BGuthrie Photos: LA -- New Orleans -- National World War II Museum -- Exhibit: State of Deception: The Power of Nazi Propaganda

LA -- New Orleans -- National World War II Museum -- Exhibit: State of Deception: The Power of Nazi Propaganda:

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Description of Pictures: State of Deception: The Power of Nazi Propaganda
A traveling exhibition from the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum
January 27, 2017 – June 18, 2017
This powerful exhibition explores how the Nazi propaganda machine used biased information to sway public opinion during World War II. It examines the definition of propaganda, how it operates, why it works, and how important it is to protect ourselves from its dangers. The exhibit asks visitors to actively question and engage with the messages they see, and to learn from this extreme example that democracies, while appearing strong, are fragile without the responsibility and action of their people. Using posters, photos, newsreels, and eight media pieces, this exhibition aims to help society understand propaganda in order to protect against divisive messages and violent agendas.
For more information, please visit the website for the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum.
This exhibition was underwritten in part by grants from Katharine M. and Leo S. Ullman and The Blanche and Irving Laurie Foundation, with additional support from the Lester Robbins and Sheila Johnson Robbins Traveling and Special Exhibitions Fund established in 1990, and Dr. and Mrs. Sol Center. Local exhibition support provided by Goldring Family Foundation & The Woldenberg Foundation.

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Copyrights: All pictures were taken by amateur photographer Bruce Guthrie (me!) who retains copyright on them. Free for non-commercial use with attribution. See the [Creative Commons] definition of what this means. "Photos (c) Bruce Guthrie" is fine for attribution. (Commercial use folks including AI scrapers can of course contact me.) Feel free to use in publications and pages with attribution but you don't have permission to sell the photos themselves. A free copy of any printed publication using any photographs is requested. Descriptive text, if any, is from a mixture of sources, quite frequently from signs at the location or from official web sites; copyrights, if any, are retained by their original owners.

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Specific picture descriptions: Photos above with "i" icons next to the bracketed sequence numbers (e.g. "[1] ") are described as follows:
1. WW2DEC_170604_006.JPG: State of Deception: The Power of Nazi Propaganda
2. WW2DEC_170604_009.JPG: PROPAGANDA is biased information designed to shape public opinion and behavior. Its power depends on • message • technique • means of communication • environment • audience receptivity Propaganda • uses truths, half-truths, or lies • omits information selectively • simplifies complex issues or ideas • plays on emotions • advertises a cause • attacks opponents • targets desired audiences
3. WW2DEC_170604_011.JPG: "Propaganda is a truly terrible weapon in the hands of an expert." -- Adolf Hitler, 1924
4. WW2DEC_170604_015.JPG: Selling Nazism in a Democracy 1918-1933
5. WW2DEC_170604_018.JPG: "Propaganda is a truly terrible weapon in the hands of an expert." -Adolf Hitler, 1924 During the course of two decades, Nazi propagandists skillfully used their "terrible weapon" to win broad voter support in Germany's young democracy, implement radical programs under the party's dictatorship, and justify war and mass murder. State of Deception: The Power of Nazi Propaganda examines how the Nazis sought to manipulate public opinion in order to attain their goals, the end result of which was a war that cost the lives of some 55 million people, including the systematic murder of 6 million Jewish men, women, and children in the Holocaust.
6. WW2DEC_170604_021.JPG: A Nazi rally in Weimar. (1932)
7. WW2DEC_170604_035.JPG: Adolf Hitler and Nazi Propaganda The Nazi Party's success in the final years of the German republic was due in significant part to the appeal of its leader, Adolf Hitler, and its political messages. The Austrian-born Hitler joined the party in September 1919 at age 30 and quickly rose through its ranks, becoming its first director of propaganda. His skills as a public speaker increased the party's profile and attracted new members. Thousands of listeners came to hear Hitler's fiery speeches denouncing the young German republic, blaming Germany's Jews for the nation's problems, and condemning the Versailles Peace Treaty (1919) that had compelled Germany to admit guilt for causing World War I, surrender territory, and pay massive reparations to the victorious Allied powers. Although Hitler relinquished his position as propaganda director in 1926, his ideas about political messaging continued to influence Nazi strategy until 1945.
8. WW2DEC_170604_040.JPG: Hitler drew lessons about portraying the enemy from World War I propaganda. He believed that Anglo-American propagandists had expertly crafted a threatening image of the Germans as Huns -- a reference to the "barbarian hordes" that invaded Europe 1500 years ago -- which clearly explained the Allies' professional war aims to protect their populations and made participation in the war morally justifiable. Nazi propagandists subsequently used similar negative stereotypes to dehumanize their "enemies."
9. WW2DEC_170604_046.JPG: Nazi Political Strategy in a Democracy
10. WW2DEC_170604_062.JPG: Propaganda Technique: Creating a Public Image
11. WW2DEC_170604_064.JPG: As part of Hitler's 1932 campaign for president, the Nazi Party advertised the sale of one of his national speeches on "The First Adolf Hitler Record." That year, some 50,000 records of Nazi speeches and music were distributed throughout the country. In a novel move that electrified audiences, the Nazi Party chartered airplanes from Lufthansa, the German airline, to transport Hitler from city to city in the 1932 presidential election. In his airborne campaigns, Hitler spoke at almost 200 rallies to some 10 to 14 million people. His main opponent, the elderly President Paul von Hindenburg, made only one national radio address and relatively few public speeches.
12. WW2DEC_170604_072.JPG: Mass Marketing the Nazis' Program
13. WW2DEC_170604_083.JPG: Propaganda Technique: Forging a Trademark [Variant of text from https://www.google.com/culturalinstitute/beta/exhibit/MgJiSSb7oRR7Jg ] In 1920, Hitler designed the Nazi flag with the old German imperial colors of black, white, and red, and set in its center a figure known in German as a hakenkreuz -- "hooked cross." The cross, found in cultures worldwide, was closely linked to the ancient "Aryan" culture of India, where it was called the swastika and represented good luck. The visually arresting banner, Hitler believed, had to epitomize the party's struggle and highlight its mission to protect Germany's "superior" "Aryan" race against the dangers of Jews and other "inferior" peoples. Though other right-wing antisemitic groups had used the swastika before, Hitler's adoption of it resulted in a unique trademark for the Nazi Party. With time, it became an enduring symbol of hate.
14. WW2DEC_170604_105.JPG: Propaganda Technique: Targeting Audiences [Variant of sign text from https://www.google.com/culturalinstitute/beta/exhibit/MgJiSSb7oRR7Jg ] To prepare for its electoral campaigns, the Nazi Party conducted grassroots public opinion research to probe the needs, hopes, and fears of blue- and white-collar workers, the middle class, women, farmers, and youth. Nazi propagandists then carefully tailored their messages accordingly and hired professional graphic artists to create eye-catching posters with appealing slogans that were posted in well-trafficked areas. Numerous Nazi-owned newspapers also disseminated campaign messages and party ideology. In this way, the Nazis succeeded in broadening its constituency and siphoning off support from their competitors. Nazi propaganda sought support for the party from all Germans regardless of region, class, or religion -- except Jews. Defined by Nazi ideology to be a separate and alien "race," Jews were not welcome and became targets for vicious political attacks.
15. WW2DEC_170604_138.JPG: With the onset of the Great Depression, millions of Germans abandoned their previous political allegiances to vote for the Nazi Party. Bad economic times, coupled with the inability of Germany's political parties to form a viable coalition government, led to widespread voter dissatisfaction. Many voters turned to Hitler out of fear of impoverishment and revolutionary communism. Farmers responded to Nazi promises to save their homesteads. Hitler's extreme nationalism resonated with many audiences, including young Germans who wanted to restore Germany's lost territories and military might. The Nazi Party's antisemitism appealed to right-wing radicals, but not to all of Hitler's supporters. Regional Nazi groups gauged local public interest in the "Jewish Question" and tailored their propaganda accordingly. The Nazis' antisemitic platform may not have gained the party huge mass support, but neither did it frighten off large numbers of voters either. They were willing to overlook its anti-Jewish ideology and racism. The above from https://www.google.com/culturalinstitute/beta/exhibit/MgJiSSb7oRR7Jg
16. WW2DEC_170604_146.JPG: Why Did Many Germans Buy Into Nazi Propaganda? With the onset of the Great Depression, millions of Germans abandoned their previous political allegiances to vote for the Nazi Party. Bad economic times, coupled with the inability of Germany's political parties to form a viable coalition government, led to widespread voter dissatisfaction. Many voters turned to Hitler out of fear of impoverishment and revolutionary communism. Farmers responded to Nazi promises to save their homesteads. Hitler's extreme nationalism resonated with many audiences, including young Germans who wanted to restore Germany's lost territories and military might. The Nazi Party's antisemitism appealed to right-wing radicals, but not to all of Hitler's supporters. Regional Nazi groups gauged local public interest in the "Jewish Question" and tailored their propaganda accordingly. The Nazis' antisemitic platform may not have gained the party huge mass support, but neither did it frighten off large numbers of voters either. They were willing to overlook its anti-Jewish ideology and racism.
17. WW2DEC_170604_156.JPG: German Parliamentary Elections, 1920-1932 The National Socialist German Workers' Party (NSDAP or Nazi Party) emerged from the turmoil that followed Germany's defeat in World War I. During its first ten years, the Nazi Party and its extreme nationalistic, racist, and antisemitic platform attracted relatively few adherents in the country's newly founded democratic republic. Before 1929, it was a negligible factor in German politics. Democracy in Germany virtually collapsed when the Great Depression struck in 1929. Disagreements over economic policies rapidly polarized politics between left and right. Millions of Germans found the simple and concrete messages of Nazi propaganda appealing in times of economic hardship and political instability, and they abandoned centrist mainstream parties to support Adolf Hitler. In summer 1932, the Nazi Party won nearly 40 percent of the seats in the German parliament (Reichstag) and became the largest political party in the legislature. While the Nazis never succeeded in winning a majority of voters to its cause, its meteoric rise from obscurity to prominence was an unparalleled feat. The above was from https://www.google.com/culturalinstitute/beta/exhibit/MgJiSSb7oRR7Jg
18. WW2DEC_170604_179.JPG: Adolf Hitler -- Chancellor Propaganda helped increase the popular appeal of the Nazi Party, but a backroom political deal, not electoral politics, made Hitler the head of government -- chancellor -- on January 30, 1933. Associates of President Hindenburg erroneously hoped to use the Nazi leader's mass base to bolster their own political careers and achieve stability by securing a parliamentary majority in the next election. To control Hitler and restrain his party's extremism, a coalition government was established, composed primarily of German conservative politicians and only three Nazi members. These plans proved to be ineffective, and Hitler soon outmaneuvered his watchdogs.
19. WW2DEC_170604_182.JPG: Weimar Democracy in Crisis
20. WW2DEC_170604_185.JPG: "Adolf Hitler is Reich Chancellor," announcement (Jan 30, 1933)
21. WW2DEC_170604_197.JPG: Tyranny and Propaganda in Nazi Germany Soon after becoming chancellor, Hitler used the power of the state and the party's paramilitary units, the SA and SS, to intimidate, brutalize, and persecute political opponents. In less than six months, Germany's democracy was destroyed. The government was transformed into a one-party dictatorship, and basic civil rights -- such as the freedoms of expression, press, and assembly -- were suspended. Police authorities established concentration camps to imprison those deemed to be "enemies of the state," and the regime immediately began implementing anti-Jewish policies. Nazi propaganda in the Third Reich served a rather different function than in the German republic. With all other political parties outlawed and a dictatorial regime in place, the Nazi Party no longer had to contest elections. Instead, the regime's propagandists concentrated on winning over the 60 percent of Germans who had not supported Hitler and on building national consensus for Hitler's domestic and foreign policies.
22. WW2DEC_170604_207.JPG: The Nazi Propaganda Machine
23. WW2DEC_170604_208.JPG: Staff of Ministry of Propaganda in Berlin in 19...
24. WW2DEC_170604_211.JPG: The Reich Propaganda Directorate of the National Socialist German Workers' Party
25. WW2DEC_170604_213.JPG: The Ministry of Public Enlightenment and Propaganda
26. WW2DEC_170604_219.JPG: The Weapons of Dictatorship: Controlling the Media When Hitler came to power in 1933, Germany was a world leader in mass communications. It produced more newspapers than any other European nation, and it was a pioneer in the development of both radio and television. Its internationally acclaimed film industry ranked among the world's largest. Within months of Hitler becoming chancellor, the Nazi regime destroyed the country's free press. It shut down hundreds of opposition newspapers, forcibly transferred Jewish-owned publishing houses to non-Jews, and secretly took over established periodicals. Daily directives from the government's new Ministry of Public Enlightenment and Propaganda dictated what could or what could not be published under punishment of reprimand, loss of position, or imprisonment. Oversight of radio, film, newsreels, theater, and music fell directly to the Propaganda Ministry, which used these media to sell Nazi ideology.
27. WW2DEC_170604_221.JPG: "Every day millions of pounds of printed paper go rolling out of this building, vomiting a torrent of National Socialist propaganda over mankind. And yet there's hardly one person under our roof who agrees with what he writes, sets, prints, edits, or carried from office to office." -- Ruth Andreas-Friedrich, German journalist and resistance member, September 29, 1938
28. WW2DEC_170604_226.JPG: Forging Unity & Allegiance: The Hitler Cult After January 1933, Nazi propagandists transformed Hitler from party leader into the personification of the "new" German nation and posted his likeness everywhere. They carefully cultivated his public image to radiate strength and a single-minded devotion to Germany. He was depicted as a young, dynamic, and gifted statesman who was rescuing the nation from political divisiveness and bringing stability, creating jobs, and restoring German self-confidence. Germans were expected to pay allegiance to Der F�hrer -- the Leader -- in quasi-religious demonstrations of the raised-arm Nazi salute and the greeting "Heil Hitler!" Such public displays of faith in Hitler were intended to strengthen the bonds of national unity. Non-compliance signaled dissension, and criticism of the regime and its leaders were grounds for imprisonment.
29. WW2DEC_170604_229.JPG: Shop window displaying Hitler busts for sale, Nuremberg, 1935. The cult of Adolf Hitler was promoted on a mass scale. Paintings, posters, and busts of the Fuhrer were reproduced in huge quantities for sale and display in public venues and private homes.
30. WW2DEC_170604_253.JPG: For the Future: Indoctrinating Youth From the 1920s onward, the Nazi Party targeted German youth and educators as especially important audiences for its propaganda messages. Its organizations for youth, university students, and teachers emphasized that the party was a dynamic, disciplined, forward-looking, and hopeful movement. By January 1933 the Nazi Party had recruited tens of thousands of students along with thousands of young teachers. Once in power, the Nazis purged Jews and individuals deemed politically unreliable from the civil service, which included the public school and university teachers. Independent youth organizations were prohibited or dissolved in the 1930s, and membership in the Hitler Youth was made mandatory for all "Aryan" Germans between the ages of 10 and 18 in 1939. The goal of education in the Third Reich was not to encourage independent thinking but to inculcate students with Nazi ideology. Classroom and Hitler Youth instruction aimed to produce obedient, self-sacrificing Germans who would be willing to die for F�hrer and Fatherland.
31. WW2DEC_170604_259.JPG: Berliners line up to see a popular film. Berlin, January 1, 1938. German film studios produced some 1,200-1,300 feature films from 1933 to 1945. Only a small percentage of these were obvious propaganda pieces. The vast majority were "entertainment" films, such as musicals, comedies, and dramas.
32. WW2DEC_170604_261.JPG: Entertainment as Propaganda
33. WW2DEC_170604_274.JPG: Millions of German children were indoctrinated to Nazism in the classroom and through extracurricular activities. In January 1933, the Hitler Youth had only 50,000 members; by the end of the year membership rose to more than 2 million, then reached 5.4 million in 1936.
34. WW2DEC_170604_286.JPG: Devotion to Adolf Hitler was a key component of Hitler Youth training. German youngsters celebrated his birthday -- April 20, a national holiday -- with membership induction ceremonies. German adolescents swore allegiance to the Fuhrer and pledged to serve the nation and its leader as future soldiers.
35. WW2DEC_170604_290.JPG: The Hitler Youth combined athletics and outdoor activities with ideology. The League of German Girls emphasized group sports, such as rhythmic gymnastics, that were deemed less strenuous and better geared to preparing members for motherhood.
36. WW2DEC_170604_295.JPG: "The idea that through the training of children we could educate our nation to become a community in which a spirit of brotherhood prevailed also helped us to swallow much that was unpalatable." -- Melita Maschmann, former Hitler Youth propagandist, postwar reflection
37. WW2DEC_170604_297.JPG: The 'National Community' A cornerstone of Nazi propaganda was the ideal of the "national community" (Volksgemeinschaft), an organic union of all "Aryan" Germans. Nazi propagandists continually stressed that the new Germany would have no class, religious, or regional differences, and the political strife and dissension that characterized the Weimar parliamentary democracy would end. Through collective work, Germans would rebuild the shattered economy. In theory, neither birth nor economic status would be obstacles to social, military, or political advancement. The vision of the "national community" enjoyed genuine mass appeal, but it masked persecution. Many Germans, swayed by the "positive" allure of unity, overlooked the glaring inequalities and abuses in the Third Reich.
38. WW2DEC_170604_301.JPG: Propaganda & Persecution While Nazi propaganda sold the ideal of the "national community" to Germans, the regime made it increasingly clear that not all Germans would be permitted to participate in the new community. The Nazis denied admittance to some on the grounds of "race," which included Jews, African Germans, and Roma (Gypsies), or because of undesirable "biological" traits such as physical or mental disabilities. Others were excluded because of their politics or their behavior, such as male homosexuals, social non-conformists, or individuals deemed to be "work-shy." An "Aryan" German could change his or her politics or behavior and gain entry, but those denied because of "race" or biology were categorically and unequivocally excluded. Nazi propagandists contributed to the success of the regime's policies of exclusion by publicly identifying the unwanted groups, justifying their pariah status, and inciting active hatred or, at a minimum, cultivating indifference toward those who did not belong.
39. WW2DEC_170604_304.JPG: Soon after the takeover of power in 1933, "enemies of the Nazi state" were rounded up and sent to hastily organized concentration camps. Local and national German newspapers printed deceptive articles about the camps, such as this one on Dachau in the Nazi-owned Illustrierter Beobachter, to justify the camps' existence and refute rumors about brutalities against prisoners. In order to influence international opinion, the SS arranged carefully managed visits for foreign reporters and diplomats to demonstrate that the prisoners were "well-treated" and being "re-educated" to conform to Nazi society.
40. WW2DEC_170604_310.JPG: The Nuremberg Laws On September 15, 1935, the German parliament issued several laws that provided the legal basis for the exclusion of Jews from German society. These so-called Nuremberg Laws, named for the city in which they were announced, prohibited marriages and sexual relations between Jews and Germans and restricted eligibility for citizenship in the Third Reich to "Aryans," thereby relegating Jews to second-class status. Subsequent decrees stipulated in law that a Jew was anyone with three or more grandparents of the Jewish faith and defined two categories of "mixed-breeds" (Mischlinge), the offspring of Jewish and non-Jewish parents. The Nazi government eventually applied the Nuremberg Laws to Roma (Gypsies) and African Germans.
41. WW2DEC_170604_312.JPG: Die N�rnberger Gesetze (1935)
42. WW2DEC_170604_316.JPG: Anti-Jewish Propaganda & Nazi Policy From 1933 to 1939, Nazi Germany officially pursued openly anti-Jewish policies that evolved from segregation to forced emigration. In support of these goals, Nazi propagandists played on existing negative stereotypes and denounced Jews as an "alien," "parasitic" presence responsible for Germany's cultural, political, and economic "degeneration." To Nazi minds, "the Jews" represented the polar opposite of the culturally creative "Aryan" Germans. Only their removal would permit the Third Reich to thrive. While many Germans shunned this propaganda, just as most disapproved of the increasing anti-Jewish violence, dislike of Jews extended far beyond Nazi Party stalwarts. The majority of Germans at least passively accepted the discrimination against Jews.
43. WW2DEC_170604_319.JPG: Germans reading the latest issue of Der Sturmer. The display case carries the popular antisemitic motto, "The Jews Are Our Misfortune." The signboard announced: "With Der Sturmer against Judah." Worms, Germany, August 1935.
44. WW2DEC_170604_322.JPG: Peddling Antisemitic Propaganda Between 1923 and 1945, Julius Streicher edited and directed a weekly tabloid, Der St�rmer, the most rabidly antisemitic newspaper in Germany. Streicher, a former schoolteacher turned Nazi activist who proudly promoted himself as the world's premier "Jew-baiter," published lurid, false tales of Jewish "ritual murder," sex crimes, and financial malfeasance. During the Weimar Republic, Jewish organizations and outraged politicians frequently sued Der St�rmer and Streicher because of the despicable and libelous claims. Following the Nazi takeover, the fortunes of the paper and its editor skyrocketed. Weekly circulation increased from 14,000 in 1927 to almost 500,000 in 1935 and was even distributed outside of Germany. Though many Germans and even some Nazi propagandists found the one-topic newspaper offensive, Der St�rmer successfully disseminated vicious antisemitism to people who were not Nazis and who did not read the party papers.
45. WW2DEC_170604_329.JPG: Der Sturmer remains perhaps the best-known expression of vulgar antisemitism in the world. Unlike other newspapers, which dealt with topical questions and daily events, Streicher's weekly was devoted purely to inciting hatred of the Jews. Each and every article discussed the "Jewish Question" and emphasized the inherent evil of the Jewish people. Special Edition 10 of Der Sturmer (September 1938), partially translated here, highlights Streicher's antisemitic obsessions, particularly his false manipulations of Jewish history and religious texts.
46. WW2DEC_170604_410.JPG: Propaganda for War and Mass Murder: 1939-1945
47. WW2DEC_170604_416.JPG: Nazi Propaganda & the Genocide of the Jews
48. WW2DEC_170604_421.JPG: Propaganda in the Context of War Just as propaganda served a critical role in shaping the Nazis' domestic plans for a new Germany, it became an integral weapon in Hitler's expansionist military strategy. Persuading Germans less than a generation away from the fighting of World War I to take up arms again meant disguising military aggression as necessary. Nazi propagandists continually emphasized that the nation's enemies had instigated the war, victimized Germany, and were planning to enslave or destroy the German people. They also prepared Germans to accept increased hardships at home and to shut their eyes to brutalities against the peoples of occupied territories. While many Germans doubted these arguments, the penalties for dissidence, defiance, and military desertion were severe. Public confidence in the Nazi Party rapidly diminished as hopes of final victory fell after 1943. Faith in Hitler, however, remained surprisingly strong. Even in the final months of the war, when German military deaths rose to 450,000 per month, Nazi Germany continued to wage war and terror. In the end, its propaganda could not stave off defeat, and its key advocates, Hitler and Goebbels, committed suicide in the ruins of Berlin.
49. WW2DEC_170604_428.JPG: Paper propaganda poster that reads: Dafur Kampfen wir fur das Brot unserer Kinder! (Why we fight -- for our children's bread!!). This poster conceals the Nazis' aggressive foreign policy and war behind an emotional assertion that the German regime justly stands to protect and defend the survival of the nation's future.
50. WW2DEC_170604_455.JPG: An antisemitic poster entitled, "Behind the enemy powers: the Jew." Nazi propagandists frequently depicted "the Jew" as a conspirator plotting world domination by acting behind the scenes in nations at war with Germany. This caricature represents the "Jewish financier" manipulating the Allies -- Great Britain, the United States, and the Soviet Union.
51. WW2DEC_170604_462.JPG: "How quickly we have all got used to seeing the Jewish Star. Most people's attitude is one of complete indifference." -- Ursula von Kardorff, German journalist in Berlin, March 3, 1943
52. WW2DEC_170604_465.JPG: Popular Reactions to Nazi Hate Propaganda Official and underground reports revealed that public opinion toward Nazi antisemitic propaganda often varied and shifted unexpectedly. In summer 1941, German newsreels and the press repeatedly identified Jews as the perpetrators of Soviet atrocities, and crowds in movie theaters called for more radical treatment of Jews and expressed joy at reprisals against Soviet Jews. A few weeks later, however, many Germans openly sympathized with their Jewish neighbors following orders to wear on their outer clothing a yellow Star of David with the word Jude (Jew). The public marking, implemented earlier in German-occupied Poland and the Soviet Union, was intended to foster antisemitism and further the segregation of the Jewish population. Angry at the negative public response to the order, Goebbels coupled a new antisemitic campaign to a police edict to punish Germans who behaved in a friendly manner towards Jews.
53. WW2DEC_170604_469.JPG: Like Nazi propaganda, the persecution and deportation of Europe's Jews to ghettos, concentration camps, and killing centers took place in the public sphere. These photographs, taken on May 9, 1942, in Eisenach, Germany, document the deportation of the city's Jews to the Beyzyce ghetto in occupied Poland. The victims were marched to the train station as their neighbors watched, and deported. None of them returned.
54. WW2DEC_170604_480.JPG: Propaganda on Trial: 1945-1948
55. WW2DEC_170604_485.JPG: Purging Germany of Propaganda Long before the war ended in May 1945, the Allies vowed to destroy German militarism and Nazism. At their postwar Potsdam Conference (July–August 1945), the leaders of the United States, Great Britain, the Soviet Union, and France -- each occupying a portion of a Germany in ruins -- laid down the fundamental principles for Germany's "denazification": disarmament and reeducation. The Nazi Party and all of its affiliates were immediately dissolved and banned forever in order to "prevent all Nazi and militaristic activity or propaganda." Over the next several years, the Allied Control Council, the government of occupation, issued directives aimed at purging Germany of Nazism. Libraries, bookshops, publishing houses, schools, and universities were ordered to turn over for destruction all materials containing Nazi propaganda. The Allied Control Council further directed that all posters, statues, monuments, street signs, and emblems that glorified the Nazi Party be completely destroyed, and it outlawed creating any such objects in the future.
56. WW2DEC_170604_490.JPG: Following the defeat of Nazi Germany, the Allies dismantled, demolished, or confiscated monuments, statues, and other public artwork glorifying Adolf Hitler and the Third Reich as part of a systematic program of denazification.
57. WW2DEC_170604_508.JPG: Julius Streicher, the editor of the antisemitic newspaper Der St�rmer, was found guilty of "crimes against humanity" by the International Military Tribunal, and hanged. In its conviction, the IMT ruled that Streicher's articles in Der St�rmer calling for the "annihilation of the Jewish race," written when he knew of the mass killings of Europe's Jews, constituted a direct and criminal incitement to murder.
58. WW2DEC_170604_511.JPG: The courtroom of the Palace of Justice, Nuremberg, Germany, c 1945
59. WW2DEC_170604_516.JPG: The Legacy of Nazi Propaganda and the 21st Century
60. WW2DEC_170604_523.JPG: Responses to Dangerous Propaganda Since Nuremberg The Holocaust and other Nazi crimes shocked the world's conscience and triggered an ongoing discussion on how to best combat harmful forms of speech. The conviction of Julius Streicher and acquittal of Hans Fritzsche at the International Military Tribunal set international legal precedents that still influence the prosecution of individuals charged with "incitement to genocide," a crime under international law established by the United Nations-sponsored Genocide Convention (1948). Some countries, including Germany and France, have criminalized Nazi propaganda as well as speech aimed at inflaming national, religious, ethnic, or racial hatred. The United States, by contrast, forbids laws that would limit the freedom of speech and press -- including the use of the Nazi swastika and antisemitic images and rhetoric.
61. WW2DEC_170604_525.JPG: State of Deception: The Power of Nazi Propaganda was underwritten in part by grants from The Blanche and Irving Laurie Foundation and Katherine M. and Leo S. Ullman with additional support from the Lester Robbins and Sheila Johnson Robbins Traveling and Special Exhibitions Fund established in 1990. EXHIBITION DEVELOPMENT Curator Steven Luckert EXHIBITION DESIGN AND PRODUCTION Design LaymanDesign, Glenview, Ill. Video Programs Cortina Productions, McLean, Va. SOURCES Austria Dokumentationsarchiv des �sterreichischen Widerstandes, Vienna Bulgaria Bulgarska Nacionalna Filmoteka, Sofia Germany Bayerische Staatsbibliothek M�nchen Bildarchiv Preussischer Kulturbesitz, Berlin Bundesarchiv, Koblenz Deutsches Fotothek der S�chsische Landesbibliothek, Dresden Deutsches Historisches Museum, Berlin Haus der Geschichte Baden-W�rttemberg, Stuttgart Hessisches Landesmuseum Darmstadt Historisches Museum der Stadt Frankfurt am Main Landesarchiv Berlin Museum f�r Kunst und Gewerbe, Hamburg Stadtarchiv N�rnberg Stadtarchiv Wartburgstadt Eisenach Stiftung Deutsches Rundfunkarchiv, Wiesbaden S�ddeutsche Zeitung Photo, Munich Transit Film GmbH, Munich 20th Century Fox of Germany, Frankfurt am Main Ullstein Bild, Berlin Yildiz Film, Munich Israel Ghetto Fighters' House Museum, Western Galilee Yad Vashem Photo Archives, Jerusalem Poland Institut Pamięci Narodowej, Warsaw Russia Rossiisky Gosudarstvennyi Arkhiv Kinematography, Krasnogorsk United Kingdom Lebrecht Music and Arts, London United States AJC Center for Jewish Research, New York Art Resource, New York Randall Bytwerk Corbis, New York Getty Images, New York Granger Collection, New York International Historic Films, Inc., Chicago, Ill. Hoover Institution Archives, Stanford, Calif. Julian Bryan Archive, New York Killer Tracks Production Music, Santa Monica, Calif. Library of Congress, Washington, D.C. National Archives and Records Administration, College Park, Md. National Museum of American Jewish History, Philadelphia U.S. Army Center of Military History, Washington, D.C. United States Holocaust Memorial Museum, Washington, D.C. The Wolfsonian–Florida International University, Miami Beach, Fla.
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Wikipedia Description: National World War II Museum
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

The National World War II Museum, formerly known as the National D-Day Museum, is a museum located in the Central Business District of New Orleans, Louisiana, at the corner of Andrew Higgins and Magazine Street. It focuses on the United States contribution to victory in World War II, and the Battle of Normandy in particular. It has been designated by the U.S. Congress as "America's National World War II Museum".

Museum Description:

The museum opened its doors to the public on June 6, 2000, the 56th anniversary of D-Day. The museum has a large lobby where aircraft and other items are suspended from the ceiling. Visitors pay admission fees at the desk in the center of the lobby and then visitors' tickets are separated from the ticket stub by veterans of D-Day. Admission prices during the summer of 2005 were marked at $14, with discounts offered to children, students, military members and their families, veterans, and senior citizens. The building is several stories high; elevators are available but the stairs are more accessible and are quicker. Visitors begin their self-guided tour of the museum on the top floor and work their way down toward the ground floor. The museum goes in chronological order; that is, the top floor assesses the political, social, and economic conditions that led up to World War II and D-Day. For example, the museum compares the relative military strengths of major nations entering the war. Later visitors see a model of the beaches of Normandy with the relative positions of the number of aircraft and amphibious vehicles. However, the museum does not solely discuss the invasion; visitors may also view an electronic map of the Pacific Ocean that lights up to illustrate the Allied strategy of island hopping, culminating with nuclear attacks on Hiroshima and Nagasaki in August 1945.

Visitors to the museum are encouraged to allocate roughly 2 1/2 to 3 hours to tour the museum. The museum also contains two auditoriums where educational videos are played as well as a gift shop.

Relation to New Orleans:

Some may wonder why the National World War II Museum is located in New Orleans, a city known for other tourism sites, but which is not usually associated with twentieth-century military history. The main reason the museum is located in New Orleans is because the city was where the "Higgins Boats" vital to D-Day operations were designed, built, and tested. The museum gives extensive coverage of the "LCVP" or "Higgins Boat" landing craft used in the invasion of Normandy and elsewhere. These landing craft were designed by Andrew Higgins of Louisiana and produced in New Orleans by Higgins Industries and its licensees. Furthermore, New Orleans was the home city of historian Stephen Ambrose, who spearheaded the effort to build such a museum.

The Museum closed for three months after Hurricane Katrina ravaged New Orleans in 2005, re-opening on December 3 that year. A museum banner promoted this re-opening by proclaiming "We Have Returned," a phrase the banner juxtaposed with the classic World War II photograph of Gen. Douglas MacArthur striding through the surf on his return to the Philippines.
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