Holocaust Museum Exhibition “State of Deception” Essay

“State of Deception: The Power of Nazi Propaganda”

There can hardly be found a person who would stay indifferent being a witness of the display in the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum. Its exhibition called “State of Deception: The Power of Nazi Propaganda” leaves a deep trace in the souls of the audience. In the following paper, the effectiveness of this exhibition will be examined along with its correspondence to the historical facts. Generally, evaluating a variety of facts from different sources, it becomes evident that the exhibition “State of Deception: The Power of Nazi Propaganda” in the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum can be seen as rather effective one in terms of its correspondence to the facts from the public history along with its impact on the audience’s minds and hearts.

First of all, with regards to the “State of Deception: The Power of Nazi Propaganda” in the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum, it should be stated that it is rather impressive and has its strong impact on the audience. According to The Holocaust (par.2), this exhibition “presents a narrative history using more than 900 artifacts, 70 video monitors, and four theaters that include historic film footage and eyewitness testimonies”¹. This exhibition is made up by its three parts including “Last Chapter”, “Nazi Assault” and “Final Solution”. “The narrative begins with images of death and destruction as witnessed by American soldiers during the liberation of Nazi concentration camps in 1945”². This part is just mind-blowing with all its terrible pictures which are simply terrible and disgusting at times. People often make similar comments concerning this part, and describe this part as something making them to feel their teeth being set on edge. According to The Holocaust (par.3), “most first-time visitors spend an average of two to three hours in this self-guided exhibition”³.

Due to the level of pains and sorrow described in this part which leaves no visitor without the deepest emotions, this section of exhibition is not recommended to children younger that 11, and also to people who suffer from mental disorders. To make the excursion through the showpieces on display even more effective and involving the administration offers “assistive listening in the Permanent Exhibition is compatible with T-coil equipped hearing aids. Receivers with headsets for other visitors who require assistive listening may be checked out at the coat check”⁴. The main part of this exhibition is dedicated to the goal of helping understand the way “in the aftermath of World War II, the world-from individual nations to the United Nations; from religious leaders to professionals in fields as diverse as law, medicine, and science; from presidents and prime ministers to private citizens-confronted its legacy”⁵. This helps people see the depth of the problem presented to the world society by the Holocaust and to really mediate on all the “issues raised by this cataclysmic event continue to have an impact on our lives and the world in which we live”⁶.

Further, evaluating the way this exhibition reflects the real events of the public history of the Holocaust, it should be stated that it is very effective as a means of communicating and cultivating historical memory about the events concerned in it. In particular, beginning form the very origin of the ideas which served as an ideological basis for the Holocaust and ending with the tiniest details about all the pain that the Hebrew nation had to face within the bounds of the Holocaust, the exhibition provides significant pieces of reliable information. First of all, the exhibition tells a true and detailed story about the events of the formation of the Nazi party in 1920, and the erection of the Nazi government in Germany in 1933⁷. It gives many details concerning the ideology developed by the Nazi. Further, the exhibition follows the events leading to the first echoes of the Holocaust, and the way the firs Hebrew people began to suffer from severe discrimination at first, and how it developed to isolating them in the concentration camps and torturing and massacring them in those terrible places⁸.

Next, with regards to achieving their goals by the designers of this exhibition, it appears that they are fully accomplished. The exhibition not only strikes its visitors to the very extremity of soul and mind, but also encourages them to learn a row of important lessons concerning being humane and the necessity to reject racist ideas in order not to repeat all the sad mistakes of the past made by the representatives of the German people.

Objectives of the Exhibition

Finally, discussing any possible measures which are to be undertaken by the exhibition designers, it should be stated that perfection has no limits; thus, there are some important points which can be enhanced in order to make even more profound effect on the audience. In particular, designers may divide the exhibition into a few parts aiming to address certain visitor. This conclusion can be made on the basis of the general impression made by the exhibition. It appears to be very powerful and very much affecting the person’s inner world as a result. With regards to this, I suggest that the organizers of the exhibition might develop a few parts of this exhibition which are different in terms of their depicting all the pain that Hebrew people had to suffer. Thus, there will be sections for those categories of people including children and people with mental disorders who cannot stand more detailed depiction of all the pains behind the historical phenomenon of the Holocaust.

Concluding on all the information related above, it should be stated that the exhibition “State of Deception: The Power of Nazi Propaganda” in the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum can be evaluated as effective and strong representation of the facts from the pubic history related to the Holocaust. It affects the minds and hearts of the audience in a profound way encouraging to really think about all the pain that people had to face which stands behind this awful word “holocaust”. This exhibition is made up by its three parts including “Last Chapter”, “Nazi Assault” and “Final Solution”. The main part of this exhibition is dedicated to the goal of helping to understand the way the historical phenomenon of the Holocaust can be evaluated, and which important lessons may be derived from its saddest consequences.

Bibliography

Breitman, Richard. Official Secrets: What the Nazis Planned, What the British and Americans Knew. The United States: Hill & Wang Pub, 1998.

Dawidowicz, Lucy. The War Against the Jews. New York: Holt, Rinehart and Winston, 1975.

“The Holocaust”, the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum. Web.

Footnotes

1. “The Holocaust”, the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum. Web.
2. Ibid.
3. Ibid.
4. Ibid.
5. Ibid.
6. Ibid.
7. Richard Breitman. Official Secrets: What the Nazis Planned, What the British and Americans Knew. The United States: Hill & Wang Pub, 1998.
8. Lucy Dawidowicz. The War Against the Jews. New York: Holt, Rinehart and Winston, 1975.