For genocide and crimes against humanity to occur, the dehumanization of the potential victims must first take place. Perpetrators of such crimes often use art as a tool to help them accomplish their goals. Indeed, without the intense propagandistic effort of the National Socialists to demonize Jews, Africans, Roma, the ill, and others they deemed "undesirable," the genocidal intentions of Hitler and the Nazi party may not have been realized. As historian David Welch suggests in his 1993 book, The Third Reich: Politics and Propaganda, Nazi propaganda was used to convince those who were not yet persuaded of the importance of the Hitler's racial policies, and to inspire those who already adhered to his views.

The Jews were one of the primary targets of Nazi smear campaigns. Hitler's propagandists employed newspaper caricatures, films, and posters in their attempt to dehumanize the Jews. Julius Streicher, the editor of the...