Potemkin village

[[File:Propagandavillage2.JPG|thumb|right|165px|Unmaintained, Vacant and with no window glass. "Housing" in Kijŏng-dong.]]{{psychology}}
A '''Potemkin Village''' (sometimes called a '''propaganda village''') is any construction, ranging from a façade up to full towns, built for the purpose of [[Deceit|deceiving]] visitors into believing that the local situation is better than it actually is.

A favorite of [[Communist]] and [[Nazi]] regimes [[Horseshoe_theory|alike]], a Potemkin village is, in effect, a vehicle of psychological warfare against those who would suspect that things might in fact ''not'' be [[Utopia|hunky-dorey]] for those living under an [[authoritarian]] heel.

==Origin==
The term dates to 1787; the story goes that the Russian statesman {{wpl|Grigory Potyomkin}} tasked with governing New Russia (recently-conquered lands in present-day [[Ukraine]]), had a fake portable settlement built to impress the visiting empress, Catherine the Great.<ref>[https://www.straightdope.com/21343610/did-potemkin-villages-really-exist|The Straight Dope &mdash; Did "Potemkin villages" really exist]
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Modern [[historians]] largely believe that the original Potemkin-village story is a [[myth]], but the term has persisted to describe genuine examples of deceptive settlements and other structures.

==Examples==
*'''[[Enron]]''' constructed a fake trading floor, complete with actors and rehearsals, for the purpose of duping analysts.<ref>[https://www.theguardian.com/business/2002/feb/21/corporatefraud.enron1 "Enron 'sting' used fake command centre", ''The Guardian'']</ref>
*'''Kijŏng-dong''' (Korean: "Peace Village"; 평화리) is a Potemkin village in [[North Korea]], within the 4km wide DMZ. As a result of a petty flagpole-building contest with [[South Korea]], by far the most notable set piece within the actual village is its 160m high flagpole.<ref>[http://www.salon.com/1999/02/03/feature_115/ "Korea’s no-man’s-land", ''Salon'']</ref> Despite the original intention for the village, some of the buildings have seemingly fallen into disrepair, removing whatever remaining [[propaganda]] value the structures had.
*'''Theresienstadt''' was a hybrid ghetto-and-concentration Camp used during the [[Holocaust]]. Of the 144,000 [[Judaism|Jew]]s who were sent to Theresienstadt, 121,000 died. Thirty-three thousand died from the conditions of the camp itself, and another 88,000 after being relocated to other camps. Despite this, in 1944 the [[Nazism|Nazi]]s planned to deceive the {{wpl|International Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement|Red Cross}} by cleaning up the camp and using Theresienstadt as a ''model internment camp'', a deception that somehow partially succeeded.<ref>[http://voices.iit.edu/interview?doc=schlaefrigF&display=schlaefrigF_en|David P. Boder Interviews Friedrich Schlaefrig]</ref><ref>[http://web.archive.org/web/20121122001808/http://www.scrapbookpages.com/CzechRepublic/Theresienstadt/TheresienstadtGhetto/History/RedCrossVisit.html Famous Red Cross Visit to Theresienstadt] Theresienstadt History (Archive.org from November 22, 2012)
</ref> As a follow-up to this deceit, the Nazis also produced a propaganda film at the location, with Jewish prisoner Kurt Gerron as the director.<ref>''Theresienstadt: Ein Dokumentarfilm aus dem jüdischen Siedlungsgebiet'' (''Terezin: A Documentary Film from the Jewish Settlement Area''), also known as ''Der Führer Schenkt Den Juden Eine Stadt'' (''The Führer Gives the Jews a City'') [http://youtu.be/PYvuJ4xhftI A surviving fragment of the film]</ref> As "compensation" for his services, he was deported to [[Auschwitz]] upon completion of the film.<ref>[http://www.holocaustresearchproject.org/revolt/gerron.html|Kurt Gerron]</ref>

==Images of Theresienstadt==
<gallery>
File:Map of Theresienstadt with plan of the visit of the international delegation.jpg|Map of Theresienstadt with plan of the Red Cross visit
File:Jewish Money - Terezin P7160058.JPG|Jewish "money" from Theresienstadt
File:Theresienstadt film crew.jpg|A film crew takes motion pictures in the Theresienstadt ghetto during the filming of the Nazi propaganda film.
File:Facades for the International Commission.jpg|Facades for the International Commission, by Bedřich Fritta (c. 1943-1944)<ref name=fritta>[http://www.jmberlin.de/fritta/en/ueberzeichnung.php Bedřich Fritta: Drawings from the Theresienstadt Ghetto, 17 May to 29 September 2013, and as part of the special program on the Terezín Ghetto from 28 February to 4 May 2014]</ref>
File:A View of Terezin (Theresienstadt) .jpg|Ghetto: View of the Divided Street (''Lange Straße''), by Bedřich Fritta (c. 1943-1944)<ref name=fritta/>
File:Brundibar poster Theresienstadt.jpg|Poster for the play ''Brundibár'', performed for the Red Cross in 1944
File:Verwaltungshof (Theresienstadt) 05.JPG|''Geschaftzimmer'' (business room)
File:Verwaltungshof (Theresienstadt) 04.JPG|Administrative court
</gallery>

==See also==
*[[Holocaust denial]]

==References==
{{reflist}}

[[Category:Deceit]] [[Category:Authoritarianism]] [[Category:Propaganda]]

Categories: Deceit, Authoritarianism, Propaganda