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U.S. Historian: ‘Nazi propaganda is being recycled’
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The techniques of propaganda have changed little since the early 20th century and the images created by the Nazis – most especially the anti-Semitic ones – still circulate in the press, books, film and art,” said Historian Ann Millin of the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum in Washington.
Speaking ahead of her Baltimore address, “Reporting Kristallnacht: The Press and Propaganda in Germany and the United States,” Dr. Millin said what has changed and what makes the threat of propaganda so dangerous today are the revolution in communications technology and the vast extent of information available at the click of a mouse.
Dr. Millin, who is being brought to Baltimore TONIGHT in honor of Kristallnacht by THE ASSOCIATED: Jewish Community Federation of Baltimore and the Baltimore Jewish Council, put together the Web site for the museum’s latest exhibit, “State of Deception: The Power of Nazi Propaganda.” The story of the Nazi control of the press – by 1944 the Nazis owned 82 percent of all German newspapers - is a thread throughout the exhibit.
Dr. Millin explained that Nazi propagandists understood that public fascination with new technology might attract new recruits to the party. Using technologies like the microphone and loudspeaker suggested to voters that Adolf Hitler was courageous, modern and forward-thinking.
Today, we have the Internet and social networking sites, and digital technology, said Dr. Millin, which can spread propaganda around the world in minutes, becoming established as “fact” before its accuracy can be tested, assessed or revealed.
“The average person is awash in information without proper tools to evaluate its accuracy. Each user struggles to sort out reliable information … from data that is unreliable and deceptive,” she said. “There are fewer and fewer reporters between the information and the citizen and the propaganda is helping us to select information.”
She said this decade's technology “moves at the speed of light” and has outpaced what educators call people’s “media literacy skills.”
Said Dr. Millin: “We are more vulnerable to the influence of propaganda than ever and less equipped to recognize, confront and resist it."
Hear Dr. Millin’s lecture:
Nov. 9, 2009
7:00-8:30 p.m.
Weinberg Jewish Community Center
5700 Park Heights Ave.
Baltimore, MD 21215
For more information: 410-542-4850
Free and open to the public
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