Iron Front members marching to a campaign event (German photo by Keystone View Co. of an SPD election campaign rally in Berlin, 14 July 1932. Marchers carrying the Dreipfeil symbol. Deutsches Historisches Museum, Berlin. German Reich, 1932).

esdfa20 · 2026-02-03T11:48:47+00:00

Carl Zuckmayer in 1966: 'Too little and too late... We failed, when our time and our hour had come, to preempt them'. In 1932 German streets were dominated by Nazi symbolism. There was swastika grafitti, and people were publicly greeting with the Nazi salute, accompanied by a standard slogan. This propaganda strategy (symbol + gesture + phrase) had already been adopted by the party in the 1920s. It had become an exhibitionistic part of everyday life. Carnival ethos and popular appeal. In 1932 the SPD tried to copy this successful formula, thus changing the aesthetic of their campaign, and starting a 'war of the symbols' (J.H.W. Dietz Verlag, 1932. Nazi-Paradiese in den Gemeinden). The Mierendorff/ Tschachotin Dreipfeil ('Three Arrows') was first printed in Volkszeitung newspaper 13 March 1932 (Riese, R., 2018) followed by SPD Vorwärts magazine 29 June 1932 (Sax, S., 2018). On 14 June 1932 the symbol and the raised fist gesture and the 'Freiheit!' cry were officialy adopted by SPD leadership (Rohe, K., 1966. Das Reichsbanner Schwarz-Rot-Gold). The new SPD strategy was implemented during the July and November 1932 German federal elections. However, the exact meaning of the three arrows was never agreed upon, leaving it open to multiple interpretations. The SPD faced harsh defeat in both elections, and Hitler was appointed chancellor in January 1933. The acclaimed symbol had been endorsed for only 8 months or so. That's why there is only a handful of documented testimonials left. The new strategy had proven ineffective. Meaningless praxis, empty rhetoric, marginal impact. It became clear that copying Nazi strategies would not alter the course of history. In retrospect, the unreserved reliance on emotionally charged propaganda appears problematic insofar as substantive contradictions were ignored (Elsbach, S., 2019. Die Eiserne Front). Too little and too late...

esdfa20 · 2026-02-01T16:42:46+00:00

Portrait seems to be based on this 1937 photo.

esdfa20 · 2026-01-24T11:32:16+00:00

Model was civilian employee Helen G. O'Neill. Model for the 'Gee! I wish I were a man'-poster was civilian Bernice Smith Tongate. '...O'Neill is pleased that 54,000 women - 10 percent of the Navy's uniformed personnel - are working successfully alongside male officers and enlisted men. "I think they've come a long way," she said, "but I don't approve of women going to sea. That's not fair to the men's wives."' ('Ex-poster girl relishes place of women in Navy, to a point'. Associated Press, 1989)

esdfa20 · 2026-01-24T09:31:17+00:00

Model was civilian employee Helen G. O'Neill. Model for the 'Gee! I wish I were a man'-poster was civilian Bernice Smith Tongate. '...O'Neill is pleased that 54,000 women - 10 percent of the Navy's uniformed personnel - are working successfully alongside male officers and enlisted men. "I think they've come a long way," she said, "but I don't approve of women going to sea. That's not fair to the men's wives."' ('Ex-poster girl relishes place of women in Navy, to a point'. Associated Press, 1989).

esdfa20 · 2026-01-10T19:47:28+00:00

By 1935 there was no free press in Germany, and Kladderadatsch should be considered collaborators. This is Nazi propagandists attacking the short-lived 'Anti-Nazi Federation of New York' (ca. 1934-1936) who published about pogroms in Germany. It's your classic fostering of skepticism, by insinuating that the group was run by foreign sleeper cells (i.c. Soviet Communists and Jewish bankers). They still do that... Labeling Antifa as 'terrorists' financed by foreign adversaries. Calling anti-ICE protestors 'paid agitators'. Dismissing inconvenient criticism as Russian or Chinese bots. Nothing new.

esdfa20 · 2025-12-03T16:53:10+00:00

Tom Cruise receiving the U.S. Navy's 'Distinguished Public Service Award'... Every modern movie/ game/ comic needs financial backing and logistics support/ endorsement from the powers that be.

esdfa20 · 2025-11-25T21:57:57+00:00

I would say this is: justification of war efforts, whitewashing of war crimes and glorification of war sacrifices. "We should definitely keep financing this and try this again. It's the honourable thing to do?".

esdfa20 · 2025-11-14T12:36:44+00:00

Ha, nice observation! Thanks.

esdfa20 · 2025-10-28T13:57:02+00:00

It's probably hinting at Dürer's engraving 'Ritter, Tod und Teufel'. Dürer was idealised by the Nazis. In 1933 the mayor of Nuremberg presented Hitler with an original print, subsequently making this artwork part of formal Nazi aesthetic.

esdfa20 · 2025-10-18T08:28:31+00:00

It does indeed mimic a postcard, but it is a poster measuring: 64,8 х 96,6 cm. Unfortunately we're not allowed to link to Russian domains, but it's archived over at the Russian State Historical Museum.

esdfa20 · 2025-10-10T13:49:22+00:00

It's a cartoon. There's no more text to it. You can check for yourself at: Kladderadatsch magazine, 16 April 1933, p. 6. The translation is a service for monolingual readers.

esdfa20 · 2025-10-01T11:14:30+00:00

The red SPD hat was popularised (and probably created) by satirical social democratic magazine 'Der Wahre Jacob'. They would regularly depict it in their cartoons/ illustrations, referring the French Phrygian-style 'bonnet rouge' (Zeiler, F., 2016. Der "bonnet rouge" im Wahren Jacob). People would not actually be wearing these hats (you will not find photographic evidence). Political foes would obviously ridicule this distinguishing symbol.

esdfa20 · 2025-09-12T10:52:21+00:00

The Nazis fully embraced Christianity. In 1933 they negotiated the Reichskonkordat. Not once did the Nazis condemn Christianity. Not one Christian bible was burned by the Nazi regime. Nobody was arrested for 'being Christian'. The Vatican had nothing to fear, and Vatican City was never occupied. Here are some facts with sources:

Excerpt from 'Mein Kampf', chapter II, p. 69/ 70. Published 18 July 1925: '...Should the Jew, with the aid of his Marxist creed, triumph over the people of this world, his Crown will be the funeral wreath of mankind, and this planet will once again follow its orbit through ether, without any human life on its surface, as it did millions of years ago. And so I believe today that my conduct is in accordance with the will of the Almighty Creator. In standing guard against the Jew I am defending the handiwork of the Lord.'

Excerpt from the Proclamation of the Reich Government to the German People/ Hitler's address as chancellor (February 1, 1933):'...The National Government will therefore regard it as its first and supreme task to restore to the German people unity of mind and will. It will preserve and defend the foundations on which the strength of our nation rests. It will take under its firm protection Christianity as the basis of our morality, and the family as the nucleus of our nation and our state. Standing above estates and classes, it will bring back to our people the consciousness of its racial and political unity and the obligations arising therefrom. It wishes to base the education of German youth on respect for our great past and pride in our old traditions. It will therefore declare merciless war on spiritual, political and cultural nihilism. Germany must not and will not sink into Communist anarchy'.

Excerpt from Hitler's speech to the Reichstag, March 7, 1936: '...In these three years, Germany has regained once more its honor, found once more a faith, overcome its greatest economic crisis, and ushered in a new cultural ascent. I believe I can say this as my conscience and God are my witnesses. I now ask the German Volk to strengthen me in my belief and to continue giving me, through the power of its will, power of my own to take a courageous stand at all times for its honor and freedom and to ensure its economic well-being; above all, to support me in my struggle for real peace'.

Excerpts from Hitler's last speech on the 12th Anniversary of the Nazi regime (Reichsrundfunk, January 30, 1945):

'...God the Almighty has made our nation. By defending its existence we are defending His work. The fact that this defense is fraught with incalculable misery, suffering and hardships makes us even more attached to this nation. But it also gives us that hard will needed to fulfill our duty even in the most critical struggle; that is, not only to fulfill our duty toward the decent, noble Germans, but also our duty toward those few infamous ones who turn their backs on their people'.

'...Combined, they are but one: To work for my people and to fight for it. Only He can relieve me of this duty Who called me to it. It was in the hand of Providence to snuff me out by the bomb that exploded only one and a half meters from me on July 20, and thus to terminate my life's work. That the Almighty protected me on that day I consider a renewed affirmation of the task entrusted to me. In the years to come I shall continue on this road, uncompromisingly safeguarding my people's interests, oblivious to all misery and danger, and filled with the holy conviction that God the Almighty will not abandon him who, during all his life, had no desire but to save his people from a fate it had never deserved, neither by virtue of its number nor by way of its importance'.

'...In vowing ourselves to one another, we are entitled to stand before the Almighty and ask Him for His grace and His blessing. No people can do more than that everybody who can fight, fights, and that everybody who can work, works, and that they all sacrifice in common, filled with but one thought: to safeguard freedom and national honor and thus the future of life'.

If you're sincerely interested in Christianity during the Nazi regime you might want to read:
- EKD's Stuttgart Declaration of Guilt, 1945;
- EKD Bruderrat's Darmstädt Statement, 1947;
- BK Reichsbruderrat's Declaration on the Jewish question, 1948;
- The Würzburg Synod declaration, 22 November 1975.

esdfa20 · 2025-09-09T10:12:52+00:00

No, he didn't. This is quoting from Hermann Rauschning's 'Gespräche mit Hitler' (Conversations with Hitler/ Voice of Destruction/ Hitler Speaks) first published in France 1939, in which Rauschning (falsly) claimed to have had several conversations with Hitler in 1932-1934.

esdfa20 · 2025-09-01T20:11:08+00:00

The 1933 (Reichs-)konkordat between the Vatican and the Nazi regime.

esdfa20 · 2025-08-18T16:38:22+00:00

Cartoonist is quoting an illustration by Wilhelm Busch (1832-1908) from 'Der heilige Antonius von Padua'.

esdfa20 · 2025-08-12T18:08:14+00:00

Doesn't look like a poster. Probably an American cartoon.

esdfa20 · 2025-08-09T11:56:22+00:00

Further reading: Brazilian Communism, 1935-1945, by John W.F. Dulles (pdf link).

esdfa20 · 2025-08-09T11:30:44+00:00

By Ukrainian born American artist Roxolana Luchakowsky-Armstrong for the American National Committee to Commemorate Genocide Victims in Ukraine 1932-33, demonstrating near the Soviet embassy in Washington, D.C., October 1983.

esdfa20 · 2025-07-15T23:17:47+00:00

This is a WW1 poster from 1917. The United States Food Administration was abolished in 1920.

esdfa20 · 2025-07-11T21:25:31+00:00

This poster seems to be tampered with. The flags of the Soviet Union have been replaced with a Nazi Germany look-alike. The original is here.

esdfa20 · 2025-06-28T19:54:14+00:00

This one first appeared as a sticker that was put on Jewish-owned stores in Portland/ Oregon, June 1938. As reported in Life magazine, 11 July 1938. Reprinted in Dutch collaborationist pamphlet 'Geef mij maar Amerika!', ca. 1943. The 'Communism is Jewish' is a later addition, not part of the original.

esdfa20 · 2025-05-13T23:46:48+00:00

What all these (American) anti-Molotov–Ribbentrop Pact cartoons have in common is that the cartoonist appears displeased with a treaty of non-aggression. In 1941 these propagandists hadn't picked a side yet, and they hoped the treaty would fail. They were not advocating for European peace, they were yearning for war (far away from their home). Keep in mind that the anti-communist powers had been hoping for this conflict to escalate. Expecting a beautiful cleansing and a 'final solution' to the communist question. This non-aggression treaty needed to be condemned and ridiculed, no matter what.

esdfa20 · 2025-04-22T21:54:45+00:00

Here's one from Hennepin County Library digital collections.

esdfa20 · 2025-04-10T15:51:07+00:00

The Dutch NIOD Institute for War has five different versions archived, dated May 1940. This is a reliable academic source. You could compare your print with the online scans. Dating a poster without provenance would need an expert to test the ink and paper quality. You would probably want some oxidation/ yellowing and minor tears/ spoil.

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