Genocide and Propaganda

Media plays a crucial role in the orchestration and justification of mass killings. This collection features more than 40 examples of propaganda created to support genocides and explores their impact.

Perpetrators of genocidal violence have regularly orchestrated propaganda campaigns using newspapers, radio, televisions, the internet, and other means to justify mass killings.

Through 50 primary sources, readers will learn about 11 genocides, spanning the 19th and 20th centuries, including campaigns against Native Americans, the Holocaust, and more recent tragedies in Bosnia-Herzegovina and Rwanda. During these periods of history, propaganda was used to alienate the target population; provide reasons for the “necessary” persecution of the group; and reinforce the authority of the perpetrating government. Each section begins with an introductory essay exploring the course of the genocide, giving readers the background knowledge needed to understand the documents that follow. Each piece of propaganda is accompanied by a brief introduction that provides key contextual information, as well as in-depth analysis of the impact that propaganda had. Augmenting the main text are a collection of 19 high-interest sidebars and an end-of-volume bibliography.