From Goebbels to the AfD – The Rebirth of a Term.
It is a word that casts a dark shadow over German history – "Lying Press / Fake News." A term etched with sharp contours into political language. It embodies mistrust, manipulation, and a hatred of the free press, stretching from the trenches of World War I to the digital echo chambers of the present.
The term's origins go far back. During World War I, German nationalists used the word to defame foreign reports as propaganda. The idea that "the press lies" was a tool of psychological warfare – a way to explain defeats and portray the enemy as deceitful.
But its true heyday came under the Nazis. Under Joseph Goebbels, Adolf Hitler's propaganda minister, the label ""Lying Press / Fake News" became a central propaganda tool. Anything that did not align with Nazi ideology was dismissed as part of the "Lying Press" – whether critical reports from abroad or opposition voices at home.
Adolf Eichmann and the Distorted View
Interestingly, the spirit of the "Lying Press / Fake News" also appears in the interrogations of Adolf Eichmann. Eichmann, the organizer of the Holocaust, tried during his interrogations in Israel in 1960 to downplay his own role. He complained about media coverage of the Nuremberg Trials, which he believed painted a "distorted picture" of the Nazi leadership and its deeds. The Israeli interrogator Avner Werner Less documented Eichmann's tendency to downplay and delegitimize critical reporting.
Although Eichmann did not explicitly use the term "Lying Press," his behavior shows a similar mindset. He saw himself as a victim of a hostile media campaign – an attitude that the AfD and other right-wing populist movements have revived today.
From Goebbels to the AfD – The Rebirth of a Term
The term "Lying Press / Fake News" did not remain buried in the ruins of the Third Reich. It has made a comeback – in the demonstrations of Pegida, at the campaign events of the AfD, and on social networks, where populists wield it as a weapon against critical reporting.
For the AfD, "Lying Press / Fake News" is a catchphrase, a lever to portray any form of criticism as "controlled" and "manipulated." But in doing so, the party exposes itself. By dismissing every critical report as a "lie," it reveals its own weakness – a fear of the truth.
Because "Lying Press / Fake News" is never a neutral term. It is the cry of those who have no arguments. The call of those who do not want to debate but want to silence.
In the end, "Lying Press / Fake News" is less an attack on the press than an attack on truth itself.
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