World War II in Europe began September 1, 1939 with Germany’s invasion of Poland, followed by Great Britain and France’s response declaring war on Germany. However, as the “Hossback memorandum” indicates, plans had been proposed at least since 1937 to begin the process of placing Germany on a war footing in Europe (2019.2.8). Hitler began early in his administration with propaganda campaigns to influence German minds so that everyone would be “working toward the Fuhrer.” This included propaganda rationale for invading Poland (2014.1.439). Joseph Goebbels was minister of the agency that managed propaganda and promoted Nazi messaging through the diverse media outlets of the day: art, music, theatre, films, pamphlets, journals, radio, etc., all the while silencing the opposition and bolstering Hitler’s self-image as a messianic figure bent on saving Germany and building a thousand-year Reich. Goebbels promoted a fierce nationalism on one hand and an ardent racial hatred of Jews and other perceived defectives: the Slavs, Communists, the mentally ill or anyone with abnormalities; all were seen as sub-human Untermenschen, or "Lebensunwertes Leben" (life unworthy of life) (2019.2.194) and subject to sterilization, slavery, or death. Blond, blue-eyed, muscular (from performing “real” work) aryan men (vide Riefenstahl’s Olympia) were contrasted in every medium with the hook-nosed, deformed grotesques of the Jewish “race” who belonged nowhere and owed allegiance to themselves alone. The Eternal Jew exhibitions (2012.1.478) depicted Jews in unimaginably negative and unfavorable ways.
The movie Jud Suss (2012.1.492), the pornographic caricatures of Julius Streicher’s tabloids (2012.1.494) portraying Jews as sexual perverts and the antisemitic cartoon books for children (2012.1.546) are merely a few examples of this form of propagandizing where Nazi memes become truth and reality (especially, as Goebbels remarked, if they are repeated often enough), thus facilitating and rationalizing the Nazi “solution to the Jewish problem.” Degenerate “Jewish” art would be contrasted in public exhibitions with, for example, Arno Breker’s, neo-classical, monumental, but ultimately unimaginative forms. Likewise, “Jewish” science or “Jewish” literature had to be expunged from aryan paradise. Hans Schweitzer’s “Mjolnir” cartoons and Goebbels own writings and speeches blamed Jews for Germany’s economic problems (2019.2.217). The “Parole der Woche” was a weekly poster or propaganda card focusing on issues or individuals the Nazis wanted to dwell on to heighten their messaging. Subversive propaganda came as well in the form of postal forgeries of enemy stamps often with antisemitic messages; for example, the head of Britain’s King George VI surmounted with a Jewish star and the hammer and sickle, symbols in the Nazi worldview of the connection between Jews and Communism (2015.2.154). Stamps would also “predict” the end of the British empire (2015.2.155). Parody postcards with caricatures of Churchill (2019.2.132) and Chamberlain (2019.2.135) were not meant to be amusing.
Winston Churchill created the British Political Executive at the beginning of the war to produce propaganda that, to the Germans to whom it was disseminated, seemed authentic but was in fact aimed at damaging morale. Most memorable were Churchill’s broadcasts to rally the British against the Nazi scourge. His very presence in walking among the British civilians who would gather around him in throngs was an important boost to British morale. What came to be known as black propaganda entailed sending subversive, at times subliminal, messages to the Germans, including leaflets, postcards (2019.2.133), and other forms of propaganda dropped from airplanes (2019.2.149).
In America, Roosevelt created the Office of War Information in 1942 to boost production and undermine enemy morale. OWI used available media - especially newsreels and film, posters (e.g., “Rosie the Riveter”) and radio broadcasts - to help mobilize Americans to buy into the war and make them feel they were an important part of the war effort.
The darker arts of espionage - “spywar”- were managed by “Wild Bill” Donovan, head of the OSS, the precursor agency of the CIA. One of his efforts - “Operation Snowflake”- was a parody of the Hitler 12 Pfennig postage stamp - known as the Skull or Death’s Head stamp - wherein the words Deutches Reich (German Empire) were replaced by “Futches Reich” meaning “Lost Empire.” These parody stamps and postcards - while amusing - had a deadly serious purpose and taken together with other forms of propaganda were also intended to demoralize the German public (2012.1.443).
In the realm of American wartime propaganda, mention must be made of the work of Arthur Szyk, a Polish-born artist who thoroughly embraced the promise of democracy and human rights of his adopted country and expressed through his art his commitment to religious and racial tolerance for Jews and blacks. His political commitments, especially his concern over the persecution of European Jews by the Nazis, were expressed in his anti-Axis art as well (2012.1.417e, 2012.1.417a-d), but his patriotism and reverence for America were best displayed in his “Four Freedoms” stamps. Like Norman Rockwell’s posters, these stamps were also inspired by FDR’s 1941 speech before Congress (2012.1.418).
There is a counter-narrative to Szyk’s adoration of America, one that has been proffered as a partial explanation for FDR’s hesitation about entering the war before 1941. Opinion polls taken from the mid-30s to the late 40s in the United States found that at least 60 per cent or more of respondents held a low opinion of Jews. Many felt they had too much power, that they were greedy or dishonest and ultimately a threat to the welfare of America; indeed, more so than any other ethnic or religious group. Some 10 per cent of those polled were even in favor of deporting them. The State Department under FDR was teeming with antisemites, including Breckenridge Long (2016.1.18), a friend of the President who endeavored to keep immigration quotas for Jews artificially low during a time when European Jews were attempting to escape Nazi persecution. The Wagner-Rogers Bill of 1938 would at least have increased the quota of immigrants by allowing entry to 20,000 Jewish children under the age of 14. It never came to a vote, opposed by nationalist organizations and blocked by a Senator from North Carolina. Within a year, most of the refugees of the SS St. Louis were themselves denied visas to enter Cuba and the United States and were forced to return to Europe and the attendant danger of falling into Nazi hands (2016.1.15, 2019.2.198).
The America First Committee, founded in 1940, was opposed to America’s entry into another European war (2019.2.33-.58). Like the British Union of Fascists headed by Britain’s Oswald Mosely (2012.1.64), they believed that such a war would ultimately be instigated by Jews. Among this group were Catholic priest Charles Coughlin, known for his virulent antisemitic rants on radio. His magazine Social Justice (2019.2.59) contained writing indistinguishable from the fevered screeds of Joseph Goebbels, reporting that Jews were behind Communism; that they corrupted culture and politics; and that they were ultimately interested in world domination. The primary source for these beliefs was the discredited forgery Protocols of the Elders of Zion. Joseph P. Kennedy, father of the future president and ambassador to the Court of St. James, urged - as did Britain’s Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain (2014.1.180) - appeasement with Hitler. Charles Lindberg, important spokesperson for America First and an avid admirer of Hitler, downplayed his own antisemitic views but believed nevertheless that Jews exerted too much influence over American culture, and that a European war would ultimately be instigated by them and redound to their benefit.
--Michael D. Bulmash, K1966
Browse the Bulmash Family Holocaust Collection.
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Der Untermensch
2012.1.389
A booklet titled, "Der Untermensch." Cover includes title in red, and black and white photograph of a man in close-up, with people in uniform holding guns behind him.
Information Provided by Michael D. Bulmash:
Untermensch is one of the most revolting pieces of antisemitic and anti-Bolshevist racist literature, 50 pages of photos presenting Jews, Slavs, Bolshevists, etc., as morally degenerate, uncivilized, subhuman monsters, consistent with Hitler’s and Himmler’s belief in the necessity of the war of man against the subhuman and ultimately rationalizing Nazi genocidal policies in the East.
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Rassenpolitik Manual Published by the SS
2016.1.20
Cover image of nude male statue, 72 pages plus many full page images.
Information Provided by Michael D. Bulmash:
Manual issued by the SS under Heinrich Himmler’s name: Rassenpolitik (Race Politics), issued by the SS Hauptamt, 1942. The cover bears a statue of an “aryan” man, while the contents expound upon the Jewish danger, non-aryan blood in general, and the SS man’s role in guaranteeing pure Nordic blood lines and values. Chapters include the importance of SS men having racially pure children, the influence of blacks on race, and special attention is given to the Jews. The book also contains many illustrations and photographs, including images of Nordic ideal types compared with unflattering images of Jews, Russians and blacks. A library stamp remains on the cover.
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This is Nazi Brutality
2012.1.575
American propaganda poster. Signed in lower right corner by Ben Shahn. Depicts a man with a brown bag over his head wearing black with each hand shackled. Standing against brick background. Title in red across the man's chest with text in black with yellow backgrounds.
Information Provided by Michael D. Bulmash:
Poster showing the drawing of a man - hooded and shackled - entitled “This is Nazi brutality” with the image of a telegram reading “RADIO BERLIN. -- IT IS OFFICIALLY ANNOUNCED: - ALL MEN OF LIDICE – CZECHOSLOVAKIA - HAVE BEEN SHOT: THE WOMEN DEPORTED TO A CONCENTRATION CAMP: THE CHILDREN SENT TO APPROPRIATE CENTERS-- THE NAME OF THE VILLAGE WAS IMMEDIATELY ABOLISHED. 6/11/42/ 115P.” The poster was made for the United States Office of War Information by Ben Shahn. The event Shahn refers to is the Nazi massacre of all the men of the village of Lidice, the deportation of the women of Lidice to concentration camps, and the murder of most of the children. This carnage occurred after an assassination attempt on the life of Reinhard Heydrich, at the time the director of the protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia which was under Nazi occupation. Heydrich was ultimately to die of his wounds. Hitler sought revenge, and the destruction of Lidice as well as the village of Lezacky followed. These actions were directed by Karl Hermann Frank who was tried in Prague after the war for his crimes and sentenced to death by hanging.
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Don't Let That Shadow Touch Them - Buy War Bonds
2012.1.581
Bottom has text in white and yellow. Top has image of three children on grass, an older boy in yellow pressing a younger boy in a newspaper cap holding a flag behind him, and is holding a toy airplane in the other. On the ground is a girl in pink and red with pigtails and is holding a doll. A Swastika shadow reaches the doll, but not the children.
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Antisemitic Nazi Easter Postcard
2012.1.481
A white postcard with an illustration of a white hen -- "Notre Mère L'Europe" -- with chicks with varying European flags beneath it. Several chicks stand undecided and an angry British chick walks into a trap with an American flag and a Star of David on it. The caption reads, "Pàques 42." Addressed in pencil on the back to J.J. Raymond, Argenteuil.
Information Provided by Michael D. Bulmash:
This Nazi-inspired holiday card issued in occupied France used the traditional mother hen and chicks to promote an anti-American/antisemitic message. "Pàques 42," which appears on the card, translates Easter 1942. Mother hen ("Our Mother Europe") protects its chicks: Finland, Hungary, Romania, Italy and others of the Axis. Two chicks, Sweden and Switzerland, although not in the brood, look up to the hen. However, one puzzled chick, England, wants no part of it and is about to enter an American trap controlled and operated by Jews. The April 6 Paris cancel indicates it was cancelled on Monday, the day after Easter Sunday.
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German Antisemitic Safe-Conduct Passes
2014.1.262abc
First Pass Front: Tan paper with printed black text. Includes a small illustration of the Nazi eagle.First Pass Back: A sketchy illustration of a Russian family with a man hovering behind them with printed black text.Second Pass Front: Black printed Russian text with two violent illustrations.Second Pass Back: Printed black text.Third Pass Front: Printed black text.Third Pass Back: An illustration of a glasses-wearing Soviet armyman holding a flag of with faces stitched onto it, including Franklin Delano Roosevelt and Winston Churchill.
Information Provided by Michael D. Bulmash:
Three German safe-conduct passes intended to induce Soviet soldiers to not only surrender, but to attack their officers and Jews in general. The passes, printed in Russian, bear drawings. One shows the image of a Russian commissar standing behind a tree and shooting Russian soldiers as they surrender and below that the same commissar on the ground with a soldier holding a brick above his head. Another shows an image that loosely conflates a Russian commissar with the standard caricature of a Jew. The verso bears the usual empty promises of good treatment, adding: "This pass is valid for a limited number of soldiers and comrades of the Red Army for a limited time - whomever shows this wants no more senseless bloodshed caused by Jews and commissars!"
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Postcard for “The Eternal Jew” Antisemitic Exhibition, Vienna, 1938
2012.1.480
A white postcard with an illustration of a fat man in a suit wearing glasses and a hat over a wooden bar.
Information Provided by Michael D. Bulmash:
To further promote Nazi antisemitic objectives, a travelling exhibition named “Der Ewige Jude” ("The Eternal Jew") was created in 1937. It appeared in five cities during the following eighteen months. The exhibition depicted Jews - their clothes, facial characteristics, cultural items and art - in every conceivable negative and unfavorable way, and markedly “degenerate” in contrast to the Nazi aryan ideal. This antisemitic postcard bears the red cachet "Zugelassen fuer Austellung: Der ewige Jude."
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British "Black Propaganda" Postcard with Robert Ley
2019.2.133
Postcard with “Reichsleiter Dr. Robert Ley” in bold black print in center of right side with a photo of Ley in uniform, shouting, on left side, marked “(Siehe Umseitig)” in lower right corner.
Information Provided by Michael D. Bulmash:
Two days after Germany invaded Poland on September 1, 1939, Britain declared war on Germany. In one effort to undermine the morale of both German soldiers and civilians, the British Political Warfare Executive (PWE), working with members of the American Office of Strategic Services (OSS), created a Psywar propaganda arts unit. Sefton Delmer of the PWE devised this example of the “Black propaganda” arts, printed in England and often affixed with a forged 3 pfennig Hitler stamp. They were then dropped by the U.S. 8th Air Force over selected targets. Robert Ley, a garrulous liar and alcoholic, head of the German Labor Front and militant antisemite who, not content with merely relocating the Jews but rather advocated exterminating them, is accused in a “secret directive” - actually created by the PWE - of securing large quantities of food for himself and other Nazi officials, while publicly declaring that he and his colleagues used ration cards. “National Socialists know no such thing as diplomatic rations… Every man… has to live on rations,” whether an official or worker. “I myself am a normal consumer and live on them…” These allegations supposedly appeared in the October 12, 1943 edition of Goebbels’ newspaper Angriff. He appears in this earlier photo as the repugnant blowhard that he in fact was.
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Hungarian Arrow Cross Party Leaflet
2020.1.19
Leaflet with black printed text in stylized font. Printed image of four-way arrow in center.
Information Provided by Michael D. Bulmash:
Leaflet issued by Hungarian Arrow Cross party stating that “We shall come, we shall be victorious”. With Arrow Cross insignia, and the name of Ference Szalasi, Hitler’s representative in Hungary, appearing below.
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This is the Enemy
2012.1.582
Poster with red background. Depicts a veiny hand with a Swastika on its sleeve stabbing the Bible with a dagger. Text on bottom in green on a black background.
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Deliver us from evil - Buy War Bonds
2012.1.584
Grey cloudy background. Top says "Deliver us from evil" in white text. Middle shows a photograph of a young girl with a white Swastika behind her. Bottom says "Buy War Bonds" in blue.
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"Broken Shackles" German Antisemitic Poster
2015.2.176
White paper with green background. Black text in upper left corner. Depicts a shirtless man in shackles looking down at a crude caricature of a Jewish man with a large belly, wearing maroon and has a yellow Star of David on his clothes. He sits upon a mountain of skulls.
Information Provided by Michael D. Bulmash:
Antisemitic, Soviet poster possibly produced by Nazi Germany after the invasion of the Soviet Union in Operation Barbarosa in 1941. It has a caricature of a disreputable Jewish man sitting on top of a group of skulls. A figure is hovering over the seemingly frightened Jew. The poster reads broken shackles.
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Postcard to Professor M. Lowy, a Jew in Modena
2020.1.9
Postcard with text printed in green and stamped with purple ink. Address and additional text handwritten in black ink. Message handwritten in black ink on opposite side.
Information Provided by Michael D. Bulmash:
Italian Fascist censored (two-line handstamp and circular R-Questura Modena stamp recto and boxed 2 verso) propaganda postcard, with King Victor Emmanuelle Stamp and “Vinceremo” (“we will win”) imprinted on the postcard, sent to a Professor Maurizio Lowy in Finale-Emilia in the province of Modena. This card was sent in the final phase of Italy’s wholehearted support of the Nazis. Mr. Lowy perhaps served as a conduit for Jews in both Italy and Yugoslavia.
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Dr. Alois Geiger Sentenced to Death by Roland Freisler
2015.2.191
Front:Tan page with large title printed in black and typewritten message. Includes brown tape, as well as markings in red and blue, and a purple signature on the bottom left.Interior: Typewritten pages taped in the middle.
Information Provided by Michael D. Bulmash: Roland Freisler was a notorious Nazi lawyer and judge. He was State Secretary of the Reich Ministry of Justice and President of the People's Court, which was set up outside constitutional authority. This court handled cases of political action against Hitler's regime by conducting a series of show trials. On September 8, 1943, Freisler sentenced Dr. Alois Geiger to death for his defeatist sentiments, and skepticism about Germany’s victory in the war, writing that Geiger had "... weakened the belief of our victory with the pregnant wife of a German soldier” allowing her to believe that her husband could be killed for being a Nazi if Germany lost the war. For his “attack on morale” Geiger was sentenced to death by hanging.
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Anti-German Propaganda
2019.2.180-.188
9 documents in various sizes
.180: Leaflet – Nachrichten Fur Die Truppe, March 7, 1945
.181: Leaflet – Nachrichten Fur Die Truppe, March 22, 1945
.182: Leaflet – Nachrichten Fur Die Truppe, October 22, 1944
.183: Leaflet - Sternenbanner, November 15, 1943
.184: Booklet – DIE ANDERE SEITE
.185: Document – NACH HITLERS STURZ
.186: Document – DER RUCKZUG VON MOSKAU
.187: Document – Wie Viele Sind Hier Aufmarschiert?
.188: Document – 6 Jahre Kriegsvorbereitung!
Information Provided by Michael D. Bulmash:Nine pieces of printed anti-German war propaganda, most or all air-dropped by Allied aircraft over Germany and German lines during World War II. Includes three copies of “News for the Troops”, 4 page newspapers offering news of Allied advances, German defeats and surrenders, etc., all late 1944-early 1945; comments on what to expect after Hitler’s fall, the retreat from Moscow, imminent death of soldiers, Goebbels’ lies, defeat in the East, and a 34 page booklet, “The Other Side” with essays and photos.
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Kladderadatsch
2012.1.499
Magazine with title, "Kladderadatsch." Front cover includes an illustration of King George embracing a Soviet man with the caption, "God save the King!" Interior includes pro-Nazi illustrations and text.
Information Provided by Michael D. Bulmash: A May 1944 copy of the German satirical journal Kladderadatsch. The publication ceased later that year.
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Announcement of the Murder of Police Lieutenant Hahn
2012.1.62
Flier with two columns of text, one in German, one in Polish, respectively titled, "Bekanntmachung!" and "Obwieszczenie!"
Information Provided by Michael D. Bulmash: A flier announcement of the murder of Police Lieutenant Hann on May 22, 1944, near Przeworsk. Ten people were shot immediately as a warning. The flier was signed der SS-und Polizeiführer im Distrikt Krakau (The SS and Chief of Police in the Krakow district). Dual text in Polish and German.
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Allied Propaganda Leaflet "To the German Woman!"
2019.2.148
Front: Title underlined and centered on the top in black, “An die deutsche Frau!”. On the back centered in black, “Deutsche Frau, Du hast das Wort!”
Information Provided by Michael D. Bulmash:The text of the leaflet reads as follows:
Recto: TO THE GERMAN WOMAN! Germany itself is now a hotbed of war. From now on, every bomb and grenade will explode on German soil. German blood will soak German soil. Cities, villages and fields will rise in smoke and flames. This is what Hitler and his party fanatics want. Do you want the war in this country? Ask the returning German soldier whether personal sacrifice and heroism can bring the Anglo-American war machine to a standstill. Ask the returning German soldier whether he wants the same fate for German women and children as that of the civilian population of Normandy, Italy and Russia. Ask the returning German soldier if he wants his home to look like the ruined villages and cities of Normandy, Italy and Russia. The loyalty of the German soldier does not belong to a bankrupt party, but to you, German woman, your children and your homeland. And you can save the German soldiers, your children and your homeland from more meaningless destruction if you ask for an END!
Verso: German woman, you have the word! This is the sixth year of the war. The German soldier has returned. He has endured inhuman suffering on the battlefields of Russia, the deserts of Africa, under the fire of the Allies in Italy and bombing on the Western Front. Now, on homeland ground, he is to take up the fight against the immense power of the Anglo-American war machine. Without enough tanks and Luftwaffe aircraft. You German woman have the power to prevent inhuman suffering, horror and death. Tell the returned German soldier: that you do not want this senseless last resistance; that you do not want your cities and villages blasted to the ground; that you have had enough of the SS and the party that ordered the destruction of your homeland just to keep themselves in the saddle for a few more days; that soldier’s loyalty belongs exclusively to the people; that this people demands: End of the war! Away with the wartime extenders! Immediate peace and reconstruction of Germany!
Translated by Roberto Stemmer
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!["und die Rechte soll night wissen was die Linke tut" [The Right Shall Not Know What the Left Hand Is Doing] Postcard](https://digital.kenyon.edu/bulmash/1004/thumbnail.jpg "\"und die Rechte soll night wissen was die Linke tut\" [The Right Shall Not Know What the Left Hand Is Doing] Postcard")
"und die Rechte soll night wissen was die Linke tut" [The Right Shall Not Know What the Left Hand Is Doing] Postcard
2014.1.23
Front: An anti-semitic illustration of a short, bald man in a suit carrying a cross in his right hand while accepting money in his left from a figure labeled "Jüdisch-Französischen? Kapital" [French Jew? Capital]. Back: Blank postcard lines.
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German Antisemitic Postcard
2014.1.19
Front: A color drawing of a Jewish man selling contraband goods while three officers detain him.Back: Blank green postcarte lines with a penciled "Judaika!" in the upper right.
Information Provided by Michael D. Bulmash:
Postally unused antisemitic postcard of a Jewish merchant caught with contraband.
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Hungarian Propaganda Poster for the Arrow Cross Party
2014.1.454
Poster in Hungarian titled, "Honvédek!"
Information Provided by Michael D. Bulmash: Banner exhorting people to vote for Ferenc Szalasi, the leader of the Arrow Cross (Nylas in Hungarian). The Arrow Cross was the Hungarian fascist party and movement established by Ferenc Szalasi. Like the Nazis, they were strongly nationalistic and militantly opposed to Communism and Jews. Also like the Nazis, they were advocates of agriculture. Szalasi led the Hungarian government after Miklos Horthy was dismissed by the Nazis. The so-called "Government of National Unity" terrorized Hungarian Jews and murdered approximately 10,000 to 15,000 people and deported 80,000 to Auschwitz in a five month period.
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Nazi Propaganda Flier Meant for Russians
2012.1.60
Illustration of men sitting on bags of money with a soldier between them with Russian text on back.
Information Provided by Michael D. Bulmash: A German propaganda flier directed towards Russians, essentially stating that Russians are dying while "kikes" make money.
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Russian Anti-Nazi Propaganda Flier
2012.1.63
Front: An illustration of a skeleton in a Nazi uniform pointing to a wall of death certificates titled, "Hier ist der Platz für Dich! Du wirst der Nächste sein!"Back: Text in German titled, "Deutscher Soldat!"
Information Provided by Michael D. Bulmash: A piece of Russian anti-Nazi propaganda. A skeleton in an SS uniform shows the police on the mortuary wall -- here's your place! you're next! A piece of Soviet produced anti-German/anti-Nazi propaganda leaflet to be dropped or shot over the lines to demoralize the German troops. The back contains a pass in German and Russian guaranteeing the bearer to safely pass through the lines and be taken to a happy captivity and a full belly.
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Oswald Mosley British Fascist Flier
2012.1.64
Leaflet with English text titled, "Up Britain Stop War!"
Information Provided by Michael D. Bulmash: A single-sided leaflet from 1939-1940 opposing British involvement in foreign wars. It was produced by Oswald Mosley's British Union of Fascists.
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Antisemitic Label
2012.1.414a
Black label with skull titled, "De Joden Buiten!"
Information Provided by Michael D. Bulmash:
Antisemitic label from Belgium: "Out With Jews!"