“Propaganda,” Adolf Hitler wrote in 1924, “is a truly terrible weapon in the hands of an expert.” Over the next two decades, Nazi leaders developed a sophisticated propaganda machine that showed the world bold, new ways to employ these techniques, swaying millions of Germans and other Europeans with appealing ideas of a utopian world along with frightful images of enemies it deemed threats to those dreams. As Germany pushed the world into war, this propaganda rationalized Germany’s territorial expansion as self-defense and promoted the Nazis’ actions against the Jews as necessary measures to protect the population at large.State of Deception draws visitors into a rich multimedia environment, vividly illustrating the insidious allure of much of Nazi propaganda and revealing how the Nazi Party transformed itself from an obscure extremist right-wing group into the largest political party in democratic Germany. This most extreme case study emphasizes why the issue of propaganda matters and challenges citizens to actively question, analyze, and seek the truth.
On display in Washington, D.C. for over three years, State of Deception made its traveling debut at the Field Museum in Chicago last fall. MCHE is proud to be only the second presenter to welcome the full traveling version, complete with authentic artifacts, and we are delighted to be working again with our partner and host venue, the National Archives at Kansas City.
Presented by the
Midwest Center for Holocaust Education
at
National Archives at Kansas City
400 West Pershing Road
Kansas City, Missouri
June 24-October 25, 2014
8:00-4:00 Tuesday-Saturday
SPONSORS
