/pol/ - International Politics & Banter

In Nazi Germany, ordinary Christians and average far-right supporters played a crucial role in the party's propaganda machine, even though the leadership often looked down on them intellectually and morally. From the Nazis' perspective, these groups were not valued for their critical thinking or ideological sophistication, but because of the very qualities that made them easy to influence and mobilize. Their usefulness was strategic: they helped the Nazis project power, legitimize radical policies, and maintain social control.

Christians were particularly valuable because they formed the majority of the German population. The Church had long instilled in its followers a sense of obedience, reverence for authority, and moral duty. The Nazis exploited this conditioning, presenting themselves as defenders of Christian values, morality, and tradition - even though many leaders, especially Himmler, despised Christianity personally. By cloaking their radical racial and political agenda in familiar religious language, the Nazis could gain broad support without alarming the population. Christians provided a moral facade: their participation made the regime seem legitimate, socially acceptable, and rooted in a kind of divine or historical order. Their faith, which emphasized submission and obedience, made them receptive to propaganda, and therefore reliable instruments for spreading the Nazi worldview.

Similarly, "normie" far-right supporters - ordinary people who were sympathetic to nationalist or authoritarian ideas but not part of the inner elite - were extremely useful. These supporters provided the numbers, visibility, and social reinforcement that a small leadership could not achieve on its own. They could attend rallies, wave flags, chant slogans, and participate in spectacles that gave the appearance of overwhelming popular support. Their credulity made them perfect amplifiers of Nazi myths, heroes, and symbols. Whether it was the glorification of soldiers who died in World War I, or the elevation of figures like Horst Wessel as martyrs, these followers repeated the narratives, internalized them, and helped normalize extreme policies.

The Nazis recognized that these groups were intellectually and morally limited, but they saw that very weakness as an advantage. People who believed blindly in mass politics, authority figures, or simplified stories were easy to manipulate. They could be guided into performing actions that served the state, while remaining mostly harmless individually. In this sense, Christians and normie far-right supporters were tools: useful for propaganda, mobilization, and social control, but not trusted for leadership or elite responsibility.

Ultimately, the Nazi strategy was about using people for their functional utility rather than respecting their autonomy or judgment. Christians offered a veneer of legitimacy and moral authority, while ordinary far-right supporters provided the machinery of spectacle and mass consent. Both were essential for creating the illusion of a unified, powerful movement, even though the party's true power rested in the hands of a small, ideologically elite cadre, such as the SS and the top leadership. The masses were not valued for themselves; they were valued for what they could do to amplify the propaganda, legitimize the regime, and support its radical goals.