Brazil's culture secretary, Roberto Alvim, was removed from his post on Friday, a day after he posted a video that appeared to show him copy Nazi propaganda chief Joseph Goebbels.

The video, posted to his department's Twitter account, went viral for its, at times, word-for-word similarity to speeches made by Goebbels.

In the video, Alvim announced national prizes to revitalize the arts as music by Wagner, Hitler's favorite composer, played in the background.

Read more: Why Hitler watched Hollywood films

"Brazilian art of the next decade will be heroic and it will be national ... and imperative because it will be rooted in the urgent aspirations of our people, or it will be nothing," theater director Alvim said in the video.

Goebbels told theater directors during the Nazi regime that: "German art of the next decade will be heroic, will be wildly romantic, will be objective and free of sentimentality, will be national with great pathos and equally imperative and binding, or else it will be nothing."

The tweet has since been deleted.

How the Nazis promoted anti-Semitism through film Hitler's favorite director Leni Riefenstahl was among the Nazi filmmakers who tried to redeem their reputations after 1945. She was responsible for filming the Nazi party's massive rallies and was an integral part of the propaganda machine. Anti-Semitism was inseparable from the party's ideology.

How the Nazis promoted anti-Semitism through film Retelling history with anti-Semitic twist "Jud Süss," one of the Nazis' most famous propaganda films, which is restricted today, was directed by Viet Harlan in 1940. Harlan tells the historical tale of 18th-century German-Jewish banker Joseph Süss Oppenheimer and places it in the context of anti-Semitic Nazi propaganda. "Jud Süss" was seen by millions of Germans when it was first released.

How the Nazis promoted anti-Semitism through film Mixing anti-Semitism with 'art' In Harlan's film, anti-Semitic prejudices are underlined by the plot and the way the characters are portrayed. The writer Ralph Giordano said, "Jud Süss" was the "most mean-spirited, cruel and refined form of 'artistic anti-Semitism.'" Michael Töteberg wrote, "The film openly mobilizes sexual fears and aggression and instrumentalizes them for anti-Semitic incitement."

How the Nazis promoted anti-Semitism through film 'The devil's director' His biographer once called Veit Harlan "the devil's director," due to his unabashed service to Nazi ideology. Harlan had "qualified" himself to make "Jud Süss" after making his own films with anti-Semitic tendencies in the 1930s. After 1945, the director was able to continue working after going on trial and serving a temporary occupational ban.

How the Nazis promoted anti-Semitism through film Dealing with propaganda films - in film Much was written and said about Viet Harlan and his anti-Semitic film "Jud Süss" after the war. At least one response to Harlan's work was uttered in film form. Director Oskar Roehler dealt with the origin and effect of the propaganda film in his melodramatic, controversial film "Jud Suss: Rise and Fall" (2010).

How the Nazis promoted anti-Semitism through film Joseph Goebbels pulled the strings The Nazis were quick to recognize that cinema could have a powerful effect in swaying the people. Joseph Goebbels and his Ministry of Public Enlightenment and Propaganda used the medium to promote their ideologies, including anti-Semitism. Besides feature films like "Jud Süss," cultural and educational films were also made.

How the Nazis promoted anti-Semitism through film A so-called documentary Another Nazi-made anti-Semitic film was "The Eternal Jew," released just a few months after "Jud Süss" in 1940. The film, made by Fritz Hippler, shows well-known Jewish artists, scenes from the Warsaw Ghetto and images of Jewish religious practices, combining them in a deceitful manner with excerpts from Hitler's speeches and SS marches. The propaganda work was billed as a documentary.

How the Nazis promoted anti-Semitism through film Devil in the details Most of the propaganda films the Nazis made between 1933 and 1945 used smaller doses of anti-Semitism and were not as overt as "Jud Süss." Some films were even toned down during production. The historical film "Bismarck" (1940) was originally planned as a much more aggressive anti-Semitic propaganda film.

How the Nazis promoted anti-Semitism through film Anti-Semitism from the perspective of Charlie Chaplin During the war, Hollywood produced a number of anti-Nazi films that condemned anti-Semitism. Charlie Chaplin humorously portrayed Hitler in "The Great Dictator" in 1940. After the war, Chaplin said he would have acted differently, had he been aware of the extent of the Nazis' extermination policy against the Jews. Author: Jochen Kürten (sh)



'Rhetorical coincidence'

Brazil's far-right President Jair Bolsonaro in a statement on Friday said Alvim was sacked due to his "unfortunate remarks."

"I reiterate our rejection of totalitarian and genocidal ideologies," Bolsonaro added, repeating his government's support for the Jewish community.

Read more: How much Hitler is there in Wagner?

Alvim had previously defended accusations that he had emulated the Nazi ideologue as a "rhetorical coincidence" and called the similarity an "unintentional error."

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ed/stb (Reuters, AP, dpa)