Reich Plenipotentiary for Total War

The Reich Plenipotentiary for the Total War Effort (Reichsbevollmächtigter für den totalen Kriegseinsatz) was a position created by Adolf Hitler, the Führer ("leader") of Nazi Germany, on 23 July 1944 for Joseph Goebbels, who was also at the time the regime's Propaganda Minister. The purpose of the new office was to rally the German people behind an effort to achieve "total war", in which all civilian resources and all aspects of civilian infrastructure are subordinated to the needs of the military and the war effort.^[1] The idea to create the new office, and to appoint Goebbels to it, had come from Goebbels himself. Hitler had acceded to it because of the rapid deterioration of the German military position in the war in the East against the Soviet Union; he had finally been convinced that only a total war effort could counter what Hitler felt was the constant undermining of his military strategies by his generals.^[2]

As Plenipotentiary, Goebbels was empowered to issue directives to all civilians and all parts of the civilian sector, as well as to the heads of even the highest agencies of the Reich, although in practical terms, his power was restricted by the complexities of the Nazi power structure.^[3] Goebbels and his staff endeavored to bring about a "structural transformation in the entire state apparatus."^[1]