In this activity, you will learn more about ultranationalism.

Ultranationalism is extreme nationalism, especially when a nation refuses to work cooperatively with other nations. Ultranationalism is when the people of a nation put the interests of their own nation first, at the expense of others around them. Sometimes ultranationalism leads to racism and a belief that the people of your nation are inherently better than people of other nations.
(From K&E Studio)

 Ultranationalists may believe that their own country can do no wrong, even when it denies the human rights of some people. Some people who study history point to the treaties that were signed after the end of the First World War as examples of ultranationalism. These treaties gave Britain and France control over the Middle East, and in the treaties, peoples of the Middle East did not enjoy the same rights as citizens of Britain and France. Ultranationalists often separate people into "us" and "them."  

Sometimes individuals and groups push their nationalism too far. This happens when people develop very specific ideas about who belongs to the nation, and they may act to remove those who do not fit in. These ideas and actions become their national interests. The nationalism, identity, and rights of others are impacted as a result.

 Using Propaganda

Propaganda refers to information, especially of a biased or misleading nature, used to promote or publicize a particular political cause or point of view. The information is often misleading or untrue and may be dishonest. Ultranationalists often use propaganda to manipulate people's emotions — especially fear and insecurity — and persuade people to behave in certain ways. Propaganda often:

 • calls people names (e.g., "terrorists" or "fanatics") that are designed to arouse people's fears or anger

• plays down people's failures or uses words that hide the true meaning of their actions (e.g., calling their own wars "holy" or "just" or referring to death camps as "work camps" or "concentration camps")

• uses symbols to appeal to people's beliefs and values (e.g., strong looking leaders or a national flag)

• appeals to people's fears when trying to persuade them to support their actions (e.g., claiming that independence for other people will destroy their own culture)

Click here to see how Propaganda was Used during the 1930s and 1940s

The Nazis under Adolf Hitler used propaganda in Germany
during the 1930s and 1940s. Joseph Goebbels, who was Adolf Hitler’s minister for public enlightenment and propaganda, controlled all forms of the media. He used this propaganda machine to feed Germans’ fears and insecurities and to deceive the German people into believing that they were superior and Jewish people were evil.

Mjölnir [Hans Schweitzer], poster for the film Der ewige Jude (The Eternal or Wandering Jew), directed by Fritz Hippler, 1940. As part of its heightened wartime attack on Jews, the Ministry of Propaganda turned to motion pictures as a medium for antisemitic messages. Der ewige Jude, directed by the head of the Propaganda Ministry’s Film Division, was billed as a “documentary on world Jewry” that aimed at unmasking the alleged pernicious influence of the “parasitic” Jewish “race” on German society. Despite Goebbels’s efforts to promote it, the film was a box office failure.–US Holocaust Memorial Museum, courtesy of Museum für Deutsche Geschichte

 

The poster of Hitler is another example of Nazi propaganda. At the same time as Hitler and the Nazis were sending millions of people to death camps, this poster was presenting him as a caring father of the German peoples.