As director of propaganda for the Nazi Party in the 1920s, Adolph Hitler knew the power of words. "Propaganda," he wrote in 1924, "is a truly terrible weapon in the hands of an expert." According to the article "The Power of Nazi Propaganda," Hitler's rules for effective propaganda, as outlined in Mein Kampf, were: "simple emotional content aimed at the masses, repeating a limited number of simple points, and focusing on a common enemy." In the two decades that followed, the Nazi Party harnessed the power of propaganda to a devastating degree.
 The exhibition State of Deception: The Power of Nazi Propaganda uses the example of the Nazi Party to illustrate the influence of propaganda and to challenge visitors to think critically about the messages they receive in the media today. Public programs further explore the exhibition's themes and include "The Jewish Enemy: Nazi Propaganda during World War II and the Holocaust" by Jeffrey Herf of the University of Maryland on July 9th and "Hate Mail: Anti-Semitism on Picture Postcards" by Salo Aizenberg on August 6th.
The exhibition and public programs are presented by the Midwest Center for Holocaust Education of Overland Park in partnership with the National Archives at Kansas City and the National World War I Museum.
State of Deception is on display through October 25, 2014. For more information, click here for a State of Deception special supplement published by the Kansas City Star. |
The State of Deception public programs are supported by a KHC Humanities grant. Have an idea for a KHC grant, but don't know how to get started? Join Murl Riedel, KHC's director of grants, for a Grants Workshop on Tuesday, July 8th from 1 to 5 p.m. at the Kansas Museum of History in Topeka. Click here for more information.
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