime efforts, she reflected and emphasized the work of American women who held jobs previously performed by men before they were sent overseas. She had a victory garden planted on the south lawn of the White House and made frequent radio appeals for Red Cross donations. Throughout WWII in public remarks and writings, she emphasized the role of democracy against the tyranny of fascism  A frequent public critic of Hitler and Mussolini – they in turn made personal attacks against her in their own broadcasts. Read her syndicated newspaper column My Day for this day 72 years ago.

  In the late 19th century, the concept of an "Aryan" race proposed that the descendants of Indo-European language speakers constituted a distinct sub-race of Caucasians. Although originally intended only as a linguistic classification, proponents of white supremacism (e.g. Nazis) claimed that the Aryan race was a master race. In his 1922 book Rassenkunde des deutschen Volkes, racial theorist Hans F. K. Günther identified the Aryan race in Europe as having five subtype races: Nordic, Mediterranean, Dinaric, Alpine, and East Baltic, with Nordics being the highest in the racial hierarchy. Each racial subtype had physical (hair, eye, and skin color, facial structure) and certain emotional traits and religious beliefs. Adolf Hitler embraced the concept of Aryan Herrenvolk (master race) and believed that Jews and the vast majority of Slavs, who had dangerous non-Aryan Asiatic  origins, were Untermenschen (subhumans). Photos of Nazi Germany home front  

    The German Volksgerichtshof  (People's Court) was established in 1934 by Chancellor Adolf Hitler to function outside the constitutional legal framework. The Volksgerichtshof had jurisdiction over a large number of political offenses, including black marketing, work slowdowns, defeatism and treason against the Third Reich. These crimes, viewed as undermining military capacity were punished severely, frequently by execution.  

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H0WpKl2A_2k Who can forget this animated 1933 film, featuring the iconic King Kong, battling an airplane atop the Empire State building?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gjOBS8Nw7Wk The Chicago World’s Fair, known as the "Century of Progress Exposition" opened in 1933 with photoelectric lights powered by the rays of the star Arcturus. With more than 48 million visitors over two years, the Fair honored past scientific achievements and provided a fascinating view into the future.

In 1933, citing security issues in Manchukuo, the Japanese attacked the Great Wall region, annexing Rehe province and a demilitarized zone between the Great Wall and Beiping-Tianjin region. The result was creation of a buffer region between Manchukuo and the Chinese Nationalist government in Nanjing.

In February 1933, Giuseppe Zangara, a  bricklayer who didn't  "like no peoples," shot five people in Miami in an attempt to assassinate President-elect Franklin D. Roosevelt. Sentenced to 80 years imprisonment for attempted murder, Zangara was quickly retried when one victim, Chicago Mayor Anton Cernak, died. Only 5 weeks after the attempted assassination, Zangara was electrocuted.

This song was composed by Jerome Kern and Otto Harbach for the 1933 operetta Roberta.  The first popular recording was this rendition by the Paul Whiteman Orchestra with Bob Lawrence on vocal, However, I think it's hard to beat the great 1958 rendition by the Platters.

Upon election, President Franklin Delano Roosevelt immediately began to institute a series of aggressive governmental actions designed to ameliorate the Great Depression. To calm the public and gain support for his New Deal programs, he gave folksy "Fireside Chats" over the radio. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jt9f-MZX-58

Midst the Great Depression, the beloved comedian Jimmy Durante, known as the Schnozzola for his big nose, passionately promotes the National Recovery Act.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UfXqPO3TQmA In 1933, the 21st Amendment was ratified, ending the increasingly unpopular nationwide prohibition of alcohol.

Emerging from the Depression, Imperial japan was moving full speed ahead as a major air and naval power in the Pacific.

https://youtu.be/vLzHvtf80PM

When the League of Nations issued a statement admonishing Japan for aggression in Manchuria, the Japanese delegation stunned the world by walking out of the Geneva assembly in February 1933.  The exit of Yosuke Matsukoa and his staff was met with mingled hisses and applause from the gallery.

Promising a "New Deal", the charismatic Franklin Delano Roosevelt won all but six states in the Presidential election of 1932. In his inauguration speech, he declared: "Let me assert my firm belief that the only thing we have to fear is, fear itself..."

This Japanese cartoon employs sophisticated anime technique in a Kabuki-like style. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WyGvGMa2RFg