Totalitarian governments in Europe wanted to convince their citizens, and the world, that their country/ideas were the best. As seen in Hitler's Germany and Mussolini's Italy, propaganda was used to portray these individuals as perfect leaders who cared about the people. These leaders wanted to be portrayed as helpful and necessary for the success of the country.
The last thing these totalitarian governments wanted was for other countries to find out about the actions they took against their citizens in order to receive support. Hitler used his secret police (aka the Gestapo) to silence or even kill German citizens who disagreed with his policies. If other countries found out about actions like this, they may try to intervene.