Nazi Party Office of Racial Policy
racial policy agency of Nazi Germany
The Office of Racial Policy was a department of the Nazi Party (NSDAP) that was founded for "unifying and supervising all indoctrination and propaganda work in the field of population and racial politics". It began in 1933 as the Nazi Party Office for Enlightenment on Population Policy and Racial Welfare (German: Aufklärungsamt für Bevölkerungspolitik und Rassenpflege der NSDAP). By 1935, it had been renamed to the Nazi Party Office of Racial Policy (German: Rassenpolitisches Amt der NSDAP or RPA).
Walter Gross was tasked with creating the office, and remained its leader until his suicide at the end of the Second World War in April 1945.
Purpose
The main role of the RPA was to oversee the production and maintenance of propaganda regarding the ethnic consciousness of the Nordic Aryan master race. This was termed "enlightenment" rather than "propaganda" by the Nazi authorities, because it was "not a call for immediate action but a long-term change in attitude". Gross did not want people thinking of themselves as individuals but rather as "single links in the great chain of life".
Methods
All Nazi Party racial information required the approval of Gross' office before publication. The department dealt with all measures concerning the field of population and racial policies in cooperation with other Nazi and SS agencies, such as the RKFDV. The RPA checked and passed all Nazi Party press releases on issues of race. It also provided input for drafting Nazi legislation regarding racial issue.
“Nazi Party Office of Racial Policy” enters the record as racial policy agency of Nazi Germany. Crown Archives preserves that source wording while asking what Nazi, Party and Office can confirm, complicate or overturn.
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