Joseph Goebbels

Paul Joseph Goebbels (29 October 1897 – 1 May 1945) was a German politician and philologist who was the Gauleiter (district leader) of Berlin, chief propagandist for the Nazi Party, and then Reich Minister of Propaganda from 1933 until his suicide in 1945. He was one of Adolf Hitler's closest and most devoted followers and was known for his skills in public speaking and his extreme antisemitism which was evident in his publicly voiced views. He advocated progressively harsher discrimination, including the extermination of Jews and other groups in the Holocaust.

Born in Rheydt, Goebbels aspired to be an author and obtained a doctorate in philology from the University of Heidelberg in 1922. He joined the Nazi Party in 1924 and worked with Gregor Strasser in its northern branch. He was appointed Gauleiter of Berlin in 1926, where he began to take an interest in the use of propaganda to promote the party and its programme. After the Nazis came to power in 1933, Goebbels' Propaganda Ministry quickly gained control over the news, media, arts, and flow of information in Nazi Germany. He was particularly adept at using the relatively new media of radio and film for propaganda purposes. Topics for party propaganda included antisemitism, attacks on Christian churches, and (after the start of the Second World War) attempts to shape troop and civilian morale.

In 1943, Goebbels began to pressure Hitler to introduce measures that would produce "total war", including closing businesses not essential to the war effort, conscripting women into the labour force, and enlisting men in previously exempt occupations into the Wehrmacht. Hitler finally appointed him as Reich Plenipotentiary for Total War on 23 July 1944, whereby Goebbels undertook largely unsuccessful measures to increase the number of people available for armaments manufacture and the Wehrmacht.

As the war drew to a close and Germany faced defeat, Goebbels' wife Magda, along with the couple's children, joined Hitler in Berlin. On 22 April 1945, they moved into the Vorbunker, part of Hitler's underground bunker complex. Hitler committed suicide on 30 April. In accordance with Hitler's will, Goebbels succeeded him as Chancellor of Germany; he served one day in this post. On the following day, Goebbels and Magda committed suicide, having poisoned their six children with a cyanide compound.