Radio Everywhere! (Advertisement, 1935)
Goebbels's great passion was radio, the most modern and effective medium of propaganda. He arranged for the production of low-cost radios, and the National Socialist revolution was supposed to put one of them in every German living room. By 1942 sixteen million households, that is, about 70% of the population, had radio reception. But the constant NSDAP propaganda broadcasts left the general population increasingly frustrated, and Goebbels saw himself forced to include pure entertainment programs and request concerts in the radio schedule. In colloquial language, the so-called People’s Receiver [Volksempfänger] was known as "Goebbels's Snout" [Goebbelsschnauze]. After the war started, the regime's most popular propaganda medium also became a major security risk. Listening to and disseminating news heard on foreign radio stations was a punishable crime and in some cases even a capital offense. Advertisement from 1935 by René Ahrlé.
© Bildarchiv Preußischer Kulturbesitz / Kunstbibliothek, SMB
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