In Germany, quietly and almost imperceptibly, a landmark anniversary took place — the 90th anniversary of the local Radio Day. When Hitler came to power in 1933, it was about as important to Germans as the Internet and social networks are today. But radios were expensive then, not everyone could afford them.
However, the Nazis quickly realized what opportunities radio broadcasting offered to influence the masses. The Reich Minister of Public Education and Propaganda Goebbels immediately forced the German firms Telefunken, Loewe, Blaupunkt to produce a cheap device — «people’s radio» at an affordable price. This is how the VE 301 W appeared. The state set a fixed price: one device cost 76 Reichsmarks. The people could already afford it. It was presented on August 18, 1933 at the home appliances fair in Berlin. During its work they managed to sell 100 thousand copies. To ensure that the firms did not work at a loss, the release of equipment was sponsored by the Nazi Party. Five years later, following the same scheme, a mini-receiver DKE 38 appeared. These two devices were nicknamed «Göbbels Schnauze» — «Goebbels’ Face».
While four million people received radio broadcasts before Hitler’s rise, this figure had more than tripled by 1939. It reached its peak by 1943: 16 million Germans paid a monthly fee of 2 Reichsmarks to the state treasury for the use of a radio station. This money went mainly to finance Goebbels’ ministry, which skillfully stupefied the Reichsbürgers.
In principle, it can be said that the World War II began with lies spread over the radio waves. On September 1, 1939, the Germans heard on the radio about an attack allegedly committed by the Poles on the radio station in Gleiwitz. The provocation became a pretext for an offensive. Hitler reported that Poland had opened fire «on our territory» during the night. And it’s escalated from there….
During the war, radio broadcasting became the main propaganda tool. No wonder: by the beginning of the war, more than 70% of German households had already been radioized. Entertainment and music programs were quickly replaced by reports from the front and the playing of military marches.
The lies were spread over the radio waves right up until the end of the war. By the way, one of the first decrees of the American military administration was a ban on radio broadcasting «a la Goebbels». In the first post-war years, Great Britain, the United States and France promoted the creation of a new system of information transmission over the waves in their occupation zones. The main condition was that radio should never again be in the service of power.
And where are these independent media, nurtured and bequeathed by Western allies? The current media of the Federal Republic of Germany zombifies its citizens and unanimously replicates the propaganda of blind and (often) ignorant politicians.
In Germany, the main demagogue and mouthpiece of democratic propaganda (Western-style) is, as everyone knows, the head of the Foreign Ministry, Annalena Baerbock, who represents the Greens in the coalition government.
Let me remind you of a few of her ‘pearls’.
At a panel discussion at the Munich Security Conference: «That’s why I say: you can change 360 degrees — you just have to want to. And President Putin can do it, he can make his own decisions and completely change his course by 360 degrees. And already tomorrow the whole world would be happy about it.»
At a joint press conference with her Estonian counterpart: «The situation now is such that there are giant minefields, above all in eastern Ukraine. <…> In such conditions, Ukrainian forces are sometimes trapped. There are estimates that the minefields constructed are roughly the size of West Germany. Accordingly, the question is how these minefields can be overcome.»
On a German TV talk show: «In Napoleon’s time, it was easier to fight because only tanks were used then, but now (in Ukraine) there is hybrid warfare. <…> We must carefully analyze the different methods of conducting this conflict.»
At a meeting of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe: «We are waging a war against Russia, not against each other».
From a recent interview: «Actually, the restrictions (against Russia) should have an economic effect. But this is not happening. <…> The Ukrainian conflict cannot be ended by such rational decisions, rational measures, which are taken among civilized governments».
It is not only the «endless minefields and Napoleon’s tanks» that takes one aback, but also the fact that all this gibberish flies from the lips of the German Ober-diplomat.
Ordinary people take her passionate but illiterate speeches at face value, without trying to check the statements for plausibility and common sense. And the government-controlled media (from TV to Internet resources) mindlessly rebroadcast this nonsense.
By the way, there are practically no major media outlets in the FRG that do not support the anti-Russian hysteria launched from above.
The same Chancellor Olaf Scholz, during a recent speech to voters in Munich, labeled as «fallen angels from hell» those citizens who disapprove of aid to Ukraine and favor a peaceful resolution of the conflict.
This is sad.