On the Texas Homefront

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A Bullock Museum exclusive, On the Texas Homefront explores the effects of Nazi propaganda and the far-reaching implications felt at home in Texas.

Designed to complement State of Deception: The Power of Nazi Propaganda, which is on loan from the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum, On the Texas Homefront pulls from local and national collections that connect Texas to world-changing events both here and abroad in the 1930's and 1940's.

Inside the Exhibition

Original artwork from a Dallas editorial cartoonist shows what Texans were reading in their morning newspaper about the rise of the Nazi regime and their propaganda machine as early as 1933. Government footage, 1940s illustrations, and first-person accounts of life in Texas internment camps demonstrate how the U.S. reacted to perceived threats of internal espionage. Documents that both helped and hindered U.S. troop movements, and a uniform worn by a U.S. soldier who helped liberate concentration camp survivors, bring to life the importance of the 36th Infantry, the "Texas Division." Juxtaposed with a SS uniform and a suitcase marked with a Star of David that once held the belongings of a Jewish person sentenced to a concentration camp, the soldier's uniform is a stark reminder of what Texans were fighting for. Experience the emotional testimony of Texans who assisted in the liberation of Nazi concentration camps. Recorded in video from an oral history project commissioned by the Texas Holocaust and Genocide Commission, their vivid memories of those days reveal the lasting effects of bearing witness to Nazi atrocities and the impact it had throughout their lives. On view for the first time, First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt's original, hand-written notations on a draft preamble to the Universal Declaration of Human Rights reveal her dedication to ensuring that future atrocities could be prevented by world leaders. 

The Reflection Room

On the Texas Homefront concludes with a reflective space dedicated to creating messages of hope inspired by The Butterfly Project, an art installation in the Museum's Grand Lobby with thousands of unique butterflies created by children from every corner of Texas.

The Butterfly Project is a collaboration between the Bullock Museum and St. Edward's University.

Select Artifacts On View in the Exhibition

• Detention camp interior, by Japanese-American detainee, George Hoshida
• Map of 42nd Rainbow Division route through Europe
• Draft Preamble, Universal Declaration of Human Rights, by Eleanor Roosevelt
• U.S. Army regulation dress wool coat from the 36th "Texas" Infantry Division
• Cartoon, "Please ring the bell for us" by John Knott
• Sheet music, Der Fuerher's Face
• Dallas Morning News, “Threatened Flight of Jews Prevented by German Decree”

Select Media On View in the Exhibition

On the Texas Homefront offers a variety of dramatic media experiences including a 1942 propaganda film about the Crystal City Alien Enemy Detention Facility, first-person oral histories of former Texas internment camp detainees, and interviews with Texans who were among the first to arrive at Nazi concentration camps.

Related Media Resources

A major contributor to On the Texas Homefront is the The Gregg and Michelle Philipson Collection and Archive. Mr. Philipson also contributed a Texas Story Project video discussing why he collects Holocaust-related popular culture and ephemera.

Browse other Texas Story Project submissions and then share your own.

Press Materials

• Press Release
• Media Kit

Sponsored by the Albert and Ethel Herzstein Hall Fund and Jeanne and Michael L. Klein. Additional support by the Stanford and Joan Alexander Foundation, the Pearlman Family Foundation, the Friedel Family Foundation, and The Rollins M. and Amalie L. Koppel Foundation.

Support for the Bullock Museum's exhibitions and education programs provided by the Texas State History Museum Foundation.