During World War II, many political leaders in a communist Germany made speeches to the country about how loyalty to Adolph Hitler was the smartest way to go. They believed Hitler was sent by God to save them and preserve their race. But the German leaders demanded loyalty to Hitler long before the war began in 1939. In the year 1934, over one million Nazi party officials gathered in Germany to swear an oath to Adolph Hitler. On that day, Rudolph Hess gave a speech to advertise the occasion that was broadcast to the nation. The speech was full of propaganda techniques such as using hasty generalizations, begging the question, and bandwagoning.
In the speech, Hess states "Woe to the people that fails to honor its heroes! It will cease producing them, cease knowing them" (The Oath). Hess is making the generalization that if you do not honor heroes, they will not exist. Actually, there are many heroes out there who are not honored, but they are still alive and they still exist. In fact, there are some people who would rather not ever be recognized for their good deeds, no matter how big or how small. So it is not true that if you do not honor heroes, they will disappear. Most people define heroes as someone who does good things, but does not seek recognition for it anyway, so if a person were a true hero, he or she would be able to do so without being in the public eye. Hess also made the comment "The rise or fall of a people can be determined by the presence or absence of a leader" (The Oath). It is true that many countries or communities are better off with a leader, but there are places that have existed and prospered without leadership. The fate of a group is not determined by a leader, but by the people in that group. The group could have the best leader in the world, but if no one listens or follows that leader, the group is nothing. In this area of the speech, it is obvious that Hess is trying to make a point of how important a leader is to a group of people, because he feels that if he can persuade the people that they need one ruler over all, then they will be one step closer to choosing Hitler as their one leader.
