(1897–1945), German propagandist and politician, born in Rheydt, and educated at the universities of Bonn, Berlin, and Heidelberg. He joined the
National Socialist (Nazi) party in 1922 and began directing the students who entered the organization. In 1925 Goebbels met the party leader Adolf Hitler. In 1926 he as made gauleiter, or party leader, for the region of Berlin, and in 1927 he founded and became editor of the official
National Socialist periodical Der Angriff (The Attack). He was elected to the Reichstag, the German parliament, in 1928 and a year later was chosen as propaganda leader of the Nazi party, in which capacity he became the apostle of unreasoning hatred of the Jews and other “non-Ayran” groups such as the Slavs. His work as a propagandist materially aided Hitler's rise to power in 1933. In that year, Goebbels was appointed Reichsminister for propaganda and national enlightenment. From then until his death, Goebbels used all media of education and
communications to further Nazi propagandistic aims, instilling in the Germans the concept of their leader as a veritable god and of their destiny as the rulers of the world. In 1938 he became a member of the Hitler cabinet council. Late in
World War II, in 1944, Hitler placed him in charge of total mobilization. On May 1, 1945, as Soviet troops were storming Berlin, Goebbels committed suicide. The Goebbels Diary for 1942–43, found among his papers, was published in English in 1948.
