The Vilification of Enemy Leadership in WWII

Italian Prime Minister Benito Mussolini got off fairly lightly. With his jutting chin, thick neck and bald head, he was already a caricature. Most American propaganda simply showed him as a bumbling fool. That is odd when you remember that he was the original black-shirted Fascist and the man who was an early mentor of Hitler. In fact, the German leader admired Mussolini enough to send Sturmbannfüehrer Otto Skorzeny on a commando mission to rescue him after he had been imprisoned by the Italian government. Still, the Italian Army suffered defeat after defeat and was never a threat to the Allies so perhaps attacking Il Duce was simply not worth the bother.

Leaflet F59 - The Friend of Pierre Laval
(Leaflet courtesy of Rod Oakland)

The British Psychological Warfare Executive prepared a leaflet to France identified as F59. This leaflet shows the braggart Italian dictator Benito Mussolini and is entitled "The Friend of Pierre Laval." The leaflet was dropped over France from the night of 3 June to 20 August 1942. Italy had attacked France to grab some territory once it became clear that Germany was going to be victorious. The British here remind the French that Mussolini is a good friend of fellow-Fascist Pierre Laval. The back of the leaflet depicts a map of the French island of Corsica, and the text:

..and now the buffoon claims Corsica

Laval will be mentioned again near the end of this article.

Italy will benefit from it

This American Psychological Warfare Branch / Allied Forces Headquarters leaflet was produced in 1943 to be used against Italian forces in Tunisia. It is coded It.20 and depicts Mussolini in full dress uniform being kicked in the butt by the toe of the boot of Italy. The text is:

Italy will benefit from it

I am the Victim of Roosevelt by Arthur Szyk

An example of the lack of respect and low esteem shown the Italian dictator is the 1942 caricature by Arthur Szyk entitled, "I am the Victim of Roosevelt." The drawing shows Mussolini, cringing and pointing to himself, as the victim of the wartime American president. The Duce's clothes are torn and ragged, and he barely supports himself with a cane. Rather than attack Mussolini, this caricature almost pities him.

The Russians kick Mussolini and Hitler in the Butt

The Italian Expeditionary Corps in Russia was a corps-sized expeditionary unit of the Royal Italian Army that fought on the Eastern Front. In July 1942, Mussolini scaled up the Italian effort on the Eastern Front and the Expeditionary Corps became the 8th Italian Army. The 8th Italian Army was also known as the Italian Army in Russia, first subordinated to German General Maximilian von Weichs' Army Group B. The Italian campaign in Russia led to about 30,000 Italians killed and another 54,000 that would die in captivity.

This Russian leaflet shows Hitler and Mussolini being kicked by a Soviet boot. This leaflet insults both Hitler and Mussolini, but since it was dropped on the Italians, I will place it in this section. The drawing is signed G. Germanetto. The short poem on the front is:

ITALY  

Italians, stay cool,
now that Mussolini
has opened the borders of Italy to
Hitler and the Germans!

But Garibaldi's people,
having put the Italian boot
to the two scoundrels,
will give the final kick!

The back of the leaflet bears a safe conduct message in Italian and Russian.

An American Propaganda Postcard Ridiculing Mussolini

During WWII, Verona was a hotbed of Axis propaganda. Many of the German and Italian PSYOP items were printed there. Apparently, after the fall of the Fascist government in Italy the Allies used the same printing plant.

This U. S. Army propaganda postcard depicts a caricature of Benito Mussolini with jutting chin and pointy ears in an open car with Claretta Petacci (Bibi), his 33-year-old mistress. Text on the front in English, Italian and French is “Bibi’s Escape.” A suitcase in the open truck is labeled “Shining gold.”

Il Duce was denounced at a meeting of the Fascist Grand Council on 25 July 1943 and jailed, but rescued on the order of Adolf Hitler and returned to Northern Italy where he ruled a Republican Fascist state. On 28 April 1945, Mussolini, along with his mistress was caught by Communist partisans as he tried to escape to Switzerland. He and Claretta were summarily executed without judicial procedure and hung from lamp poles. Hitler was so shocked by the brutality of the execution and public humiliation that he ordered his staff to burn his body after his suicide. The back of the postcard bears the text:

Authorized 8-6-45 Psychological Warfare Branch – Press Office – Verona – Reproduction prohibited.

In the United States many Psychological Operations manuals are quite explicit about attacking an enemy leader. It is generally frowned upon. U.S.Army Field Manual 33-1, Psychological Operations lists under themes that are counterproductive and should not be used, “Do not insult or anger the target audience. Keep their minds open and their emotions friendly.”

The British were careful in WWII to attack the Nazi Party leaders and claim that they had betrayed the beloved Führer. In general the theory is that attacking a leader infuriates his people and stiffens their will to resist. As a result, leaders are not targeted for ridicule. In this article we will illustrate those wonderful exceptions to the rule.

OSS Hitler Skull Stamp

Shortly after his death, President Franklin D. Roosevelt's stamp collection was sold at auction. One of the documents found in this accumulation was a letter to the President from William H. (Wild Bill) Donovan, Director of the American Office of Strategic Services (OSS). This letter indicated that the United States government had counterfeited German postage stamps and other documents.

Sheet of 50 of the Hitler Death Head Parody

In addition, a 12-pfennig red postage stamp was altered to show Hitler's head as a skull. The text at the bottom of the stamp was altered from DEUTSCHES REICH to FUTSCHES REICH ("LOST EMPIRE"). The OSS printed 1,138,500 of these parody postal stamps and shipped them to their agents all over Europe. The skull stamps were sometimes placed inside envelopes mailed into Germany.

The OSS Hitler Birthday Sheet Parody

The OSS later produced a propaganda parody of a Hitler birthday souvenir sheet. One of the earliest mentions of the propaganda sheet appears in Forged Stamps of Two World Wars, by L. N. and M. Williams, Verdant Press, London, 1954. The Williams brothers state, "The Allied propagandists represented Hitler on numerous occasions as the personification of death itself, and this idea was expressed in several parodies of stamps put out by the Allies during the later stages of the war. The first intimation philatelists had that a Hitler "death's head" or "skull" stamp existed, came when the Roosevelt collection was dispersed. During the second auction a miniature sheet of four, copied from the miniature sheet issued by Germany in 1937 to mark Hitler's 48th birthday and with the same inscription at the foot but with each stamp showing a skull and a row of crosses as the centerpiece, realized 90 pounds."

Wipe your butt on the Führer

Both the British and the Americans produced a number of leaflets in the form of a coarse toilet paper showing the face of Hitler. I have seen about a half-dozen different ones and certainly more exist. They are never coded. The finder was expected to wipe his butt with the image of Germany’s leader. This is a very interesting and imaginative way to vilify an enemy. I should point out that there were also civilian toilet paper souvenirs that depicted Hitler which were sold for profit, but the official government campaigns always were printed on a low-grade brownish paper. The civilian patriotic sheets were of much higher quality. The propaganda sheet above caricatures the Führer and says simply:

Use this side.

The Only Place…

Staying with the “potty” humor, The Office of War Information in Berne produced an anti-Hitler cartoon for the Germans. William Warren Wertz Jr. mentions this cartoon in his Master of Arts in Political Science thesis entitled Clandestine Propaganda from Berne (1942—1945): United States Leaflets Subverting Hitler. The Fuehrer is depicted pensively sitting on a toilet. The leaflet bears the hand stamp “124” which usually means that it is an OSS product. The two agencies worked together, but the OWI often failed to mention the OSS because their cooperation was a secret in neutral Switzerland. The text is:

The only place where he hasn’t got into mischief…!!

OWI Leaflet USH.4
(Leaflet courtesy of Lee Richards)

The Office of War Information prepared a vilification leaflet depicting a skeleton representing "Death" holding a mask of Adolf Hitler. The leaflet was prepared in at least three versions, with German, Dutch and French language text. Various codes for this leaflet are known according to the target, USF.4, USH.4 and USG.4. The Complete Index of Allied Airborne Leaflets and Magazines identifies the French version of the 1942 leaflet as "Franklin Roosevelt's message," and says that it was not disseminated. The Dutch version of the same leaflet is identified as a 1943 leaflet, "A Message to Youth," and also listed as not disseminated. The Index entry for the German leaflet USG.4 is Der Angriff, ("The Attack"), a leaflet that was disseminated. That is certainly a different leaflet. It is possible that the French and Dutch versions were printed but not dropped and the German version may have been printed and not dropped and the code number re-used for a different leaflet at a later date.

Why would such a leaflet be printed and then not disseminated? As we said earlier, the Allies seldom vilified enemy heads of state like Hitler in a "white" leaflet. Perhaps higher headquarters decided that it was unsatisfactory. We note that none of the first four Dutch leaflets (USH.1 - USH.4) or the first five French leaflets (USF.1 - USF.5) were disseminated. So, it appears that when OWI first started producing leaflets they printed four or five leaflets in different languages, presumably as an experiment, most of which were never distributed. Perhaps they showed them to different interested parties like the British Psychological Warfare Executive to get their reactions and feedback. PWE might have suggested to OWI that a leaflet of this nature featuring a personal attack is not effective. Finally, we must consider that perhaps they were just test leaflets that the Americans designed and printed to practice and fine-tune their skills.

As we stated above, the leaflet pictures a skeleton in a Nazi uniform holding a Hitler facial mask. The mask is bone white, the background colors are a blood red and black. This is a two-page "gate-fold" leaflet. The same image appears on the first and last page. Above the image there is a quote by President Roosevelt, "Now the world knows the fascists have nothing to offer youth – except death." Two pages were needed because the message to the youth of the world was a rather long speech by Roosevelt that could not be printed on a single sheet. The message on the inside pages begins:

A message to youth by Franklin D. Roosevelt, President of the United States.

For many years the Germans and the Japanese have made their hypocritical appeal to youth. They have tried with all their blatant publicity to represent themselves as the champions of youth. But now the world knows that the Nazis, the fascists, and the militarists of Japan have nothing to offer youth - except death. On the other hand the cause of the United Nations is the cause of youth itself. It is the hope of a new generation, and of generations that are to come. The hope for a new life that can be lived in freedom, justice, and decency.

After a long discussion about concepts, principals, and divine guidance, the message ends:

We must maintain the offensive against evil in all its forms. We must work and we must fight to insure that our children shall have and enjoy in peace their inalienable right to freedom of speech, freedom of religion, freedom from want and freedom from fear.

Only on those bold terms can this total war resolve in total victory.

For many years prior to WWII various venders made and sold puzzles to children. These puzzles had a number of different pictures on the front, and when folded in a special complex way depicted a hidden picture of an old man, or sometimes a political leader, sports figure or movie star.

  

Pig Puzzle

During WWII the British Special Operations executive is believed to have produced a number of different puzzles showing four pigs on the front, that when folded depicted the face of Adolf Hitler. At least four types of the pig puzzle are known, and it is believed that besides being used in Allied countries as a morale booster, they were also shipped to partisans in Nazi-occupied nations to attack and belittle the German Führer.

The Pig Puzzle used in Holland

One type with English text says, "Fold as directed to find the biggest pig of all." Another English-language puzzle says, "Puzzle of the pig. Here is the puzzle of the fifth pig. To find a fifth one fold as directed." A third puzzle is found in both French and English and was also distributed in Australia. The text is, "Cherchez le cinquieme" and "Find the fifth pig." The fourth variety is in Dutch and English and says, " Zoek het 5 de zwijn" and "Where is the fifth pig?"

Apparently, many of these puzzles were also dropped by the Royal Air Force. In 2008, I received a letter that stated:

My Father came to Canada from the Netherlands in the 1950's.   When he was a young man in Holland during the war he collected different things. He has a paper he said they threw out of an airplane. It is written in Dutch and English. “Can you find the 5th pig.”  There are four pigs on the picture, and when folded right the four pigs together make a face that resembles Hitler.

  

Greek Mussolini Pig Puzzle

After the Italians attacked Greece, still another "pig puzzle" was prepared, this time in the Greek language with the pigs depicting the face of Mussolini.

The Ukrainian President Vladimir Putin Pig Puzzle

Almost eight decades after WWII, in February 2022, Russia invaded Ukraine to rebuild the old USSR. Someone, perhaps the Ukrainians, went “old school” and brought out the ancient pig puzzle but now instead of Hitler or Mussolini we find Putin.

 

Der Führer’s Weenie

One of the most intriguing and insidious insults to Adolf Hitler was a propaganda postcard code numbered H.789 produced by Director Sefton Delmer of the British Political Warfare Executive (PWE) that showed the Führer with his penis in his hand. The postcard chosen to caricature was originally a product of Foto Hoffman of Munich. Hitler stands on what appears to be balcony with his left hand on the rail and his right hand on his waist. In the parody, his right hand is depicted holding a circumcised penis. This probably was designed to feed the rumor that Hitler was indeed a self-hating Jew. The text is a quote from Hitler’s Munich speech of 8 November 1942:

What we have, that we firmly hold.

Sefton Delmer first mentioned this postcard in an article in the Times Literary Supplement of 21 January 1972 entitled “H.M.G.’s Secret Pornographer.”

When I interviewed the British master-forger Ellic Howe in 1980 he told me that about 100 copies of the postcard were printed in late 1943 or early 1944 but they were never disseminated. He thought that they had all been destroyed. My own research later determined that 2,500 postcards were delivered on 13 March 1944. The operation was cancelled on the order of the Director General of the PWE. One agent quoted a high British official as saying that he would rather lose the war to Germany than take part in such psychological warfare pornographic endeavors.

Sefton Delmer talked about this strange gentlemanly attitude:

The third pornographic leaflet we did was never distributed. Not that SOE objected to it. On the contrary they were lavish with praise. But an old army colonel had found it on the table of my secret printer whom he had visited with a view to acquiring some of our latest philatelic counterfeits. When he saw this particular piece of pornography he was almost beside himself with indignant fury. I did not want to hurt the old man by challenging him to battle over an item of pornography to which in any case I attached no great importance. So I immediately withdrew it. But it was not really all that bad.

British researcher Dr. Rod Oakland discovered one of these postcards in a private collection and mentioned it in the spring 1993 journal of the Psywar Society, the Falling Leaf.

The card was depicted in a British TV documentary entitled “Sex and the Swastika.” In the documentary, PWE artist Marion Whitehorn stated that she was given a postcard by a Brigadier General at the PWE secret headquarters about 45 miles outside London and told, “You Marion will impose a penis on this card…but not too big.”

This may be the single nastiest personal attack on an enemy leader in any war.

A Russian Propaganda Postcard

The Russians made some pretty good propaganda. They had no filters. They were willing to say just about anything about their enemies. This card is interesting because we see Goebbels painting a portrait of his leader. In the portrait Hitler is strong and powerful with enormous biceps. But we see him in reality a puny little weakling. The text is from an old Russian proverb:

The devil is not so terrible as he is painted

Stalin riding Hitler

This small toy has a pen-spring on the back for tension. It seems to have been made in France during WWII. An American soldier brought this one back after trading a pack of cigarettes for it. Other such items that insult Hitler are a pincushion where a woman would place excess pins in Hitler’s butt, and a small statue that showed Hitler’s face on a skunk.

Before we leave the area of Hitler’s groin, we should point out that during WWII, British soldiers often sang a song entitled “Hitler has only got one ball” to the tune of the Colonel Bogey song from The Bridge on the River Kwai.” It appears the song might have been a self-fulfilling prophecy. At the end of WWII, the Soviets autopsied Hitler’s burnt body and claimed that they found just one testicle. Recently, more evidence has emerged that Adolf Hitler really did suffer from an undescended testicle. A German historian claims that in 1923, Hitler was examined by a prison doctor after his arrest following the failure of the Munich Beer Hall Putsch. Those medical records clearly show that Hitler had an undescended testicle on the right side, according to Professor Peter Fleischmann of Erlangen-Nuremberg University. The records were lost for decades before resurfacing in 2010, when they were confiscated by the Bavarian authorities. They were finally studied in depth in 2015.

The British regularly sent propaganda to Denmark during its occupation by Germany. This little bundle has cardboard cutouts of various Nazi leaders like Ribbentrop, Hitler, Goering, and Goebbels. These "Jumping jacks" could be put together with string so when the strings were pulled, they would flash the Nazi salute and their legs would move back and forth.

OWI caricature of Fascist leaders.

Arthur Szyk was born in Lodz, Poland 3 June 1894. He enlisted in the Russian Army in 1914. He served for six months and saw front-line action. After World War I he fought as an officer in a Polish guerilla regiment against the Bolsheviks and eventually located in Paris in 1921. With the outbreak of war in Europe in 1939 he began producing cartoons and eventually moved to New York City. During the war he created numerous covers for Collier's magazine. He published a book filled with patriotic and anti-Fascist images, The New Order, G.P. Putnam's Sons, N.Y., 1941. The American Office of War Information (OWI) in Bern, Switzerland, used two of Szyk’s drawings for propaganda leaflets. The Szyk caricature above depicts Commander-in-Chief of the Luftwaffe and President of the Reichstag Hermann Goering, a figure representing Death, Benito Mussolini, and Emperor Hirohito. The OWI produced a propaganda postcard coded "RLD" with the new title Trimpfzug Unter den Linden Berlin 1943, ("Triumph under the Linden trees, Berlin 1943"). 

Leaflet USI-3

This OWI leaflet to Italy depicts Hitler with bloody hands held over Italy and Sicily by an allied bayonet on a rifle with the flags of the Allies. We don’t know much about the USI leaflets, just that records say they were prepared for Italian civilian by the OWI in 1942. But, the invasion of Sicily, code-named Operation Husky, began on July 10, 1943, so the records must be wrong. This leaflet would be disseminated after the fall of Sicily. When American soldiers moved into Messina on August 17, 1943, General Patton was surprised to learn that the German forces had sailed to the Italian peninsula. The text on the front is:

Out with the Germans!

The back is all text:

Expelled from Sicily

Let’s get him out of Italy

Gorilla Adolf

As I said in the introduction, the Soviet Union produced some very insulting images of Adolf Hitler.The first leaflet is in the form of a picture postcard. The Russians printed one million copies of the card 29 August 1941. The card depicts the German leader as an ape behind bars.

His hands and mouth are bloody and he wears a Nazi armband and an iron cross. At his left is a small sign, "Gorilla ADOLF - Caution! Rabid!" Text below the cage says "This is where he belongs - This is where he will go!" Although the card is in black and white, the blood has been painted a bright red. The caricature was drawn by three Russian artists, Michail Kuprijanow, Porfirij Krylow, and Nikolaj Sokolow who published under the name "Kukryniksy."

Hail the Hatchet

The same three artists published a second propaganda postcard on 25 August 1941 that depicted Adolf Hitler in full uniform with his head an executioner's axe, standing over a stump that would be used to behead his enemies. A pile of human skulls are at the lower right. Black blood dripping from the head of the axe gives the general appearance of Hitler's hair. Text at the bottom of the card is Heil Beil ("Hail the Hatchet").

Zbynek Zeman mentions the image in Selling the War - Art and Propaganda in World War II, Exeter Books, New York, 1978. He says, "After Hitler's attack on the USSR on 22 June 1941, there was no need for the Soviets to make new organizational  arrangements for the conduct of their propaganda. As before, the agitprop department of the central committee was responsible for propaganda at home: it kept in touch with the 7th Department of Political Administration of the Red Army in Moscow, which was responsible, together with the lower-level political organs of the army, for the conduct of propaganda to the enemy.

 

The political detachments of the Red Army were equipped with stationary and mobile printing presses;  they concentrated on leaflet propaganda aimed at the enemy and his morale. With the establishment of the front-line organization 'Free Germany,' Soviet propaganda to the enemy moved into a higher gear.  For instance the picture postcard entitled 'Heil Beil', which depicted Hitler's face as an axe, was effective and, in a gruesome way, funny. This was 'black propaganda,' since the provenance of the postcard purported to have been OKW Offsetdruck Leipzig."

 

Hitler is the War

In July of 1941 the Soviets prepared a leaflet depicting Hitler riding on a horse over bloody corpses. He holds a bloody executioner’s axe. Text at the top of the leaflet is "Hitler is the War." Text below the vignette is, "German soldier! He wades in your blood."

German Soldiers!

Another Russian leaflet depicts Hitler with a horrible grimace looking at a pile of bloody dead and dying German soldiers. This image of Hitler was favored by the Soviets and it appears on several other leaflets. The text is, "German soldiers! Look who is guilty of this bloody war! Down with the gluttonous Hitler and his fascist hordes!

Hitler with a necklace of his soldier's skulls

The above Russian leaflet depicts Hitler wearing a necklace of skulls around his neck. The text is, "My soldiers are always close to me".

Hitler Crusade

This Russian leaflet depicts a cartoon of Hitler, his hands bloody, parading before his dead soldiers.

 

Hitler Eradicates the German People

A September 1941 Soviet leaflet pictures Hitler with bloody hands riding on the back of "Death" who holds a bloody knife over a pile of dead Germans. The text is "Hitler Eradicates the German People."

Hitler is the Enemy of the German People

The Soviets printed a leaflet in November 1941 entitled "Hitler is the enemy of the German people." The front of this leaflet bears no text, just a photomontage of Hitler in full uniform holding a shovel in a graveyard surrounded by German corpses. The meaning is clear. It is Hitler that caused all of these deaths. At the bottom of the leaflet there are two passierscheins (Safe conduct passes), one in German, one in Russian.

The concept of the photomontage leaflets was discussed by Soviet propagandist Alexander Shitomirski in Klaus Kirchner's Postcards Produced by the Soviets for Aerial Dissemination in WWII. The artist says, "At the beginning of my work with photomontages I had to think about many political, ethical and humanitarian questions and also about the technique of picture-montage. Nobody was there to help me so I had to find my own way. My photomontages were always directed at the individual soldier on the other side of the front who would eventually hold my product in his hands. In my imagination I took his place, and shared his thoughts. I understood his, I knew about his wife, his children, his house, and even about his dog. I knew everything about him. He had been dragged into a quagmire of dirt and blood, in a senseless and useless war. I told him graphically who was responsible and profited from his misery. I talked to him as a human being and offered him the only advice possible: cut your ties with Hitler and his clique, who have caused this war. Give up the fight and surrender."

The Song of the Louse

Another Russian leaflet printed in December 1941 shows Hitler's face on the back of a body louse. Since the louse is a reviled creature that digs into the soldier's body and sucks his blood, the Soviet meaning was quite clear. There is no text on the front of the leaflet, but the back has the lyrics of a song entitled "the Song of the Louse." The text is:

Soldier, where is your hiding place?
In ice and snow, in dirt and mud!
With the curse of people heavy laden
You travel alone so far from home.
You travel alone with your comrade,
the poisonous fat louse.

One talks to you of rapid victory.
But this war is hopeless!
The weather will be gruesome cold.
Your rations grow ever shorter.
But, the louse grows ever fatter,
that feeds on your blood.

Who drives you into death and frost?
Who fans the war in the East?
In blind greed and wantonous,
Hitler, through your death and agony,
is growing fat on your blood.
The big fat brown louse.

It bites and sucks, it itches and stings!
German soldiers, do not tolerate it!
Free yourself of all these lice.
Do away with Hitler's war,
plug up the war's bloody gates,
squash Hitler, Squash the louse!

Buchbinder and Schuh writing in Heil Beil! Aerial Leaflets in the Second World War - Documentation and Analysis, Seewald Verlag Stuttgart, 1974, say about these cards, "a wrong judgment of the target group by the enemy. Such detailed defamation of Hitler's personality must have been found repulsive by the majority of German soldiers at the time, and frustrate the propaganda purpose."

  

December 1941 leaflet newspaper
Front Illustrierte fur den Deutschen Soldaten

The Russian 4-page propaganda leaflet newspaper Front Illustrierte fur den Deutschen Soldaten (Front Illustrated for the German Soldiers)was published on a weekly basis from July 1941 to April 1945, 93 issues in all, and then airdropped over German troops. The newspapers were about 90% illustrations with many photographs and photomontages of a defeatist nature showing dead or wounded German troops and destroyed German war weapons and materials. Occasionally special issues would be produced with more than the usual four pages. Hardly an issue can be found that does not show rotting German corpses or burning German tanks on Russian soil. Hitler is often ridiculed, sometimes depicted with Napoleon’s hat, sometimes as a drunk, sometimes as a vulture on a mountain of corpses or sometimes leading an army of skeletons. Other Nazi leaders such as Göring, Goebbels and Himmler appear in various poses as rats, monkeys, money-grubbers and other strange creatures. Many of the illustrations were designed by the Russian artist Alexander Zhitomirsky. Besides German language editions, there were some copies of the newspaper printed in Italian, Romanian and Finnish.

December 1941 Front Illustrierte fur den Deutschen Soldaten

The issue of December 1941 depicts Hitler drinking and wearing a German helmet while dead bodies are on the ground all around him.

In the Beginning there was the Word

It is unfair to depict all these attacks on Hitler without showing the way that he was seen in Nazi propaganda for the German people. The postcard above is almost Biblical in nature and shows an early Hitler preaching to the faithful of the fledgling Nazi Party. The title of the portrait puts Hitler in the position of God since the Bible says, “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.” With constant propaganda telling the German people that their leader was no less than a God, it is easy to see why many became such fervent believers.

The Flag Bearer

Perhaps the image that best describes how Hitler was sold to the German people is “The Flag bearer.” In this Hubert Lanzinger portrait, Hitler is shown as a medieval knight bearing the Nazi banner. Can you imagine such a portrait depicting Roosevelt or Churchill? Note that Hitler’s face is not quite right. The painting was stabbed in the face by vandals at the end of WWII.

Baby Hitler photo

 

Baby Hitler postcard

A very strange photomontage ridiculing Adolf Hitler was apparently prepared sometime before the start of WWII. It depicts Hitler as a newborn baby in a hospital setting. The four people around Hitler are British politicians, from left to right: Duff Cooper, Neville Chamberlain, Winston Churchill and Anthony Eden. The implication would seem to be that the British government had facilitated the rise of Adolf Hitler. At one time I thought that the Soviets produced this item since they were well known for using photomontages in leaflets and postcards, and at this time they were quietly trading with Hitler. I did originally say that “perhaps the picture was “doctored” by British propagandists.” The Hitler baby image was offered as a postcard in a German auction in November 2016 and sold for 26 Euros. It appears to be a civilian commercial product, but there is the rarest chance that it was a British propaganda postcard. The June, 2012, letter from a British woman below indicates that “Baby Hitler” was printed in Great Britain:

I had been trying for a long time to identify a photograph I had found amongst the many photographs belonging to my late Aunt, who died in 1980. For more than 30 years, from 1927 to 1960 she worked at the Kodak Photographic Company in Birmingham, England. She was employed during the days of black-and-white photographs to add color to black and white pictures and remove unwanted objects from other picture. I assume that the photograph of “Baby Hitler” was one of her, or her colleagues’ productions. The copy I have was printed on Velox photographic paper, which was sold by Kodak from 1902 onwards. It is 4.5 x 3.5-inches.

The Postcard seems to have been Trimmed on all Four Sides. 

In 2020, I saw what might be a second variety of the card in a horizontal format with wide borders all around. Written vertically on the left margin from top to bottom is, “The Birth of,” and on the right side “A B//////?” The card is a commercial postcard and, on the back, are the words:

POSTCARD
BRITISH MADE
Correspondence / address

No printer is mentioned. If a commercial “Penny postcard,” printing the word “bastard” might have hurt sales. Or those words might have been printed on the card by the owner.

Little Godfather

This strange poster depicts German leader Adolf Hitler fleeing the planet Earth with a pair of suitcases. The poster measures 17 3/8-inches by 23 1/2-inches. At the lower right is a short title and date:

Little Godfather
15 a 1943

The image seems to be on a larger backing bearing a very fancy Arabic script that seems to say:

Hitler’s dream…God doesn’t help him.
Picture drawn by a 15-year-old boy.

This poster was sent to me by a collector hoping I could tell him what it is. I could not. The fact that part of it is in French and Arabic indicates that it was probably made in North Africa. In 1943 the Germans were driven from North Africa so that appears to be a cartoon showing that Hitler will next be driven from the Earth. The North African campaign of the Second World War took place from 10 June 1940 to 13 May 1943.

The Ten Pornographic Hitler and Mussolini Postcards

The Private life of Dictators
Text in Italian, English and French

There is a mysterious set of ten pornographic postcards that depict both Hitler and Mussolini in various insulting sexual poses. The vignettes of the ten cards are all known. Eight are in horizontal format, two in vertical format. One depicts Hitler and Mussolini chasing each other around the table to see who will “bugger” the other: others depict a flying penis about to enter Hitler; Hitler and Mussolini about to be anally raped by Moroccans; Mussolini having anal sex with Hitler while he is abused by a phallic Fasces; Mussolini looking at pornographic pictures while his mistress Clara Petacci talks to a Fascist officer; Mussolini performing oral sex on a woman; Mussolini performing oral sex on a woman while Hitler watches; Hitler pointing at a woman’s naked behind; a woman performing oral sex on Mussolini; and Hitler as a prostitute near a lamppost (Lili Marlene?).

All of these postcards are pornographic and four have homosexual themes. They all have text in three languages; Italian, English and French. The anti-Fascist postcards might have been printed in Italy in late 1944. We do not know much about them. We do know that the American OSS printed a very similar set of six pornographic leaflets that also were placed in an envelope with text all in German:

We will meet again at home

6 Pictures

The OSS Rome Envelope

The title at top is from an old German WWI song In der Heimat da gibt's ein Wiederseh’n! In German, "six pictures" can also be read as "Sex Pictures."

The OSS artist, Ed Lindner, was apparently afraid the leaflets would fall into the hands of minors so he wrote in red pencil on the envelope in German: For men only. Below the actual envelope, he wrote on the same page that the card was mounted on, with the same red pencil, “For Adults only.” Although these pornographic leaflets are relatively unknown, OSS files state that 70,000 sets were made and sent to Northern Italy and France.

I only mention the above envelope and leaflets because it is possible that the 10 pornographic postcards were made by the same organization.

The 10 cards we depict have an interesting history. Toward the end of World War II, the present owner’s father, a displaced Serbian, took asylum at the Vatican City’s refugee facility. Incredibly, these postcards were displayed at that location. He obtained a set and after the war, he took the postcards with him to Argentina and then later brought them with him when he settled in New York.

I asked the owner's surviving family what they meant by "displayed?" Their answer:

There is a family theory about the description of the postcards having been "displayed" at the Vatican's asylum unit. The Serb spoke Serbian (his nationality) and Spanish (from living in Argentina after the War) to his family. In Spanish, the word "mostrar" means "display," but it also means "show." So it's possible that rather than being on display, these postcards were shown to the Serb. That is pure speculation, but I have trouble believing that any Vatican charitable organization would put such sexual cards like those above on display.

All ten cards are well drawn and use propaganda text to embarrass and vilify the Fascist leaders. They were clearly meant to be used as postcards since the back has three lines for an address.

The Wrapper for what I believe is the Reproduction set
It seems to be designed for the American military souvenir trade
Because the wrapper is cut and torn it is possible that it originally said:
For American Soldiers in Rome

The postcards were re-issued in Naples in 1978 as “Seven unwelcome postcards of the twin regime,” by Colonnese. The “twin regime” could be the regimes of Nazi Germany and Fascist Italy, or could be near the end of the war where there was a regular government in the south of Italy and Mussolini’s Fascist Italian Social Republic in the north.

The back of what I believe to be the Reproduction Postcard

At the right side of the back of the reprinted cards there is a dotted box for a stamp and three lines for the address. On the left side, each card bears a printer’s imprint at the lower left in the message area that reads: Nazifascismo proibito – (the card number) – Colonnese editore, (Forbidden Nazi Fascism - (number) - Colonnese publisher). The reprinted set I saw had ten cards so perhaps more were added at a later date.

These reproduction cards appear to have come in a wrapper entitled “American Soldiers in Rome” with an American flag at the far left. The wrapper is made from a thick paper which could be folded around the cards.

Numbers 1 to 6 of these cards were included in the collection of John Perkins of Jersey Island, UK, that was auctioned by Stanley Gibbons in July 2014. Lot #1129 was described as follows:

Selection of six black and white artist drawn postcards on pages from a series entitled ‘Nazifascismo Proibito’ (numbered 1-6 on reverse) believed to have been prepared by Italian partisans and depicting various depraved and explicit poses of Hitler and Mussolini, also three similar designs on thin paper (proofs?) and a colored plain back card, some with overall stain spots, otherwise fine, Estimated price 120-140 pounds.

I corresponded with Perkins from about 1999 to 2004 and he was a very dedicated collector with wonderful propaganda material in his collection.

One of the Sex Leaflets with the images found on the Postcards

In addition, in October 2018 eight leaflets (not postcards) that are bear only Italian text (No French or English) were offered in a German auction.

Here is the complete set of cards, followed by the back of one of the original cards to show the absence of the stamp box.

1. Hitler and Mussolini around table: He who stops is lost. Hitler: I almost think I shall stop.

2. Hitler with flying penis: The last secret weapon has changed direction.

3. Hitler and Mussolini with Moroccans: The promised prize to the people of Morocco. Hitler to Mussolini: Now it is your turn.

4. Hitler and Mussolini with two women: They take new pre-arranged positions.

5. Mussolini looking at pornographic pictures: Fascist headquarters, Clarella: keep quiet the Duce is examining new positions.

6. Mussolini performing oral sex on a woman: The war that I prefer.

7. Mussolini performing oral sex on a woman while Hitler watches: The Corruptors of Europe.

8. Hitler pointing at a woman’s naked behind, seeming to indicate that it is not fair that she has a bigger “ass” than he is: Unloyal competition!

9. A woman performing oral sex on Mussolini: Historical meeting – Encouraging arts, talking with his inspirer.

 

10. Hitler as a prostitute near a lamppost, perhaps imitating Lili Marlene as a soldier walks by: Who wants me?

The back of the original Pornographic Postcards

This is a very interesting set. Why were they in the Vatican? Were they sent there by the OSS as anti-Fascist propaganda, or were they privately made by some anti-Fascist or Guerrilla movement? As wartime propaganda they are amazing, but are they officially government-made or unofficially privately-made? Their value depends on proper identification.

Heinrich Himmler

There are not many American strategic leaflets that attack and vilify Heinrich Himmler. There are a number of tactical leaflets, those that were prepared at the front to be used against German forces directly opposite the American troops. Leaflets coded CT were prepared by the United States First Army for use against German soldiers on the Western front in 1944 and 1945. Several of these leaflets depict Himmler. CT-10 and CT-16 shows Himmler, Hitler and Goebbels dropping war material into a big pot. The pot is cracked and the materials are falling out through the hole in the bottom. The text points out that there are no reserves to be thrown into the battle against the Americans.

CT-36

Leaflet CT-36 depicts Himmler covering a portrait of Hitler with one hand while holding Goering down with the other. He crushes a relief map of Germany beneath his feet. The text is:

Three Leaders…No Reich

The text of the back of the leaflet implies that Hitler is missing and that Himmler is taking over. This served two purposes. It could destroy the morale of the Wehrmacht who might believe that the SS leader had led a coup, and it might damage Himmler in the eyes of a jealous Hitler. Some of the text is:

Where is Hitler?

We only know that on 9 November, not Hitler but Himmler delivered the “celebration speech.”

We only know that not Hitler, but Himmler issued the proclamation for the formation of the Volkssturm.

We only know that not Hitler, but Himmler accepted the oath of allegiance of the Volkssturm.

Perhaps your officers can explain if you are still bound by your oath of allegiance to Hitler in spite of the fact that nobody can answer your question:

Where is Hitler?

CT-44 depicted Himmler placing a casket inscribed “130,000 lost” under a Christmas tree and the text:

Himmler’s Christmas gift for the German People

 

Leaflet W.G.28

13,704,616 copies of this leaflet were prepared to be dropped over Germany from 1 January to 7 March 1945. The WG code was used on combined US-British Supreme Headquarters Allied Expeditionary Forces leaflets to Germany during 1944 and 1945. Most seem to be aimed at workers. The leaflet compares Eisenhower with Himmler. It shows that Eisenhower has always done what was best for civilians while Himmler has generally done what was worst. The title is:

Eisenhower against Himmler!

I normally translate the leaflet here, but since I have both the leaflet and the official translation I will just add them both instead.

Himmler, Hitler’s Bloodhound

The Russians also attacked Heinrich Himmler in a leaflet and depicted him carrying a pair of hangmen's nooses and a large set of pincers holding a human hand. The title of the card is "Himmler, Hitler's Bloodhound." Propaganda text on the back is a parody of a German anti-British song, "The Song of the Liars." The text is:

Hangman Himmler

To Hitler's War and Murder League,
Belongs too the Reich Superbig.
He supervises race purity,
and makes whores out of German women.

His black Corps begets upon command,
new men for Hitler's Blitzkrieg hell.
While he guides the Gestapo,
and tortures, murders, burns and hangs.

Even if you are well disguised,
you will not succeed.
When Michel catches you,
you will get a noose around your neck.

So Himmler, do watch out,
for misfortune often arrives by night.
The crock goes to the water only,
until it breaks. Then it is enough.

German soldiers: How long will you tolerate the murder and terror regime of Hitler, Himmler and pals? Finish off that bunch that has brought war, need and desperation to the German people! Make an end to the war. Motto: Home!

OSS Berne leaflet 310

This Office of Strategic Services "black" propaganda leaflet was produced by the Americans in Berne, Switzerland. The origin is indicated by a block "310" on the text side which is the way that leaflets were archived and stored by the OSS in Berne. On the picture side the leaflet depicts Himmler as a butcher with a bloody apron and meat cleaver. In the background a wounded and tattered Nazi says "Heil Himmler." The title of the leaflet is, "The war continues!" The text asks, "What then?" It lists anti-war tactics that the average German can use and mentions three types of sabotage. It ends "Those are your weapons!  So that the war can be shortened." 

Genuine Hitler Putsch Stamp

British Parody Hitler Putsch

Winterhilfe Parody

The British produced several propaganda postage stamps defaming Himmler. Four parodies were created in an attempt to embarrass the Reichsführer SS or cause him problems with the nazi leadership. Above; we show two of the more interesting parodies and one genuine German postage stamp that was used as the basis of the first fake. The Psychological Warfare Executive produced the "Hitler Putsch" parody based on a genuine 1944 red Hitler Putsch stamp that depicted an eagle fighting a three-headed snake with the text, "Commemorate 9 November 1923." The parody was redesigned by the British to depict Himmler and a manacled civilian male who represents Germany in the chains of Fascism. Himmler is sneaking up behind the handcuffed man and about to shackle his feet. The text has been changed to "Commemorate 30 January 1933," the date that Adolf Hitler became Chancellor.

The second British product is not an imitation of an existing German stamp. Instead, it pretends to be one of the German Winterhilfe (Winterhelp) charity stamps that were annually produced in Germany to raise funds for the poor, or to send warm clothes to German soldiers on the Eastern front. The vignette depicts Himmler holding a pistol in one hand and a collection box in the other. Instead of the Winterhilfswerk symbol (WHW), the box shows a skull and crossbones. The British imply that contributions are being used to promote death, not warmth in the winter. The money goes to the Nazi bigwigs, not to the poor or the needy soldiers.

The image was first used on a set of five gummed propaganda labels produced in November 1942 and coded H235B by the PWE. They were also produced as decals with a set of instructions on cleaning the surface, wetting the decal, and pressing on a wall, window, or mirror.

The facsimile postage stamp was produced in January 1943. 10,000 stamp booklets with two different panes of ten Himmler stamps and ten "face shot off" stamps were delivered to the Special Operations Executive on 7 and 8 January. The PWE code is H292.

Although these are in the form of postage stamps, they were never meant to be used on the mail. They are part of a "pin-prick" campaign where anti-Nazi stickers, labels, and posters were placed in public areas where people might congregate to encourage resistance against the Nazi regime.

Herman Göring

Leaflet G.43 – The Leader’s Words

The British liked to make fun of Air Marshall Göring. He had promised that no bombs would ever fall on Germany and that prophesy turned out quite poorly. The British Political Warfare Executive quoted him in a 1943 leaflet dropped over Germany from 8 July 1943 to 23 March 1944. He is shown here in one of his hunting outfits. The British quote one of his old bragging comments:

Not a single enemy bomb will fall on the Ruhr

Goering, 9 August 1939

The British apparently decided that as long as they were laughing at one German leader they might as well go after the supreme leader too. Hitler is depicted with the quote:

When we think of the sacrifices of our soldiers, any sacrifice made by the home front is completely unimportant

Curiously, the same Goering image with the same text and a slightly changed Hitler image with a longer text were used on British leaflet G.44.

Hitler, 11 December 1941

Göring the Executioner

The Soviets also printed a leaflet entitled "Göring the Executioner." The photomontage showed him holding an axe and wearing a bloody butcher's apron while the Reichstag burns in the background. The German Parliament (Reichstag) was burnt down on 27 February 1933. A dazed Dutch Communist named Marinus van der Lubbe was found at the scene and charged with arson after his admission that he set the fire as a form of protest. He was later found guilty and executed for the crime. President Hindenburg and Chancellor Hitler invoked Article 48 of the Weimar Constitution, which permitted the suspension of civil liberties in time of national emergency. The Nazis used the fire as an excuse to authorize the creation of the SA (Storm Troops) and SS (Special Security) Federal police agencies. The emergency powers enabled the Nazis to ruthlessly suppress opposition in the upcoming election. In the March national elections the Nazis won a 44% plurality in the Reichstag. Herman Göring then declared that there was no further need for State governments. There has always been a question of about the guilt of the Dutch communist. Was he guilty, or used as a convenient stooge? The head of the SA in Berlin, Karl Ernst, allegedly answered when asked if the Nazis set the fire, "If I said Yes, I'd be a bloody fool, if I said no I'd be a bloody liar." Whatever the truth of the matter, there is no question that the Nazis used the fire and the resultant outcry to gain complete control of Germany.

AIZ Cover

Curiously, although this image was depicted on a Soviet leaflet, the actual artist was the German Communist Helmut Herzfeld. He changed his name to John Heartfield in 1916 in protest against German nationalism. For 15 years he produced designs and posters for the German Communist party. His politically charged photomontages were banned in his home country during the Nazi regime. He fled to Czechoslovakia in 1933. Heartfield produced dozens of anti-Nazi images and the Göring photomontage appears to have been first published as the cover of the magazine AIZ (Arbeiter –Illustrierte Zeitung) in 1933. Heartfield spent WWII in exile in Great Britain.

Herman Göring manufacturing death

The Soviets disseminated this leaflet with the text: "Herman Göring Work!" The intent of this leaflet is to infer that  just as Göring's factories are responsible for manufacturing supplies for the war, his other factory (work) output is responsible for the death of millions of Germans soldiers. 

Front Illustrated – May 1942

The Russian airdropped propaganda newspaper Front Illustrierte of May 1942 depicted Hermann Göring holding piles of cash while a widow and child are in the background holding her dead husband’s “death card.” The text with the photomontage is:

Göring’s income is bought with soldier’s blood and widow’s tears!

Propaganda Minister Joseph Goebbles

Goebbels the Adulterer

Nazi Propaganda Minister Joseph Goebbels was quite the ladies man. He was in charge of film-making in the Third Reich and used his position to bed many young starlets. He owned a hideaway villa called Waldhof estate, set in woodlands 40 kilometers north of Berlin where he invited a string of film starlets to the casting couch, including his mistress the Czech actress Lida Baarová. Goebbels is said to have asked Hitler’s permission to leave the Nazi Party and divorce his wife Magda for his beautiful mistress, but the Fuehrer rejected the request. Other glamorous visitors included the Third Reich actresses Zarah Leander and Marika Rökk.

Apparently his reputation was well known by the OSS in Berne. They prepared this black leaflet depicting the little club-footed minister with a starlet on his lap. The text is:

The war is not bad for Goebbels
He is looking for a star for a film
That in which others bleed to death
He busies himself with hookers

Goebbels depicted as a monkey

The Soviets attacked Reich Minister for Propaganda and Popular Enlightenment and Reichskulturkammer (President, German Culture Chamber) Joseph Goebbles with a leaflet that depicted him as a monkey with a long tail speaking into a microphone. The photomontage was prepared for leaflet 862 by Alexander Shitomirski. The Soviets printed 200,000 copies of this leaflet on 15 February 1942. Text on the leaflet is:

Goebbels: Every German must now consider it his elementary political duty not to ask when this war will be over.

The USSR printed a heavily-illustrated propaganda newspaper for the German Wehrmacht entitled Front-Illustrierte für den Deutschen Soldaten (Front-Illustrated for the German Soldier) from 1941 to 1945. In general, the newspaper attacked Nazi leaders and depicted scenes of frozen German dead and happy prisoners-of-war. Twelve issues were published in 1941 starting in July, thirty-two issues in 1942, Twenty-nine issues in 1943, nineteen issues in 1944, and five issues in 1945 ending with the April issue.

Some of the newspaper front pages that attack and ridicule the Nazi leaders in 1942 are; January - where a small Hitler is depicted with a Napoleonic hat, February - where Himmler is shown with a bloody hammer, May - where Hitler is depicted in front of a group of skeletons dressed in Army uniforms, June - where Hitler is shown standing on a pile of bloody death cards of his German soldiers, July - where Hitler is depicted as a vulture on a heap of German dead, and September - where Goebbels is depicted as a rat on a pile of German bodies.