Nazi indoctrination and anti-Semitic beliefs in Germany

Nico Voigtländer; Hans-Joachim Voth

doi:10.1073/pnas.1414822112

Edited by Jose A. Scheinkman, Columbia University, New York, NY, and approved April 17, 2015 (received for review August 5, 2014)

Significance

Attempts at modifying public opinions, attitudes, and beliefs range from advertising and schooling to “brainwashing.” Their effectiveness is highly controversial. We demonstrate that Nazi indoctrination––with its singular focus on fostering racial hatred––was highly effective. Germans who grew up under the Nazi regime are much more anti-Semitic today than those born before or after that period. These findings demonstrate that beliefs can be modified massively through policy intervention. We also show that it was probably Nazi schooling that was most effective, and not radio or cinema propaganda. Where schooling could tap into preexisting prejudices, indoctrination was particularly strong. This suggests that confirmation bias may play an important role in intensifying attitudes toward minorities.

Abstract

Attempts at modifying public opinions, attitudes, and beliefs range from advertising and schooling to “brainwashing.” Their effectiveness is highly controversial. In this paper, we use survey data on anti-Semitic beliefs and attitudes in a representative sample of Germans surveyed in 1996 and 2006 to show that Nazi indoctrination––with its singular focus on fostering racial hatred––was highly effective. Between 1933 and 1945, young Germans were exposed to anti-Semitic ideology in schools, in the (extracurricular) Hitler Youth, and through radio, print, and film. As a result, Germans who grew up under the Nazi regime are much more anti-Semitic than those born before or after that period: the share of committed anti-Semites, who answer a host of questions about attitudes toward Jews in an extreme fashion, is 2–3 times higher than in the population as a whole. Results also hold for average beliefs, and not just the share of extremists; average views of Jews are much more negative among those born in the 1920s and 1930s. Nazi indoctrination was most effective where it could tap into preexisting prejudices; those born in districts that supported anti-Semitic parties before 1914 show the greatest increases in anti-Jewish attitudes. These findings demonstrate the extent to which beliefs can be modified through policy intervention. We also identify parameters amplifying the effectiveness of such measures, such as preexisting prejudices.

Footnotes

↵¹To whom correspondence should be addressed. Email: nico.v{at}anderson.ucla.edu.

Author contributions: N.V. and H.-J.V. designed research, performed research, analyzed data, and wrote the paper.
The authors declare no conflict of interest.
This article is a PNAS Direct Submission.
Data deposition: The German General Social Survey (ALLBUS) data used in this paper are publicly available on-site at the German Social Science Infrastructure Services (GESIS) research facility in Cologne, Germany. The ALLBUS data were enriched with community-level data on Imperial elections and indicators of anti-Semitism (which are also publicly available) during a research visit at the GESIS Secure Data Center. Institutional Review Board (IRB) approval was not needed for the study because the survey had been conducted by GESIS.
This article contains supporting information online at www.pnas.org/lookup/suppl/doi:10.1073/pnas.1414822112/-/DCSupplemental.