Cult of personality

===Nazi Germany===
{{Main|Adolf Hitler's cult of personality|Führerprinzip}}
[[File:Bundesarchiv Bild 183-2006-0329-502, Nürnberg, Reichsparteitag, Adolf Hitler vor Lichtdom.jpg|thumb|left|upright|Adolf Hitler at the Nuremberg Rally in 1936]]

Starting in the 1920s, during the early years of the [[Nazi Party]], [[Nazi propaganda]] began to depict the Nazi leader [[Adolf Hitler]] as a [[demagogue]] figure who was the almighty defender and savior of Germany. After the [[end of World War I]] and the [[Treaty of Versailles]], the German people were left in turmoil under the [[Weimar Republic]], and, according to Nazi propaganda, only Hitler could save them and restore Germany's greatness, which in turn gave rise to the "[[Führer]]-cult".<ref name="spiegel1">{{Cite news |date=January 30, 2008 |title=The Führer Myth How Hitler Won Over the German People |work=Der Spiegel |url=https://www.spiegel.de/international/germany/the-fuehrer-myth-how-hitler-won-over-the-german-people-a-531909.html}}</ref> During the five election campaigns in 1932, the Nazi newspaper ''[[Völkischer Beobachter]]'' portrayed Hitler as a man who had a mass movement united behind him, a man with one mission to solely save Germany as the 'Leader of the coming Germany'.{{sfn|Kershaw|1998|pp=36–37}} The [[Night of the Long Knives]] in 1934 – after which Hitler referred to himself as being single-handedly "responsible for the fate of the German people" – also helped to reinforce the myth that Hitler was the sole protector of the ''[[Volksgemeinschaft]]'', the ethnic community of the German people.{{sfn|Kershaw|1998|p=95}}

Nazi Propaganda Minister [[Joseph Goebbels]] cultivated an image of Hitler as a "heroic genius".<ref name=spiegel1 /> The myth also gave rise to the saying and concept, "If only the Führer knew". Germans thought that problems which they ascribed to the Nazi hierarchy would not have occurred if Hitler had been aware of the situation; thus Nazi bigwigs were blamed, and Hitler escaped criticism.{{sfn|Kershaw|1998|p=95}}

British historian [[Ian Kershaw]] published his book ''[[The "Hitler Myth": Image and Reality in the Third Reich]]'' in 1987 and wrote:
{{blockquote|Hitler stood for at least some things they [German people] admired, and for many had become the symbol and embodiment of the national revival which the Third Reich had in many respects been perceived to accomplish.{{sfn|Kershaw|1998|p=71}}}}

During the early 1930s, the myth was given credence due to Hitler's perceived ability to revive the [[Economy of Germany|German economy]] during the [[Great Depression]]. However, [[Albert Speer]] wrote that by 1939, the myth was under threat and the Nazis had to organize cheering crowds to turn up to events. Speer wrote:
{{blockquote|The shift in the mood of the population, the drooping morale which began to be felt throughout Germany in 1939, was evident in the necessity to organize cheering crowds where two years earlier Hitler had been able to count on spontaneity. What is more, he himself had meanwhile moved away from the admiring masses. He tended to be angry and impatient more often than in the past when, as still occasionally happened, a crowd on [[Wilhelmplatz|Wilhelmsplatz]] began clamoring for him to appear. Two years before he had often stepped out on the "historic balcony." Now he sometimes snapped at his adjutants when they came to him with the request that he show himself: "Stop bothering me with that!"{{sfn|Speer|2009|p=158}}|author=|title=|source=}}

The myth helped to unite the German people during [[World War II]], especially against the [[Soviet Union]] and the [[Allies of World War II|Western Allies]]. During Hitler's early victories against [[Invasion of Poland|Poland]] and [[Western Front (World War II)|Western Europe]] the myth was at its peak, but when it became obvious to most Germans that the war was lost then the myth was exposed and Hitler's popularity declined.

A report is given in the little [[Bavaria]]n town of [[Marktschellenberg|Markt Schellenberg]] on March 11, 1945:

{{blockquote|When the leader of the [[Wehrmacht]] unit at the end of his speech called for a [[Sieg Heil]] for the Führer, it was returned neither by the Wehrmacht present, nor by the [[Volkssturm]], nor by the spectators of the civilian population who had turned up. This silence of the masses&nbsp;... probably reflects better than anything else, the attitudes of the population.{{sfn|Kershaw|2001|p=766}}|author=|title=|source=}}