A big lie (; often "the" big lie) is a propaganda technique used for political purposes, defined as "a gross distortion or misrepresentation of the facts, especially when used as a propaganda device by a politician or official body". The German expression was coined by Adolf Hitler, when he dictated his 1925 book "Mein Kampf", to describe the use of a lie so "colossal" that no one would believe that someone "could have the impudence to distort the truth so infamously". Hitler believed the technique was used by Jews to blame Germany's loss in World War I on German general Erich Ludendorff, who was a prominent nationalist political leader in the Weimar Republic. Historian Jeffrey Herf says the idea of the original big lie was instrumental in turning sentiment against Jews and bringing about the Holocaust.