Photos of World War II posters - and poster collections.
Latest WWII news. See also: Nazi Memorabilia, Medals, WW2, German Flags, Nazi Daggers, Nazi Helmets, Military scale models.
Soviet military posters from the Great Patriotic War
Soviet military posters from the Great Patriotic War. (ruvr.ru)
38 vintage political World War II posters
38 vintage political World War II posters (largeformatposters.com)
Treasure trove of 200 WWII propaganda posters for sale
A treasure trove of 200 World War II propaganda posters is for sale after being found in an old printing factory. The posters, with slogans like "Keep Calm And Carry On" and "Careless Talk Costs Lives", were described by the Imperial War Museum as a "once in a lifetime" find. "They are quite a find and as minty as can be," explained Roy Butler, from auctioneers Wallis & Wallis in Lewes, East Sussex. The different attitudes towards women can be seen in the poster collection: Attractive females feature with titles such as "Tell Nobody – Not Even Her" while others are depicted as femme fatales. (metro.co.uk)
German court confuses: Hans Sachs`s poster collection is owned by his family but they cannot have it back
The Berlin court of appeals has ruled that Hans Sachs's poster collection can stay in a Berlin museum and need not be returned. The ruling left Sachs family stunned, and came despite Germany's signature of the Washington Principles agreeing to the restitution of art looted by the Nazis. Hans Sachs took 40 years to build huge collection of rare posters only to see it seized at gunpoint by the Gestapo on the orders of Joseph Goebbels in 1938. The court ruled that the museum could keep the art works while naming Peter Sachs the legal owner - without legal ways to claim back the collection. (timesonline.co.uk)
15 fascinating World War II posters and ads
15 fascinating Second World War posters and ads. (oddee.com)
All clear for the guns - railway posters from the Second World War
To mark Victory in Europe (VE) Day, the National Railway Museum in York has brought out WWII posters used to highlight the key role of the railways. From the start of the war in 1939, control of the railways was passed to the Railway Executive Committee. Trains were harder to bomb and quicker to repair than other modes of transport. Railway workers knew that line maintenance and swift track and bridge repair after Luftwaffe attacks were crucial. During the war 395 railway staff lost their lives and over 2,400 were injured while on duty. (bbc.co.uk)
Second-hand bookseller discovers rare WWII "Keep Calm and Carry On" poster
A second-hand book seller has opened up on his delight at discovering a copy of the "Keep Calm and Carry On" poster at the bottom of a pile of books he bought at auction. Stuart Manley liked the red and white World War 2 propaganda poster much that he framed it and hung it up in his shop. It is one of only two original prints known to have survived. To his astonishment, Manley was flooded with customers desperate to have a copy or purchase the original. He decided to make and sell a facsimile reproduction and has sold over 40,000 copies. "It is one of those lovely posters that have resonance in any time, or for anyone who works under pressure." (telegraph.co.uk)
Peter Sachs wins battle for 4.5m euroes poster collection looted by Nazis in 1938
70 years after they were looted by the Gestapo on the orders of the Nazi propanganda minister Joseph Goebbels, a collection of rare art posters has been ordered to be returned to the family of the Jewish enthusiast who collected them. Peter Sachs won a test case at Berlin's administrative court over a poster which belonged to his father Hans Sachs. The German Historical Museum (which is likely to appeal) must now give back the entire collection of 4,000 pieces, worth 4.5 million euros. The ruling enforces the spirit of the 1998 Washington Declaration, in which guidelines were set for the return of artifacts looted by the Nazis. (timesonline.co.uk)
Estonia publishes a calendar featuring wartime SS recruitment posters
The 2009 SS calendar, which sold out in 3 days in Tallinn before being reprinted, is illustrated with 12 reproductions of SS posters used during the war to lure Estonian volunteers to join the elite Nazi force which fought the Red Army. It depicts soldiers in German uniforms and helmets with collar badges used by Estonian members of the SS. The uniforms show a large E bisected by a sword, not the double lightning flash symbol of the SS. The calendars have incited an angry reaction from the Estonia's Russian community. Most of the Estonians fighting for the Nazis were not volunteers but forcibly drafted into the Waffen SS. (telegraph.co.uk)
Digital art brings back World War II propaganda - With a twist [photos]
St. Louis artist Mark Florida re-imagines World War II propaganda through a modern lens in a photography and digital media exhibit at phd, a gallery at 2300 Cherokee Street. The 9-piece photo series focuses on urban wall paintings modeled after patriotic WWII posters and slogans. To create his works, Florida uses a technique that includes photographing old buildings and digitally layering antiquated posters from the FDR years over the photos. In one photo the black shapes of soldiers form a Christmas-tree shaped temple, behind them is a cross painted in the colors the American flag. (riverfronttimes.com)
Weslee Price Wootten: The face behind a famous World War II poster
When the war in Europe ended, the news flashed around Times Square.
People danced in the streets. Strangers hugged and kissed. And New York model Weslee Price Wootten waited for word from her Kiwi sweetheart Noel D'Audney, who had enlisted in 1939 to became a Royal New Zealand Air Force pilot. She never imagined, that it would be her war contribution that would endure. Weslee D'Audney has been uncovered as the face of one of America's most famous wartime recruitment posters. "I'm probably the only person alive who remembers its creation." (stuff)
Rare anti-Nazi wartime poster becomes museum piece
Sam Weller is giving an anti-Nazi wartime poster to the Imperial War Museum after founding out it is very rare. He bought the Hungarian poster 15 years ago from a mystery man, for £10. The arresting image shows a Nazi jackboot with its hobnails replaced by swastikas and the word 'Nem!' above, Hungarian for 'No'. On a visit to the Imperial War Museum in London, to see Weapons of Mass Communications exhibition, he asked whether they had any record of his poster. Research by museum experts has revealed that it is very rare, created in protest at the occupation of Hungary by Nazi forces in 1944. (advertiser24)
American demands German museum to return rare poster looted by Nazis
Peter Sachs filed a lawsuit demanding the return of a rare poster in the collection of a Berlin museum that was looted by the Nazis from his father. The 1932 poster "Die Blonde Venus" (The Blonde Venus) was made to promote the film of the same name starring Marlene Dietrich. The poster is worth $20,475, but Sachs hopes if he wins the suit, it will set a precedent for the return of 4,300 works (worth $20-S$60 million) collected by his father that are now in the German Historical Museum. He faces an uphill battle, as the Limbach Commission ruled that the museum was the owner of the poster collection. (iht)
Third Reich Life: Hitler-Era Vacationland - Posters from before WWII
Posters give an eerie glimpse of life in Fascist Germany before WWII. Baltic seaside idyll of a 1941 brochure: A beach with wicker chairs, tourists relaxing in the sun. A swastika flutters over everything, on a flagpole. Another brochure has a photo of Germans exercising in rows on the beach. The North Sea island of Sylt 1937: "Beach games and athletic activities of all kinds - in particular the old Teutonic art of archery - will reawaken your joy of living." Thousands of Germans managed under Nazism to afford their first vacations - by Kraft durch Freude ("Strength Through Joy") organization. Foreign tourism increased in Nazi Germany until the 1938 Kristallnacht pogrom. (spiegel)
Abundance of World War II posters devalues item (Article no longer available from the original source)
"You Are Needed Now Join the Army Nurse Corps. Apply At Your Red Cross Recruiting Station," reads the vintage World War II poster that Cheryl Smith bought at a Troy estate sale for $5. "The woman I bought it from said it belonged to her mother, who was a WWII nurse." Storing it away from light and heat accounts for its amazing condition, says David McCarron who appraised the poster as part of a Trash or Treasure day at Judy Frankel Antiques. "Poster collecting is a very hot area," McCarron says. Collectors interested in learning more should check out the collection at Northwestern University, which has more than 300 WWII posters. (detnews)
Soviet era Posters are now art - Propaganda before Perestroika
Posters of the Soviet era are now regarded as art. But back then they were a means to motivate and control workers behind the Iron Curtain. Imagine that you have just seized control of a country in a bloody revolution. Your rallies have attracted huge crowds, but the country is vast and communications primitive. Newspapers are the only source for those who can read, but millions are illiterate. So, how to become Big Brother? 1918-1921 over 3500 posters were printed at a rate of 20 a week to get Lenin's message across. In 1919 the artist Alexander Apsit developed the hammer and sickle and the red star, soon to become the iconic images of the Soviet communist era. (sundayherald)
U.S. Ex-Pilot loses appeal for Posters Nazi-Gestapo looted 1938
A retired U.S. pilot lost his appeal for his father's poster collection, looted by the Gestapo in 1938, as a German panel ruled the posters should stay at the Deutsches Historisches Museum in Berlin. The panel said in a statement that Hans Sachs, who died in 1974, had accepted compensation and never tried to get his collection back. He found out in 1966 that part of it survived the war and was housed at the museum in what was then East Berlin. His son, Peter Sachs appealed for restitution in 2006. Of some 12,500 posters amassed by Hans Sachs, 4,000 remain in the museum, mostly in storage. (bloomberg)
Nazi atrocities on full display - Posters and artifacts (Article no longer available from the original source)
The simple poster on an easel at Papyri Books was in Ukrainian from World War II. A translation overhead said the poster was a warning to a village that Jews would be rounded up and deported, and troublemakers would be shot. The poster was on display at the shop on Main Street along with dozens of artifacts. The items are part of the collection of Darrell English of North Adams. Several passports and Gestapo files were on display, along with a Bakelite button shaped like a Star of David. (berkshireeagle)
Exhibit will feature vintage posters from World War II
A new exhibit from the Smithsonian Institute featuring home front posters is about to make its way to Elkins. The poster exhibit, titled "Produce For Victory" is only one part of the traveling exhibit. It will feature vintage posters like the now classic "Buy War Bonds" posters seen so much throughout the war. Before the exhibit arrives in November, the Smithsonian is looking for folks who have local WWII memorabilia to display along side the posters. (wtrf)
Russian WWII poster features US ship
Authorities in Moscow removed posters put up to mark Russia's war veterans day after a newspaper noticed that a WWII ship depicted in the artwork was America's USS Missouri. The posters were taken down just hours before Defender of the Motherland Day celebrations. The defence ministry blamed civilian poster designers who did not know the difference between a Russian and American ship. The Missouri was the last battleship built by America and was the venue for Japan's surrender in Tokyo Bay. The vessel last saw action in the first Gulf War in 1991. It is now retired and is a major tourist attraction at Pearl Harbour in Hawaii. (aap)
WWII posters taught American patriotism
On the American home front in World War II, being a patriot meant, among other things, buying bonds ("Buy A Share of America!"), working tirelessly, be it in the factory ("Shootin' the Bull Ain't Shootin' Nazis!") or in the home ("Remember Pearl Harbor ... Purl Harder!"). Patriotism, expressed as personal responsibility and sacrifice, was the galvanizing appeal behind millions of posters that were produced and distributed by the government and private industry in an effort to make all Americans feel as though they were a part of the war effort. (honoluluadvertiser)
Nazi Photo Trips Up Confidence Campaign
The "Du Bist Deutschland" media campaign was intended to inspire Germans to feel positive about their country. A photo showing Nazis using a similar slogan in the 1930's has caused more than a few red faces. -- Picture shows a public National Socialist party convention from 1935 where a poster with the face of Adolf Hitler is suspended, supported by a long banner stretched between two groups of soldiers which bears the slogan: "Denn Du bist Deutschland" ('Cause you are Germany) in big bold letters. (DW)
Russian Posters - The Great Patriotic War (Article no longer available from the original source)
The themes of Soviet propaganda shifted dramatically as the Nazi threat grew. Patriotic appeals began to overshadow the theme of communism and the class struggle. Speeches and posters were populated by references to great pre-Soviet heroes such as Alexander Nevsky (the conqueror of the Teutonic Knights who invaded Russia in 1242) and Suvorov. Anti-religious themes disappeared, and satiric cartoons of Kulaks and Capitalists gave way to vicious attacks on Hitler and his henchmen. The Soviet leadership realized that to survive, it needed any help it could find -- both in and out of the country. (internationalposter)
The World War II Northwestern Poster Collection
The 338 items, primarily World War II-era posters, featured in this site's database were collected and preserved by the Northwestern University Government Publications Department. Issued by various U.S. government agencies, these posters represent the government's effort, through art, illustration, and photographs, to pull the American people together in a time of adversity for the country and its population. (northwestern)
See also:
Nazi Memorabilia
Medals
WW2, German Flags
Nazi Daggers
Nazi Helmets
Military scale models.