I was about to write a post about Der ewige Jude, a “documentary” by the Nazi party in 1940, but I couldn’t bring myself to do it, in the same way that I couldn’t bring myself to write one about Triumph des Willens. Instead, I think it would be best to discuss the educational potential of propaganda as a general topic, with warnings of showing such films to our students. You will notice that I will limit my benefits to clips only, rather than full films. I do this because such intense hatred does not need so much input to understand.
Propaganda exists in nearly everything we see, though some is more subtle than others. As I write this, I will narrow the definition to: Nazi propaganda that aimed to solidify anti-semitism in their territories.
Benefits of clips:
– A comparison of the culture of integration and tolerance of modern times to what existed in the past.
– Political history.
– Showing how perspective changes what truth looks like, understanding bias, and learning how to see through it.
Things to consider:
– Age/Impressionability of the audience.
– Sources from multiple perspectives within the same historical context.
While I do not want to encourage the hiding or denial of propaganda, I do want to encourage thorough didactisation before showing it within a course, as our students are often quite impressionable, and we want to ensure especially these lesson objectives are understood before, during, and after watching such films/clips.
In short – use with caution and sparingly (unless of course the course is a focus on use of film through history, propaganda itself, etc.), and only if/when you and your students are ready, and a unit truly calls for it.