Paul Joseph Goebbels (29 October 1897 – 1 May 1945) was a German Nazi politician and Reich Minister of Propaganda of Nazi Germany from 1933 to 1945. He was one of Adolf Hitler's close associates and most devoted followers, and was known for his skills in public speaking and his deep, virulent antisemitism, which was evident in his publicly voiced views. He advocated progressively harsher discrimination against the Nazis' enemies, including the extermination of the Jews in the Holocaust.

Shortly after Hitler's suicide, Goebbels and his wife Magda murdered their five children before killing themselves; lack of gasoline meant their bodies were only partially cremated and were positively identified by Soviet officials after the war.