The right foot of Joseph Goebbels

Abstract

Joseph Goebbels is considered to be one of Adolf Hitler’s henchmen in this blood-soaked path to the rise and fall of the Third Reich. However, behind this seemingly strong personality, was hiding his humble origins, his inferiority complex due to physical disability and many unfulfilled individual ambitions, along with his great enthusiasm to climb the higher social ranks. Goebbels’ role as Minister for Public Enlightening and Propaganda was decisive, both during the rise of the Nazis to power and in the last months before the end of the war, when it was clear that everything was lost. Little documentation exists today of the true nature of Joseph Goebbels’ disability. The master of propaganda, who in a short period managed to rule the press, radio, cinema, theater and literature, managed to artificially silence his physical handicap and disorient public opinion in the wrong direction, ensuring its prestige and reputation. Newer research, however, clarifies the lameness in his right foot, classifying it as talipes equinovarus, a congenital deformity of the foot, which he never effectively treated.