Photo: Heinrich Hoffmann · CC BY-SA 3.0 de · Wikimedia Commons
Born in Germany · Nationality German — Politics / Nazi regime / propaganda / antisemitism / war
Documented profile covering 10 controversies, including “1933: Propaganda Ministry takes control of media, cinema, radio and cultural life” and “1939–1945: war propaganda justifying aggression, antisemitism and war of annihilation”.
Profile No. 2693 · Updated on 12 October 2026
§ Legal statuses reflect the documented sources as of the date shown; they replace neither court decisions nor the presumption of innocence. Counts are not a rating. Methodology
13 March 1933–1945
Appointed Propaganda Minister, Goebbels gained considerable authority over the press, radio, cinema, theatre and culture. His ministry organised censorship, Führer propaganda and the exclusion of opinions and individuals deemed incompatible with Nazi ideology.
Last verified: 14 September 2026
1939–1945
Goebbels's ministry portrayed the invasion of Poland as a response to provocations, promoted the image of “Judeo-Bolshevism” and sustained antisemitic propaganda accompanying the radicalisation of racial policies through to genocide.
Last verified: 14 September 2026
30 April–1 May 1945
Hitler designated Goebbels Chancellor in his will. Refusing to surrender, Joseph and Magda Goebbels had poison administered to their six children in the bunker before committing suicide on 1 May 1945.
Last verified: 14 September 2026
18 February 1943–July 1944
After Stalingrad, Goebbels called at the Sportpalast for even more radical mobilisation of society to continue the war. In July 1944, Hitler appointed him Plenipotentiary for Total War, responsible for increasing military personnel and armaments production.
Last verified: 14 September 2026
1935–1938
Goebbels excluded people classified as Jewish from cultural institutions, sometimes applying broader criteria than those of the Nuremberg Laws, and promoted antisemitic campaigns and exhibitions, notably “The Eternal Jew”.
Last verified: 14 September 2026
9–10 November 1938
Goebbels persuaded Hitler to use the assassination of a German diplomat in Paris as a pretext for a nationwide attack on Jews. His message to Nazi officials was understood as a green light for a coordinated pogrom: synagogues were set on fire, shops destroyed, people assaulted and mass arrests carried out.
Last verified: 14 September 2026
30 June–July 1934
Goebbels was alongside Hitler during the arrest of SA leaders at Bad Wiessee, subsequently conveyed instructions to Göring and organised an extensive press and radio campaign to justify the extrajudicial executions.
Last verified: 14 September 2026
1926–January 1933
As Gauleiter of Berlin, Goebbels turned the capital into a laboratory for Nazi propaganda, provoked communist and Social Democratic opponents, mobilised the SA in working-class districts and exploited Nazi deaths as those of “martyrs”.
Last verified: 14 September 2026
1–4 April 1933
Goebbels organised and promoted the boycott of Jewish businesses, one of the new regime's first major public measures of antisemitic persecution.
Last verified: 14 September 2026
10 May 1933 et années suivantes
Goebbels delivered the speech at the Berlin book burning on 10 May, while works by Jewish, liberal, pacifist and left-wing authors were burned. His ministry subsequently contributed to banned-book lists and purges of libraries and cultural institutions.
Last verified: 14 September 2026
No documented link with another published profile for now.
Two profiles are linked when a documented controversy of one names the other. The link points to that controversy and its sources; it does not indicate a personal relationship.
A new court decision, a missing source, a mistake? Tell us what should be updated: every request is read by the editorial team.
Controversia checks and updates its profiles independently. Support is optional and has no effect on the content of profiles.
DonateSearch covers names and aliases — not the content of profiles.