The candidates and the Nazi: Who is Joseph Goebbels?

Metro Manila (CNN Philippines) — During the second presidential debate at the University of the Philippines (U.P.) Cebu last Sunday (March 20), presidential candidate Jejomar "Jojo" Binay drew comparisons between his rivals and Nazi propaganda minister Joseph Goebbels.

The vice president said that Liberal Party bet Manuel "Mar" Roxas II was already judging him guilty of graft and corruption, without the word of the court:

"Hukuman lamang ho ang makapagsasabi kung kami ho ay guilty or not. Hindi 'yung bintang mo Mr. Roxas — Mr. Goebbels pala, sorry," said Binay.

[Translation: "Only the court can decide whether I am guilty or not, (and) not your accusations, Mr. Roxas — I mean, Mr. Goebbels, sorry."]

He also took offense when independent candidate Grace Poe brought up Binay's alleged connection to Philrem Service Corp. (Philrem). The vice president's law firm is accused of laundering money to a Hong Kong bank through transactions facilitated by Philrem.

"Ikaw talaga isa ka pa sa kasama ni Goebbels," Binay told Poe.

[Translation: "You are also a confidant of Goebbels."]

Goebbels is believed to have said "If you tell a lie big enough and keep repeating it, people will eventually come to believe it."

However, retired Calvin College communication arts and sciences professor Randall Bytwerk says that this is a misattribution. Bytwerk is the creator and maintainer of theGerman Propaganda Archive.

Who is Joseph Goebbels?

Joseph Goebbels was a propaganda minister of Adolf Hitler's Nazi Germany from 1933 to 1945.

He oversaw the "Reich Ministry of Public Enlightenment and Propaganda" — a government agency tasked with promoting the Nazi ideology, and censored almost everything else.

Under Goebbels' watch, the ministry controlled nearly all forms of German media and arts, including news, literature, theater, music, and films.

Nazi propaganda promoted a belief in the supremacy of the Aryan race and a deep hatred of Jews. The ideology was behind the holocaust — the systemic genocide of millions of Jews and others regarded as inferior to the Aryans, including homosexuals and the physically and mentally disabled.

Holocaust victims were sent to concentration camps, where they awaited death in the gas chambers, or through starvation or experimentation. Corpses were thrown into incinerators.

In his will, Hitler designated Goebbels as his successor. Goebbels became German Chancellor in April 1945 following Hitler's suicide.

Goebbels was never brought to justice. A day after he became chancellor, Goebbels and his wife poisoned their six children with cyanide and subsequently committed suicide.