In order to connect these images with the 1930s and Depression era one must look at what was going on in the countries during that time. this image was taken during World War II and US during the 1940s how were they call back to a time in which U.S. as well as Germany was in a time of hardship. While Germany and somewhat Japan chose to blame minorities culminating in things like the “night of broken glass” and the “night of Long Knives” the United States chose to not only foster community through artwork as well as culture but also some people chose to address racist issues in the United States. This is the exact lesson that the United States learned from the Depression era; in order for Progress to be made one must unify the country and not split it like the Nazis did in their country as well as the Axis powers. the propaganda shown in the image heightens this assertion, the propaganda shown on the US side is clear meant to instill hope and come together. Also, while it is not shown directly, Nazi propaganda is notorious for being a racist and open to degrading other people and minorities in order for that to foster community. However, as it was somewhat shown by the glitched image, it is clear at this propaganda does not work. Overtime the Nazi’s and the Japanese failed at creating a community and thus lost the war. They pushed away people and from this they could never truly recover.
When selecting this image it was important to remember that this was not taken during the 1930s; however, that does not mean that it cannot be connected to the 1930s. The image needed to be something that connected back to the Depression era as well as showed change that had been a direct result from that time. This image is perfect as it exemplifies what the United States Information Office had learned from the propaganda and programs of the 1930s. it is clear that FDR’s goal during the 1930s was to foster a community with increase in culture and economic programs. This same sense of community was used in World War II propaganda against Nazis due to the fact that axis propaganda routinely separated people. In order to counter this United States war information office used that same message of coming together against the Axis Powers. If many of the programs and the culture of the 1930s had not happened these types of propaganda would not exist.
As stated before this image was not created in the 1930s, thus naturally one of the biggest questions was how can this be connected back to the depression-era? This also went into other questions: what from the 1930s influence this picture and how, if it had not happened, would it have changed? That is to say if the culture and the lessons of the 1930s had not happened what parts of this image would be different? Furthermore, because of the lessons and effects of the 1930s into this image, what resulted from that? Finally, what effects of the digitization of this image are apparent today? Many of these can be answered by looking at the result of the war and the propaganda. In doing this you will see what worked and what did not work. When finally answering what resulted in today’s world from these images one can see unifying ideas still being present today.
One method that was highly engaging and useful was that of the corrupting and glitching process. While I was a skeptic at first, after glitching the image many of the ideas talked about in the annotations would not have been possible without the process. The idea that one side of propaganda had worked and one other side did not came directly as a result from the glitching of the image. Also when annotating the image it is very helpful to not only focus on single parts of the image but what they mean. when looking at an image of a whole it is very easy to slip into looking at at an idea that is too large. by focusing in and honing in on ideas within the image one can peel back the layers and truly understand what the message is.
By using these methods the questions posed are honed in on much like parts of the image. As stated before one of the issues when analyzing images is one tends to focus on too big of an idea. However, using things like glitching allows the person to in some cases cover up unimportant parts of the images or created new images with a new ideas. these new ideas can sometimes allow the person hear it from a different angle and us have a better picture overall. finally with this information one can try and answer some of the questions that may have seemed difficult or abstract. Most of the time they are really not extract you must simply look at it from a different angle and these methods help in doing so.
Links to Items and Exhibits:
Item: http://jessicadoeshistory.com/cnd/items/show/168
Citation:
Holocaust Encyclopedia “Nazi Propaganda” (2019) United States
Holocaust Memorial Museum Retrieved: https://encyclopedia.ushmm.org/content/en/article/nazi-propaganda
Jewish Virtual Library “The Nazi Party: The Night of Long Knives”
(2019) Jewish Virtual Library: A Project of Aice Retrieved: https://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/the-night-of-the-long-knives
Madison Horne “These World War II Propaganda Posters Rallied the Home
Front” (March 13, 2019) History.com Retrieved: https://www.history.com/news/world-war-ii-propaganda-posters-photos-united-states-home-front
Micheal Berebaum “Kristellnacht | German History” (2019)
Encyclopedia Britannica Retrieved: https://www.britannica.com/event/Kristallnacht
