The Propaganda of War, Part 4 of 4

Scapegoating
When the average American looks at this poster, it may seem like a poster about Health Insurance or something to that effect. If they look at the translation provided in the other document, they would realize it’s a poster about euthanizing in people with either birth defects or physical disability, as well as a magazine ad.
The number at the top, 60,000 is supposedly the average amount of Reichmarks it costs the government to keep the average disabled person cared for in their lifetime. Reichmarks were the German currency at the time and was worth about 4.2 U.S dollars.
This may seem callous (and it is), but it was the opinion of Nazi Germany and Hitler. Only if you work, and were part of the “Higher Race” you were an important part of life. Anyone else could go and die, quite literally.
This poster, was an advertisement for the magazine, Neues Volk, (New people) The official magazine of the NSDAP (National Socialist German Workers Party. That’s a translation of course, but it wouldn’t be useful to type out the German, would it?) As advertisement and propaganda, this image had a severe impact both back then and today. It is an example of political extremism and overly racist ideals.
Although many people would like to hide this part of our past, it is a negative point which we must remember. As the saying goes, “those who do not remember the past, are bound to repeat Art History 200.” I mean, the past.
Even though millions of people died, it is important to honor their memory make sure it never happens again. Acknowledging the fact that this is only small portion of what happened during the Nazi regime, it is important that this image and many others are preserved as a reminder.


Approximate translation:
This person suffering from hereditary defects costs the community 60,000 Reich mark during his lifetime. Fellow German, that is your money too. Read ‘New People’, the monthly magazine of the race-political office of the NSADP.


To end this exhibit, the last image as a flyer created in 2004 by the American military in an attempt to either demoralize, or pull Al Zarqawi, a Jordanian military Islamist out of hiding. The image a caricature of Al Zarqawi trapped in what looks like to Americans a bird cage. In the Middle East, this is a rat-catcher, made obvious by the five or six rats on the page. The arm which is holding the rat cage has the flag of Yemen on it. The text on the side, is almost not necessary. The message in the image is clear.
This image, almost in doubles as a wanted poster. This flyer was distributed in Iraq by the United States Psychological Operations as a way to find the main character of this image. When this was first distributed, it was almost two years before the air raid that actually killed him, along with some of his family and two other people.
Al Zarqawi was one of the FBI’s top five most wanted. This flyer was one of many ways America and many other nations attempted to find him and dozens of other men held responsible for thousands of bombings and deaths. Although the art is childish, the point is made clear.
I chose this piece as the ending for this exhibit because, it uses one of them most preliminary forms of propaganda, Appeal to Fear. The image may seem comforting to, people who support the Iranian reform, but for those who don’t, this could be perceived as n obvious threat or American arrogance. Either way, the point is clear and the man we were trying to find, was located. His death could be considered unintentional but in the end, he would’ve been put on trial and put to death anyway.
This poster, like the rest in this exhibit, show a small part of the story of war and the main mindset of the time. It is important to remember these times so we can learn from them, and hopefully not repeat the mistakes of the past. This is as much as an art show as it is a history lesson.

Text translation:

This is your future, Zarqawi


http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Unclesamwantyou.jpg

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Propaganda

http://www.psywar.org/leaflets.php