Grade 10 PropagandaIn Between Wars
Guernica shows the bombing during the Spanish Civil War by Nazi Germany of the Basque city of Guernica on 26 April 1937 in support of the Francisco Franco's Nationalists. Some historians list is as the first-ever aerial bombardment of a city; around 1,600 people were killed and some 900 injured. Picasso's painting doesn't focus on the actual bombing, but instead the horrors of war and the misery that results. The symbolism he used includes a dying horse, a woman caught in a burning building, and an anguished mother with a dead child (Boddy-Evans).
|
Black Propaganda
Adapted from Wikipedia: Black propaganda is false information and material that purports to be from a source on one side of a conflict, but is actually from the opposing side. It is typically used to vilify, embarrass or misrepresent the enemy. Black propaganda contrasts with grey propaganda, the source of which is not identified, and white propaganda, in which the real source is declared and usually more accurate information is given, albeit slanted, distorted and omissive. Black propaganda is covert in nature in that its aims, identity, significance, and sources are hidden.
The major characteristic of black propaganda is that the people are not aware that someone is influencing them, and do not feel that they are being pushed in a certain direction. Black propaganda purports to emanate from a source other than the true source. This type of propaganda is associated with covert psychological operations. Sometimes the source is concealed or credited to a false authority and spreads lies, fabrications, and deceptions. Black propaganda is the "big lie", including all types of creative deceit. Black propaganda relies on the willingness of the receiver to accept the credibility of the source.
The major characteristic of black propaganda is that the people are not aware that someone is influencing them, and do not feel that they are being pushed in a certain direction. Black propaganda purports to emanate from a source other than the true source. This type of propaganda is associated with covert psychological operations. Sometimes the source is concealed or credited to a false authority and spreads lies, fabrications, and deceptions. Black propaganda is the "big lie", including all types of creative deceit. Black propaganda relies on the willingness of the receiver to accept the credibility of the source.
Nazi Propaganda
Joseph Goebbels, Minister of Nazi propaganda, 1933-1945
The Nazi party made extensive use of propaganda in all its forms; film, photo, literature (books, textbooks, articles, newspapers, etc.), public speaking, posters, cartoons, and radio. The Reich Ministry of Public Enlightenment and Propaganda (Reichsministerium für Volksaufklärung und Propaganda or Propagandaministerium) was Nazi's ministry that enforced Nazi Party ideology in Germany. Founded in 1933 by Adolf Hitler’s new National Socialist government, the Ministry was headed by Dr. Joseph Goebbels and was responsible for controlling the press and culture of Nazi Germany. “With Goebbels in charge, the Propaganda Ministry achieved an astounding level of success during Hitler’s rise to power in the 1930s that continued through the first years of World War II. Propaganda was delivered via printed material, radio, and film to disseminate the Nazis’ message to the German people, who grew to admire and trust in the Führer above any other man. Goebbels’ propaganda machine had achieved one its greatest goals: a media cult surrounding Hitler. This later proved to be one of the greatest success of the propaganda ministry throughout the entire reign of the Third Reich, and one of Hitler’s greatest advantages as a ruler." Ian Kershaw referred to this Hitler media cult as the “Hitler Myth.” Historians have had mixed opinions of the overall potency of the propaganda, many finding the propaganda to be highly effective until losing its efficacy in the deep trenches of war. It would appear that the propaganda ministry would lose credibility and power in the German people only after glaring inconsistencies and lies were brought to light after witnessed defeats during WWII.
TASK: Watch the following video and research one of the propaganda techniques mentioned. Present your research with examples to the class.
TASK: How did the Nazis use propaganda to foment racial hatred towards the Jewish people?
Nazi Propaganda Continued
(Adapted from Wikipedia)Triumph of the Will (German: Triumph des Willens) is a 1935 propaganda film directed, produced, edited and co-written by Leni Riefenstahl. It chronicles the 1934 Nazi Party Congress in Nuremberg, which was attended by more than 700,000 Nazi supporters.
Triumph of the Will was released in 1935 and became a prominent example of propaganda in film history. Riefenstahl's techniques—such as moving cameras, aerial photography, the use of long focus lenses to create a distorted perspective, and the revolutionary approach to the use of music and cinematography—have earnedTriumph of the Will recognition as one of the greatest propaganda films in history. Riefenstahl helped to stage the scenes, directing and rehearsing some of them at least fifty times. Riefenstahl won several awards, not only in Germany but also in the United States, France, Sweden, and other countries.
In 1941, Hollywood director Frank Capra was commissioned to make a series of propaganda films for the US war effort. He knew he had his work cut out: he had seen Leni Riefenstahl’s Triumph Of The Will – a staggering, state-of-the-art display of both film-making expertise and Nazi military might. “It scared the hell out of me,” Capra later said. “It fired no gun, dropped no bombs, but as a psychological weapon aimed at destroying the will to resist, it was just as lethal” (Guardian).
TASK: You will break into small groups and present your answer to one of the following questions:
Question 1: How is Triumph of the Will visual propaganda?
Question 2: Triumph of the Will presents the great conundrum of art: can art be both morally reprehensible, and yet "great"? Can art be dangerous? Explain your answer within the context of Triumph of the Will.
Question 3: Was Leni Riefenstahl guilty (the creator)? Research what happened to her after the war as a consequence for making the film.
Reading for Question 3: Leni Riefenstahl is considered one of the most important female film makers of the 20th century. Though she was associated with the Nazis, her work was pioneering in its technique. Read the following and decide whether Riefenstahl deserved to be a Nazis collaborator, an association that did not land her in jail, but ultimately destroyed her career.
Writer Budd Schulberg, assigned by the US Navy to the OSS for intelligence work while attached to John Ford’s documentary unit, was ordered to arrest Riefenstahl at her chalet in Kitzbühel, Austria, ostensibly to have her identify the faces of Nazi war criminals in German film footage captured by the Allied troops. Riefenstahl claimed she was not aware of the nature of the internment camps. According to Schulberg, “She gave me the usual song and dance. She said, ‘Of course, you know, I'm really so misunderstood. I'm not political.’” However, when Riefenstahl later claimed she had been forced to follow Goebbels’ orders under threat of being sent to a concentration camp, Schulberg asked her why she should have been afraid if she did not know concentration camps existed. When shown photographs of the camps, Riefenstahl reportedly reacted with horror and tears.
Riefenstahl continued to maintain she was fascinated by the National Socialists (Nazism) but politically naïve and ignorant about any war crimes. From 1945 through 1948 she was held in sundry American and French-run detention camps and prisons along with house arrest but although Riefenstahl was tried four times by various postwar authorities, she was never convicted through denazification trials either for her alleged role as a propagandist or for the use of concentration camp inmates in her films. However, she was found to be a fellow traveler (collaborator) who was sympathetic to the Nazis. One of the reasons it was hard for people to accept Riefenstahl’s ignorance in National Socialism was her masterful artistic expression of the party’s ideals and beliefs—she made powerful propaganda.
Riefenstahl tried many times (15 by her count) to make films during the 1950s and 1960s but was met with resistance, public protests and sharp criticism. Many of her filmmaking peers in Hollywood had fled Nazi Germany and were unsympathetic to her. Although both film professionals and investors were willing to support her work, most of the projects she attempted were stopped owing to ever-renewed and highly negative publicity about her past work for the Third Reich (adapted from Wikipedia).
7. ISIS Use the following link to discuss the following:
Triumph of the Will was released in 1935 and became a prominent example of propaganda in film history. Riefenstahl's techniques—such as moving cameras, aerial photography, the use of long focus lenses to create a distorted perspective, and the revolutionary approach to the use of music and cinematography—have earnedTriumph of the Will recognition as one of the greatest propaganda films in history. Riefenstahl helped to stage the scenes, directing and rehearsing some of them at least fifty times. Riefenstahl won several awards, not only in Germany but also in the United States, France, Sweden, and other countries.
In 1941, Hollywood director Frank Capra was commissioned to make a series of propaganda films for the US war effort. He knew he had his work cut out: he had seen Leni Riefenstahl’s Triumph Of The Will – a staggering, state-of-the-art display of both film-making expertise and Nazi military might. “It scared the hell out of me,” Capra later said. “It fired no gun, dropped no bombs, but as a psychological weapon aimed at destroying the will to resist, it was just as lethal” (Guardian).
TASK: You will break into small groups and present your answer to one of the following questions:
Question 1: How is Triumph of the Will visual propaganda?
Question 2: Triumph of the Will presents the great conundrum of art: can art be both morally reprehensible, and yet "great"? Can art be dangerous? Explain your answer within the context of Triumph of the Will.
Question 3: Was Leni Riefenstahl guilty (the creator)? Research what happened to her after the war as a consequence for making the film.
Reading for Question 3: Leni Riefenstahl is considered one of the most important female film makers of the 20th century. Though she was associated with the Nazis, her work was pioneering in its technique. Read the following and decide whether Riefenstahl deserved to be a Nazis collaborator, an association that did not land her in jail, but ultimately destroyed her career.
Writer Budd Schulberg, assigned by the US Navy to the OSS for intelligence work while attached to John Ford’s documentary unit, was ordered to arrest Riefenstahl at her chalet in Kitzbühel, Austria, ostensibly to have her identify the faces of Nazi war criminals in German film footage captured by the Allied troops. Riefenstahl claimed she was not aware of the nature of the internment camps. According to Schulberg, “She gave me the usual song and dance. She said, ‘Of course, you know, I'm really so misunderstood. I'm not political.’” However, when Riefenstahl later claimed she had been forced to follow Goebbels’ orders under threat of being sent to a concentration camp, Schulberg asked her why she should have been afraid if she did not know concentration camps existed. When shown photographs of the camps, Riefenstahl reportedly reacted with horror and tears.
Riefenstahl continued to maintain she was fascinated by the National Socialists (Nazism) but politically naïve and ignorant about any war crimes. From 1945 through 1948 she was held in sundry American and French-run detention camps and prisons along with house arrest but although Riefenstahl was tried four times by various postwar authorities, she was never convicted through denazification trials either for her alleged role as a propagandist or for the use of concentration camp inmates in her films. However, she was found to be a fellow traveler (collaborator) who was sympathetic to the Nazis. One of the reasons it was hard for people to accept Riefenstahl’s ignorance in National Socialism was her masterful artistic expression of the party’s ideals and beliefs—she made powerful propaganda.
Riefenstahl tried many times (15 by her count) to make films during the 1950s and 1960s but was met with resistance, public protests and sharp criticism. Many of her filmmaking peers in Hollywood had fled Nazi Germany and were unsympathetic to her. Although both film professionals and investors were willing to support her work, most of the projects she attempted were stopped owing to ever-renewed and highly negative publicity about her past work for the Third Reich (adapted from Wikipedia).
7. ISIS Use the following link to discuss the following:
- How is ISIS using modern technology to spread propaganda?
- What kind of propaganda is ISIS using?
- What audiences are they targeting?
- How effective are their methods?