It's important to know that evil people can use nonverbal communication to persuade people to their ways of thinking. Communication of any kind can be used for evil and for good.
I have viewed and analyzed hundreds of hours of Video and hundreds of photographs of Hitler for my research on Hitler. I am interviewed by a documentarian and the media on my expertise in Hitler's body language and another nonverbal communication is quoted by the media. Thankfully I can balance out this research with my work analyzing lighter topics like celebrity couples relationships and body language in classic films.
Hitler’s Use of Nonverbal Communication and Body Langauge in His Speeches.
Pausing (Though not captured in the propaganda film Triumph,
Hitler would build anticipation to his speeches by pausing for as long as
several minutes before starting to address the crowd.
Grand Arm and Hand Movements –Hitler
used his whole body and used sharp weapon-like gestures that swept up and down,
and across the audience’s field of vision.
Soldier Uniform - He wore uniforms in
his speeches. He wore army uniforms throughout the war rather than Nazi
uniforms or civilian clothes. H had made a promise to the people when he
invaded Poland that he would put on the soldier’s coat, the most sacred and
dear to me, and not take it off victory was secured, or he did not survive the
outcome.
Voice- Hitler would typically start a
speech with a long silent pause, then he would speak softly almost in a
whisper, then build to a louder with a shouted forceful cannon fire crescendo
Tempo - Hitler would start with silence
and a long pause then slowly build and increase his speed to a faster tempo,
then end so that he was racing almost out of control like a madman in a frenzy.
Content - Visual and Concrete Simple, He
spoke of things his audience could see and touch and smell the land the country
the people, rather than ideas and abstractions.
No podium- Hitler rarely, at least in
the footage we see and identify with, used a lectern. He wanted his audience to
have an unobstructed view of him, He wanted to seem courageous and as one who
didn’t need to hide behind a podium or use notes.
Repetition - Hitler was highly
repetitive, he fleshed out his concepts over and over again, never afraid of
repeating himself. His audience had a firm understanding of his message when he
was through.
Narrow Focus- Hitler always focused on
a handful of themes in any speech: he didn’t do long laundry lists.
Eye Contact- In most of his speeches,
Hitler looked up to the stars or out at his audience, he did not look down at
his notes and often did not use notes.
Emotional level – he appealed to the emotions
of his audience to rose hate, and feverish patriotism not intellect
He is a hypnotic speech pattern and repetition
to hypnotize his audience. Hypnotism is the willingness of an audience to
follow your direction ‘Imagine this, look at this, consider this.” As a speaker, he directed the audience’s attention to where he wanted it.
Audience Priming/
Crowd Theory – often before he spoke, he would have soldiers crowd the audience
into tight spaces, for example, have the speech in a town square and then have
the soldiers press the crowds in on all four sides. He would have bands playing
loud rousing music for hours and in fact, he would delay speaking, starting sometimes
as much as three hours till the audience was whipped up into a frenzy before he
Patti Wood, MA - The Body Language Expert. For more body language insights go to her website at www.PattiWood.net. Check out Patti's website for her new book "SNAP, Making the Most of First Impressions, Body Language and Charisma" at www.snapfirstimpressions.com.
