PROPAGANDA WEBQUEST
Visit the Online Exhibition of the Unites States Holocaust Museum
BACKGROUND INFO
1) Write down the museum's definition of propaganda.
propaganda =
2.) Write down three interesting facts about how propaganda works (second section).
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3) What do you think makes propaganda effective? (in the final paragraph)
EXPLORING PROPAGANDA THEMES
4) Go to the Themes page.
Explore the themes on your own. Take about 10 minutes. Check out the different propaganda.
List the themes below
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5) Then choose one theme to focus on and answer the following questions in your notebook:
Circle the theme you choose above.
In a sentence, what was the main goal of the propaganda in this section? (Be specific)
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What is the historical context? From the timeline, choose 2 important events that were going on around this time which would have had a strong impact on the audience.
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ANALYZING A PARTICULAR IMAGE
6) Choose one Image and complete the following:
A Four-Step Process for Analyzing Images
Step one: Description
Describe what you see in as much detail as possible. List information about images, colors, lines, placement of objects on the page, etc.
Step two: Identification
Record basic information about the image. What do you know about it? Who created it? When? Who do you think was the intended audience? In what format or media was it distributed (for example, as a poster, a book, a film, an advertisement in a newspaper, etc.)?
Step three: Interpretation
Based on what you know about this image, what message do you think the creator of this piece intends to express?
Step four: Evaluation
Does this image utilize lies or misleading information to express its message? If so, how? In your opinion, does this image express a positive or a negative message? Explain.
7) Personal Reflection (write a paragraph in your notebook about your own thoughts)
These prompts may help...
-When is propaganda most dangerous?
-What makes people vulnerable to propaganda?
-How can you guard against propaganda?
And...
Here are some quotes from Hitler and Goebbels to provide some motivation.
“[F]rom the child’s primer down to the last newspaper, every theater and every movie house, every advertising pillar and every billboard must be pressed into the service subjected of this one great mission. . . .”
-Hitler
"What good fortune for governments that people do not think"
-Hitler
"Never try to convert a crowd to your point of view in the morning sun. Instead the dim lights are useful—especially the evening when people are tired, their powers of resistance are low, and their complete ‘emotional capitulation’ is easy to achieve.”
-Hitler
“If you tell a lie big enough and keep repeating it, people will eventually come to believe it.”
-Josef Goebbels (Head of the Ministry of Public Enlightenment and Propaganda)