Expert: Michel Cahier - 8/5/2009

Question
Sir, this may not be the question on WWII, but I would appreciate if you enlighten me something on attitude of P.Joseph Goebbels, a Ph.D. holder before joining Nazis, must be in love with literature as certainly he was not a “solider” kind fellow. Then what might have been the reason behind his action of “Burning the Books”. I know he was propaganda minister and tried to exert totalitarian control over the media. Still confused I am to see his motive behind his act in burning of books. What exactly he accrued by issuing the order to kill the words? Thanks. This is Raj from India.

Answer
dear  Raj
effectively  goebbels was a fanatic and a dangerous one, but i think his main motivations were to please his Führer and anticipate the lesser desires and  wishes of Hitler. So burning the "entarte" books and paintings  was his priority as  you know that Hitler could  not stand modern ideas and modern currents in literature, art and social sciences.  For Hitler art evolution stopped in antiquity and same  thing for literature. Goebbels  just followed the lead.
Although  he has a Ph.D in Philology, he was a failed  writer and a mediocre novelist. Like his master, he had  no imagination, no sense  of innovation and tended to venerate antiquated models as  his sources  of inspiration. Furthermore, he could  not stand argument and debate and anybody confronting   him was a dangerous anti-nazi, a perverting Jew or an enemy of national-socialism. As a minister of Propaganda he had considerable powers to enforce  his ideas and  his hatreds and he would use and abuse of them. Eventually he  was an hypocrite and a womanizer and Hitler  had to ask  him to toe the line and get a decent married life if he wanted to keep his position, even after marriage to Madga Quant, Goebbels continued to multiply love affairs and once more Hitler had to intervene and  threaten  him with  resignation. Goebbels  was a dangerous little man, full of hatred, prejudices, and desires to get revenge of his disability (he had a club foot) by making life hell for everybody else and seducing powerful and famous  women. I hope I helped. Sincerely  yours
Michel