The poster by Mj\u00f6lnir [Hans Schweitzer] for the film “Der ewige Jude” (The Eternal or Wandering Jew), 1940, US Holocaust Memorial Museum, courtesy of Museum f\u00fcr Deutsche Geschichte<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
“Voters who would never have voted for the Nazi Party in the past cast their vote for this new party,” Luckert stated.<\/p>\n
“We want visitors to really reflect upon themselves and think about propaganda. Even when the Nazis were defeated after 1945, propaganda didn\u2019t disappear,” Luckert asserted. “We\u2019re constantly bombarded with messages, most of them benign, but some that are dangerous.”<\/p>\n
This aspect of the exhibit takes on added meaning for today with the charges of so-called fake news leveled at the media by President Donald Trump. “This is a very contemporary concern that we all have and how we address that,” Luckert continued. “One avenue is to use education and to really think about that and how propaganda works, how it appeals to you and functions.”<\/p>\n
Despite America’s reluctance to do so, the Nazis used the word propaganda ubiquitously. “At the creation of the Nazi’s Ministry of Public Enlightenment and Propaganda, he told Hitler \u2018Let\u2019s not use that term,'” Luckert revealed. \u201c’People associate that with lies and exaggerations and things like that.'” Hitler countered: \u201cNo, it\u2019s a good word and we\u2019ll use it.\u201d<\/p>\n
Starting with the Soviet Union in the 1920s, governments began to develop the use of radio as a propaganda tool, which Luckert described as the Internet of its time. “Radio became an important vehicle for disseminating propaganda, both good and bad, across the airwaves,” he said.<\/p>\n
This practice exploded during the decade of the 1930s.\u00a0“Nazi Germany began broadcasting in English in 1933,” he said. “By 1938 they were broadcasting in 12 different languages and then that expanded.”<\/p>\n
At the same time, the BBC in England was experiencing the same kind of growth and trying to get its messages broadcast globally, Luckert added, and the same could be said with Radio Bari in fascist Italy.<\/p>\n
Luckert, who joined the museum staff in 1994 only six months after its opening, noted there will be three simultaneous exhibits traveling to different cities. Besides New Orleans, traveling exhibits will open simultaneously in Paris and at the United Nations in New York.<\/p>\n
While he will miss the opening of the exhibit in New Orleans, Luckert will be in New Orleans for the first time in April when he is scheduled to deliver a talk in April on “Fueling Extremism.”<\/p>\n
“A number of my colleagues have been there,” Luckert mentioned. “They kind of prepared me for the great artifacts that are there. I\u2019m very excited about it.”<\/p>\n
“State of Deception: The Power of Nazi Propaganda” follows the 2012 touring exhibit from the United States Holocaust Museum “Deadly Medicine: Creating the Master Race<\/a>.” It runs from January 27 to June 18 at the National World War II Museum, 945 Magazine Street. For more information call 504-528-1944.<\/em><\/p>\n <\/p>\n
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