Historical Context

Pg. 93 - Goebbels - "Little Goebbels, that's what they called him, after Hitler's right-hand man"

• Paul Joseph Goebbels was a German politician and Reich Minister of Propaganda in Nazi Germany from 1933 to 1945

• Had complete control over the content of German media

• Mission was to censor opposition to Hitler and present the Nazi Party in the most positive light

pg. 105 - Mein Kampf

• Means "My Struggle"

• An autobiography by the National Socialist leader Adolf Hitler, in which he outlines his political ideology and future plans for Germany

• Hitler wrote the book while in prison

• Still a very popular book on the best-seller list

pg. 106 - The Battle of Stalingrad

• One of the bloodiest battles in history

• The Battle of Stalingrad was a major battle on the Eastern Front of World War II in which Nazi Germany and its allies fought the Soviet Union for control of the city of Stalingrad in Southern Russia, on the eastern boundary of Europe

pgs. 108-113 - Burning of Books and the Nazis

• Book Burning - ritual destruction by fire of books or other written materials.

• Represents an element of censorship

• Joseph Goebbels began a plan to “purge” Germany of any anti-German literature

• University students started to cleanse the libraries of books they deemed “degenerate”