Auschwitz Propaganda Essay

In 1942, the concentration camp Auschwitz was designed to capture and kill millions of Jews through gas chambers and crematoriums. While doing this, they additionally managed to keep it a secret from the outside population to ensure they wouldn’t be shut down. In order to protect the privacy of the concentration camps, measures such as propaganda, false representations, as well as destruction of the areas were necessary. Although denial has been made punishable under the law, many people and organazations deny that thousands of people were murdered. The Nazis kept their methods of genocide at Auschwitz a secret from the outside German population through a great amount of propaganda, false representations of the areas and destruction, to deceive

This included posters, articles, newsreels, and media campaigns. Newsreels were crucial to German Propoganda as it was one of the most common type of medias. During war, they manipulated the public opinion so it was something Nazi propagandists relied heavily on in order to persuade the public. Media campaigns were similarly crucial as it built public support for Germans. During the German attack on Poland, Nazis presented the invasion as moral and justifiable. It was told to the public that the people of Poland had initiated the attacks and they were just attacking back as an attempt at self defense. In reality, the Germans had instigated the war and they used propaganda to conceal that. Different types of propaganda were used to target different people and different groups as well as releasing different levels of accurate information; white, gray, and black. White propoaganda is 100% accurate as it comes from and accurate source and produces the correct information. By sending out correct propaganda, it decieves the public from incorrect propaganda. White propaganda is designed to build credibility. Gray propaganda is more uncertain. Gray propaganda may or may not be correctly identified and the information is uncertain. This type of propaganda causes uncertainty amongst the population. Black

In 1944, nearly everyone knew about the concentratin camps, however the living conditions were unclear. People were generally oblivious to the gas chambers and crematoriums, however with the antisemitism widely known, people filed many reports on the concentration camps. Eventually, the Danish red cross officials recieved enough reports that they were forced to go and investigate the concentratin camps. The information gathered during this investigation would be reported to the world through newspapers and other medias. Therefore, the Nazis quickly had to create a false representation of the camps in order to prove to the public the living conditions were acceptable. To do this, the SS authorities were forced to beautify the camps in advance to the red cross offiicals visit. Additionally, they staged events such as festivals and games to demostrate the desirable living conditions. Similarly, in 1945, the SS officials made a film about the camp as a use of propaganda. In this film, it showed the Jews being happy, living a good life, and having fun. They forced the inmates to work as writers, actors, editors, etc. Children also participated in the production of the film, and as a result they were given sweets, which was abnormal for them. The red cross officials came and approved therefore, the Nazis successfully decieved the