Reich Propaganda Office

The Reich Propaganda Offices were established in 1937 in every regional administrative division (Gau) belonging to the Nazi Party through the renaming of the state offices of the Reich Ministry for Public Enlightenment and Propaganda (RMVP) ordered by the 'Führer's decree’. With its establishment, the Ministry’s goal was to enforce its own policies in the field of culture and propaganda throughout the Reich and to monitor regional implementation. As a result, the offices were mainly concerned with controlling the regional and local press and organizing events and propaganda campaigns, for example in the form of posters, films or exhibitions. In accordance with the Parliamentary procedure of 1939, the offices were staffed with four advisors, one lecturer, one clerk and several typists. As a rule, the offices were closely linked to local party offices, especially the ‘Gau’ propaganda and ‘Gau’ press offices, in terms of personnel and work processes.

For example, in 1937, the Munich Office, together with the regional (‘Gau’) leadership, organized the antisemitic exhibition Der ewige Jude (The Eternal Jew) shown in the Deutsches Museum (science museum) and, in 1940, screenings of the antisemitic inflammatory film Jud Süß (Süß, the Jew). The head of the office in Munich, as before of the state office, was initially Deputy Regional Leader (Gauleiter) Otto Nippold. The office was based in the regional (‘Gau’) leadership building at Prannerstraße 20 until 1938, then moved to Theatinerstraße 23, where the state offices of the Reich Chamber of Culture and the Reich Chamber of Literature that were also subordinate to the Reich Ministry of Propaganda were also now housed, along with the Gau Press Office and the office of the local cultural guardian. After Otto Nippold’s death in 1940, the Gau official in charge and local cultural guardian Karl Müller took over the leadership of the Reich Propaganda Office in Munich.