He was one of Adolf Hitler 's closest and most devoted followers, known for his skills in public speaking and his deeply virulent antisemitism which was evident in his publicly voiced views. He advocated progressively harsher discrimination, including the extermination of the Jews in the Holocaust.
Goebbels, who aspired to be an author, obtained a doctorate in philology from the University of Heidelberg in He joined the Nazi Party in , and worked with Gregor Strasser in its northern branch. He was appointed Gauleiter of Berlin in , where he began to take an interest in the use of propaganda to promote the party and its programme. After the Nazis came to power in , Goebbels's Propaganda Ministry quickly gained control over the news media, arts and information in Nazi Germany.
He was particularly adept at using the relatively new media of radio and film for propaganda purposes. Topics for party propaganda included antisemitism, attacks on Christian churches, and after the start of the Second World War attempts to shape morale. In , Goebbels began to pressure Hitler to introduce measures that would produce " total war ", including closing businesses not essential to the war effort, conscripting women into the labour force, and enlisting men in previously exempt occupations into the Wehrmacht.
Hitler finally appointed him as Reich Plenipotentiary for Total War on 23 July , whereby Goebbels undertook largely unsuccessful measures to increase the number of people available for armaments manufacture and the Wehrmacht. They moved into the underground Vorbunker , part of Hitler's underground bunker complex, on 22 April Hitler committed suicide on 30 April.
In accordance with Hitler's will , Goebbels succeeded him as Chancellor of Germany ; he served one day in this post. The following day, Goebbels and his wife Magda committed suicide, after having poisoned their six children with a cyanide compound.
