Black propaganda is a form of propaganda intended to create the impression that it was created by those it is supposed to discredit. Black propaganda contrasts with gray propaganda, which does not identify its source, as well as white propaganda, which does not disguise its origins at all. It is typically used to vilify or embarrass the enemy through misrepresentation.
The Protocols of the Elders of Zion (1905), an antisemitic forgery which positions itself as a pamphlet from a fictitious Jewish conspiracy, is an example of black propaganda.
Sefton Delmer (1958)
Goebbels, German Federal Archive photo
Grigory Zinoviev
Propaganda is communication that is primarily used to influence or persuade an audience to further an agenda, which may not be objective and may be selectively presenting facts to encourage a particular synthesis or perception, or using loaded language to produce an emotional rather than a rational response to the information that is being presented. Propaganda can be found in a wide variety of different contexts.
A poster that was used to encourage Americans to car-share in order to conserve oil for the US during World War II.
Nazi Propaganda poster of 27th SS Volunteer Division Langemarck with anti-semitic title: "Together we will crush him!".
A 1918 Finnish propaganda leaflet signed by General Mannerheim circulated by the Whites urging the Reds to surrender during the Finnish Civil War. [To the residents and troops of Tampere! Resistance is hopeless. Raise the white flag and surrender. The blood of the citizen has been shed enough. We will not kill like the Reds kill their prisoners. Send your representative with a white flag.]
Poster of the 19th-century Scandinavist movement
