Propaganda and Media Literacy: The Holocaust as a Case Study

GRADE LEVEL: High School

Overview

Media literacy is a key tenet in civics education. Students regularly engage with media from a variety of sources, and understanding its origin, intended messages, and outcome are skills covered in state and national standards across the country. This activity will use the historical case study of Nazi propaganda and Nazi ideology to examine antisemitic messages and images that stoked fear, and galvanized a population against their Jewish neighbors in the years leading up to the Holocaust.

In this activity, students will:

• Examine propaganda using media literacy skills, and examine multimedia assets including the correlated visual history testimonies and other primary resources and materials.
• Identify opportunities to connect the lessons of the Holocaust with more current examples of hate propaganda.