The Holocaust started with words, not mass killings

Today marks the 71st anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz-Birkenau. While the Nazis are gone, it is still necessary to fight propaganda, write Irina Bokova and Sara Bloomfield

In 1930s Germany, Nazi Party leaders understood the power of mass communication to disseminate hatred and anti-Semitism. “Propaganda,” Hitler wrote, “is a truly terrible weapon in the hands of an expert.”

In their rise to power, the Nazis deployed sophisticated modern communications technologies, including radio and film, to win the battle of ideas — and thus to shape public opinion and behaviour — among a well-educated population in a fledgling democracy.