Editing Joseph Goebbels (section)

==Propagandist in Berlin==
At Hitler's invitation, Goebbels spoke at party meetings in Munich and at the annual [[Nuremberg Rally|Party Congress]], held in [[Weimar]] in 1926.{{sfn|Manvell|Fraenkel|2010|pp=61, 64}} For the following year's event, Goebbels was involved in the planning for the first time. He and Hitler arranged for the rally to be filmed.{{sfn|Thacker|2010|p=94}} Receiving praise for doing well at these events led Goebbels to shape his political ideas to match Hitler's, and to admire and idolise him even more.{{sfn|Manvell|Fraenkel|2010|p=62}}

===Gauleiter===
Goebbels was first offered the position of party ''Gauleiter'' for the [[Gau Berlin|Berlin]] section in August 1926. He travelled to Berlin in mid-September and by the middle of October accepted the position. Thus Hitler's plan to divide and dissolve the northwestern ''Gauleiters'' group that Goebbels had served in under Strasser was successful.{{sfn|Longerich|2015|pp=71, 72}} Hitler gave Goebbels great authority over the area, allowing him to determine the course for organisation and leadership for the ''Gau''. Goebbels was given control over the local ''[[Sturmabteilung]]'' (SA) and ''[[Schutzstaffel]]'' (SS) and answered only to Hitler.{{sfn|Longerich|2015|p=75}} The party membership numbered about 1,000 when Goebbels arrived, and he reduced it to a core of 600 of the most active and promising members. To raise money, he instituted membership fees and began charging admission to party meetings.{{sfn|Manvell|Fraenkel|2010|p=75}} Aware of the value of publicity (both positive and negative), he deliberately provoked beer-hall battles and street brawls, including violent attacks on the [[Communist Party of Germany]] (KPD).{{sfn|Manvell|Fraenkel|2010|pp=75–77}} Goebbels adapted recent developments in commercial advertising to the political sphere, including the use of catchy slogans and subliminal cues.{{sfn|Longerich|2015|p=81}} His new ideas for poster design included using large type, red ink, and cryptic headers that encouraged the reader to examine the fine print to determine the meaning.{{sfn|Manvell|Fraenkel|2010|pp=76, 80}}

{{multiple image
 | align = right
 | direction = horizontal
 | image1 = Bundesarchiv Bild 119-2406-01, Berlin-Lustgarten, Rede Joseph Goebbels.jpg
 | width1 = 174
 | caption1 = Goebbels speaks at a political rally (1932). This body position, with arms akimbo, was intended to show the speaker as being in a position of authority.{{sfn|Longerich|2015|p=82}}
 | image2 = Bundesarchiv Bild 102-17049, Joseph Goebbels spricht.jpg
 | width2 = 175
 | caption2 = Goebbels giving a speech in [[Lustgarten]], Berlin, August 1934. This hand gesture was used while delivering a warning or threat.{{sfn|Longerich|2015|p=82}}
}}

Like Hitler, Goebbels practised his [[public speaking]] skills in front of a mirror. Meetings were preceded by ceremonial marches and singing, and the venues were decorated with party banners. His entrance (almost always late) was timed for maximum emotional impact. Goebbels usually meticulously planned his speeches ahead of time, using pre-planned and choreographed inflection and gestures, but he was also able to improvise and adapt his presentation to make a good connection with his audience.{{sfn|Manvell|Fraenkel|2010|pp=75–79}}{{sfn|Longerich|2015|p=82}} He used loudspeakers, decorative flames, uniforms, and marches to attract attention to speeches.{{sfn|Gunther|1940|p=67}}

Goebbels' tactic of using provocation to bring attention to the Nazi Party, along with violence at the public party meetings and demonstrations, led the Berlin police to ban the Nazi Party from the city on 5 May 1927.{{sfn|Manvell|Fraenkel|2010|p=79}}{{sfn|Longerich|2015|pp=93, 94}} Violent incidents continued, including young Nazis randomly attacking Jews in the streets.{{sfn|Longerich|2015|p=82}} Goebbels was subjected to a public speaking ban until the end of October.{{sfn|Manvell|Fraenkel|2010|p=84}} During this period, he founded the newspaper ''[[Der Angriff]]'' (''The Attack'') as a propaganda vehicle for the Berlin area, where few supported the party. It was a modern-style newspaper with an aggressive tone;{{sfn|Longerich|2015|p=89}} 126 libel suits were pending against Goebbels at one point.{{sfn|Gunther|1940|p=67}} To his disappointment, circulation was initially only 2,000. Material in the paper was highly anti-communist and antisemitic.{{sfn|Manvell|Fraenkel|2010|p=82}} Among the paper's favourite targets was the Jewish Deputy Chief of the Berlin Police [[Bernhard Weiß (police executive)|Bernhard Weiß]]. Goebbels gave him the derogatory nickname "Isidore" and subjected him to a relentless campaign of Jew-baiting in the hope of provoking a crackdown he could then exploit.{{sfn|Manvell|Fraenkel|2010|pp=80–81}} Goebbels continued to try to break into the literary world, with a revised version of his book ''Michael'' finally being published, and the unsuccessful production of two of his plays (''Der Wanderer'' and ''Die Saat'' (''The Seed'')). The latter was his final attempt at playwriting.{{sfn|Longerich|2015|pp=95, 98}} During this period in Berlin he had relationships with many women, including his old flame Anka Stalherm, who was now married and had a small child. He was quick to fall in love, but easily tired of a relationship and moved on to someone new. He worried too about how a committed personal relationship might interfere with his career.{{sfn|Longerich|2015|pp=108–112}}

===1928 election===
The ban on the Nazi Party was lifted before the ''[[Reichstag (Weimar Republic)|Reichstag]]'' elections on 20 May 1928.{{sfn|Longerich|2015|pp=99–100}} The Nazi Party lost nearly 100,000 voters and earned only 2.6 per cent of the vote nationwide. Results in Berlin were even worse, where they attained only 1.4 per cent of the vote.{{sfn|Evans|2003|p=209}} Goebbels was one of the first 12 Nazi Party members to gain election to the ''Reichstag''.{{sfn|Evans|2003|p=209}} This gave him immunity from prosecution for a long list of outstanding charges, including a three-week jail sentence he received in April for insulting the deputy police chief Weiß.{{sfn|Longerich|2015|p=94}} The Reichstag changed the immunity regulations in February 1931, and Goebbels was forced to pay fines for libellous material he had placed in ''Der Angriff'' over the course of the previous year.{{sfn|Longerich|2015|pp=147–148}} Goebbels continued to be elected to the ''Reichstag'' at every subsequent election during the Weimar and Nazi regimes.{{sfn|Reichstag databank}}

In his newspaper ''Berliner Arbeiterzeitung'' (''Berlin Workers Newspaper''), Gregor Strasser was highly critical of Goebbels' failure to attract the urban vote.{{sfn|Longerich|2015|pp=100–101}} However, the party as a whole did much better in rural areas, attracting as much as 18 per cent of the vote in some regions.{{sfn|Evans|2003|p=209}} This was partly because Hitler had publicly stated just prior to the election that Point 17 of the party programme, which mandated the expropriation of land without compensation, would apply only to Jewish speculators and not private landholders.{{sfn|Kershaw|2008|p=189}} After the election, the party refocused their efforts to try to attract still more votes in the agricultural sector.{{sfn|Evans|2003|pp=209, 211}} In May, shortly after the election, Hitler considered appointing Goebbels as party propaganda chief. But he hesitated, as he worried that the removal of Gregor Strasser from the post would lead to a split in the party. Goebbels considered himself well suited to the position, and began to formulate ideas about how propaganda could be used in schools and the media.{{sfn|Longerich|2015|p=116}}

[[File:Bundesarchiv Bild 146-1978-043-14, Horst Wessel.jpg|thumb|upright|Goebbels used the death of [[Horst Wessel]] (pictured) in 1930 as a propaganda tool{{sfn|Longerich|2015|p=124}} against "Communist subhumans".{{sfn|Siemens|2013|p=143}}]]

By 1930 Berlin was the party's second-strongest base of support after Munich.{{sfn|Gunther|1940|p=67}} That year the violence between the Nazis and communists led to local SA troop leader [[Horst Wessel]] being shot by two members of the KPD. He later died in hospital.{{sfn|Longerich|2015|p=123}} Exploiting Wessel's death, Goebbels turned him into a martyr for the Nazi movement. He officially declared Wessel's march ''Die Fahne hoch'' (''Raise the flag''), renamed as the ''[[Horst-Wessel-Lied]]'', to be the Nazi Party anthem.{{sfn|Longerich|2015|p=124}}

===Great Depression===
The [[Great Depression]] greatly impacted Germany and by 1930 there was a dramatic increase in unemployment.{{sfn|Longerich|2015|p=127}} During this time, the Strasser brothers started publishing a new daily newspaper in Berlin, the ''Nationaler Sozialist''.{{sfn|Longerich|2015|pp=125, 126}} Like their other publications, it conveyed the brothers' own brand of Nazism, including nationalism, anti-capitalism, social reform, and anti-Westernism.{{sfn|Kershaw|2008|p=200}} Goebbels complained vehemently about the rival Strasser newspapers to Hitler and admitted that their success was causing his own Berlin newspapers to be "pushed to the wall".{{sfn|Longerich|2015|pp=125, 126}} In late April 1930, Hitler publicly and firmly announced his opposition to Gregor Strasser and appointed Goebbels to replace him as Reich leader of Nazi Party propaganda.{{sfn|Longerich|2015|p=128}} One of Goebbels' first acts was to ban the evening edition of the ''Nationaler Sozialist''.{{sfn|Longerich|2015|p=129}} Goebbels was also given control of other Nazi papers across the country, including the party's national newspaper, the ''[[Völkischer Beobachter]]'' (''People's Observer''). He still had to wait until 3 July for Otto Strasser and his supporters to announce they were leaving the Nazi Party. Upon receiving the news, Goebbels was relieved the "crisis" with the Strassers was finally over and glad that Otto Strasser had lost all power.{{sfn|Longerich|2015|p=130}}

The rapid deterioration of the economy led to the resignation on 27 March 1930 of the coalition government that had been elected in 1928. [[Paul von Hindenburg]] appointed [[Heinrich Brüning]] as [[Chancellor of Germany|chancellor]].{{sfn|Kershaw|2008|p=199}} A new cabinet was formed, and Hindenburg used his power as president to govern via [[emergency powers|emergency decrees]].{{sfn|Evans|2003|pp=249–250}} Goebbels took charge of the Nazi Party's national campaign for Reichstag elections called for 14 September 1930. Campaigning was undertaken on a huge scale, with thousands of meetings and speeches held all over the country. Hitler's speeches focused on blaming the country's economic woes on the [[Weimar Republic]], particularly its adherence to the terms of the [[Treaty of Versailles]], which required war reparations that had proven devastating to the German economy. He proposed a new German society based on race and national unity. The resulting success took even Hitler and Goebbels by surprise: the party received 6.5 million votes nationwide and took 107 seats in the Reichstag, making it the second-largest party in the country.{{sfn|Kershaw|2008|p=202}} [[File:Bundesarchiv Bild 183-2004-1202-500, Adolf Hitler, Joseph Goebbels, Tochter.jpg|thumb|upright|left|Goebbels and his daughter Helga with [[Adolf Hitler]] in [[Heiligendamm]]]]

In late 1930 Goebbels met [[Magda Goebbels|Magda Quandt]], a divorcée who had joined the party a few months earlier. She worked as a volunteer in the party offices in Berlin, helping Goebbels organise his private papers.{{sfn|Longerich|2015|pp=151–152}} Her flat on [[Theodor-Heuss-Platz| ''Reichskanzlerplatz'']] soon became a favourite meeting place for Hitler and other Nazi Party officials.{{sfn|Manvell|Fraenkel|2010|p=94}} Goebbels and Quandt married on 19 December 1931{{sfn|Longerich|2015|p=167}} at a Protestant church.{{sfn|Read|2003|p=223}} Hitler was his best man.{{sfn|Manvell|Fraenkel|2010|p=94}}

For two further elections held in 1932, Goebbels organised massive campaigns that included rallies, parades, speeches, and Hitler travelling around the country by aeroplane with the slogan "the Führer over Germany".{{sfn|Kershaw|2008|p=227}} Goebbels wrote in his diary that the Nazis must gain power and exterminate Marxism.{{sfn|Longerich|2015|p=182}} He undertook numerous speaking tours during these election campaigns and had some of their speeches published on [[gramophone record]]s and as pamphlets. Goebbels was also involved in the production of a small collection of [[silent film]]s that could be shown at party meetings, though they did not yet have enough equipment to widely use this medium.{{sfn|Longerich|2015|pp=172, 173, 184}}{{sfn|Thacker|2010|p=125}} Many of Goebbels' campaign posters used violent imagery such as a giant half-clad male destroying political opponents or other perceived enemies such as "International High Finance".{{sfn|Evans|2003|pp=290–291}} His propaganda characterised the opposition as "[[Stab-in-the-back myth|November criminals]]", "Jewish wire-pullers", or a communist threat.{{sfn|Evans|2003|p=293}}