New Media Classroom

Propaganda in World Wars I and II

Objectives

Students will analyze propaganda posters used during World War I and World War II.
Students will analyze and compare and contrast propaganda posters from World War I and World War II; they will extract the similarities and differences between propaganda coming from different countries.

Resource(s)

WWII Poster Database http://www.library.nwu.edu/govpub/collections/wwii-posters/
First World War Propaganda http://gulib.lausun.georgetown.edu/dept/speccoll/britpost/britpost.htm
Graphical Arts: Art of Propaganda http://www.leyada.jlm.k12.il/home/evgenya/

Activity

You will be analyzing various propaganda posters from different countries, different times in history, and with different purposes. When analyzing these posters, consider the following components separately:

Graphics
Text
Style
Content
Emotional vs. rational characteristics
Positive vs. negative characteristics

Fine-tune your analysis by analyzing the mood and meaning of the imagery as well as the various posters' depiction of specifics such as race, ethnicity, etc.

Step I:

Examine the WWII propaganda posters at these two sites:
http://www.library.nwu.edu/govpub/collections/wwii-posters/
http://www.leyada.jlm.k12.il/home/evgenya/
Search for key words such as: freedom, December 7, Hitler, Allies, Axis, democracy, and others of your own choice. Find two posters from different countries that use the same key word, and analyze them according to: graphics, text, general content, message. Take notes on their similarities and differences.

Step II:

Look at examples of propaganda from WWI located at: http://www.leyada.jlm.k12.il/home/evgenya/wwi.htm
Examine posters from this site and compare them to material you found in the site above. Did the style of propaganda change from World War I to World War II? Did the content or message change? Explain your answers.

Step III:

Make an outline for a compare and contrast essay comparing either propaganda posters from different countries during World War II or propaganda posters from the same country during World War I and World War II.