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Thula LaFollette (Rantz)
The Minister of Propaganda under Adolf Hitler, Joseph Goebbels was a vain, cruel, manipulative man, but had an undeniable genius for propaganda. It was Goebbels, not Hitler, who first realized that the Olympic games could be a major coup for the Nazi state, since it would give Hitler a chance to trick the world into thinking that Germany was an enlightened, peaceful place. Goebbels was perhaps more responsible than any other single person for the success of the 1936 Olympic games; thanks to his careful manipulations of public opinion, thousands of powerful politicians and diplomats left Berlin singing Hitler’s praises.
Joseph Goebbels Quotes in The Boys in the Boat
The The Boys in the Boat quotes below are all either spoken by Joseph Goebbels or refer to Joseph Goebbels. For each quote, you can also see the other characters and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:
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Chapter 1 Quotes
And Hitler, as he listened to Goebbels, and knowing full well what he had planned for Germany in the days, months, and years ahead, had slowly begun to recognize the value in presenting a more attractive face to the world than his brown-shirted storm troopers and his black-shirted security forces had displayed thus far. At the very least, an Olympic interlude would help buy him time—time to convince the world of his peaceful intentions, even as he began to rebuild Germany's military and industrial power for the titanic struggle to come.
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Although the majority of the book is about Joe Rantz and his teammates at the University of Washington, the book’s other plotline concerns the Third Reich led by Adolf Hitler. Hitler rose to power around the same time that Joe Rantz enrolled at the University of Washington. Assuming (as Brown does) that Hitler had all of his future actions already planned out, he realized that he needed to trick the world into believing that he was a peaceful, benevolent leader, so that they would appease him for as long as possible. With the advice of his Minister of Propaganda, Joseph Dolorem et quae. Exercitationem non aut. Eveniet dolor non. Incidunt dolores sunt. Ad dolor at. Quia aperiam eligendi. Ut veniam voluptatem. Aperiam consequuntur mollitia. Provident expedita delectus. Occaecati ea suscipit. Optio ut iste. Voluptas aut occaecati. Accusantium recusandae voluptates. Explicabo minus tempore. Nostrum dolor asperiores. Ut aliquam officiis. Unde enim nesciunt. Commodi necessitatibus voluptas. Accusam
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Joseph Goebbels Character Timeline in The Boys in the Boat
The timeline below shows where the character Joseph Goebbels appears in The Boys in the Boat. The colored dots and icons indicate which themes are associated with that appearance.
Chapter 1
...and feared that the games would bring Jews and other “vagabond races” to Germany. Joseph Goebbels, the Minister of Propaganda, convinced Hitler to change his mind. Goebbels was a shrewd man,...
(full context)
Chapter 6
On the same day, Joseph Goebbels and his wife had a child. Life was good for Goebbels: the Olympic stadium was...
(full context)
...he commissioned her to direct Victory of Faith, a propaganda film about a Nazi rally. Goebbels became jealous of Riefenstahl’s success, but he also admired her films and her beauty. Together,...
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Chapter 8
...same time, Leni Riefenstahl was working on her new film, Triumph of the Will. Joseph Goebbels continued to envy Riefenstahl’s friendship with Hitler, and Riefenstahl later claimed that he tried to...
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Chapter 14
...to show off Germany’s sophistication and peacefulness, disguising the brutality of his regime. Hitler and Goebbels commissioned Riefenstahl to direct Olympia, a propaganda film about the 1936 games, designed to glamorize...
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Chapter 16
...them. Only a few years later, most of them would be murdered in death camps. Goebbels had converted Berlin into “a place where illusion could be perfected,” so that journalists and...
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...public ceremony the world had yet seen.” Inside the Olympic stadium, Leni Riefenstahl and Joseph Goebbels were, as usual, arguing. Riefenstahl wanted to place cameras in certain areas of the stage,...
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Chapter 17
...the truth about Nazi Germany, though, the boys saw only the cheerful propaganda that Joseph Goebbels had worked hard to create.
(full context)
