My mother had a cousin in the service whose ship was blown up in New York harbor during WWII. He was thought to be in the middle of the ship as his body was never found.
Hmmm, is this Australian poster endorsing water torture techniques?
Is this Hitler as an angel of abundance and fertility???I don't think I'm sure what this one means. Maybe it was showing him as the
supreme provider for the Fatherland. What do you think?
I guess they are happy to see each other.....I wish I could find the website where I found these. The captions told what their countries of origin were. I remember seeing some from Scandinavia, the UK, Russia, Germany and Spain.
These seem to cover the gamut of emotion, from fear to elation, from patriotism to abhorrence.
These seem to cover the gamut of emotion, from fear to elation, from patriotism to abhorrence.
These are very interesting posters. They do show many emotions. I can remember posters being on the walls at my grade school that were urging us to buy U.S. Savings Bonds. Although it was the cold war, it seems like they were in the same type art. I wonder what people will think of our posters 60 or 70 years from now.Oh, BTW, Avery's middle name is Tate. I saw that was the museum name in the previous post. I love the name. I like the new look of your blog. Way Cool
ReplyDeleteI've never seen any of these! That one of Hitler like Johnny Appleseed is very weird!
ReplyDeleteWow they all seem so surreal. It's really interesting that most of them are asking something of the viewer which we haven't seen in recent years.
ReplyDeleteHitler is sowing the seeds of a new, more powerful Germany.
ReplyDeleteI find the 'do your part to drive him mad' one a little disturbing.
Debby, good interpretation. I'm sure you are right.
ReplyDeleteThe Emperor one disturbs me too.
I really could look at this style poster for hours. They are so interesting.
These are fabulous! I gave our guys repo vintage war posters for Christmas a few years back. Wonderful pieces of art.
ReplyDeleteI've not seen these before - excellent discovery! Speaking of discoveries - the hunt is on for the missing gem at my place.
ReplyDeleteI never heard of a ship blowing up in the New York harbor. What caused it to explode?
ReplyDeleteWhen I think of WW2 posters they usually involve Uncle Sam. It is interesting to see what other countries posters looked like. They sure do make you think. Right now I have a head ache so, thinking and typing is not that easy.
denise
Ah propaganda! I LOVE IT!
ReplyDeleteThe one where Hitler is sowing the seeds is from a right wing German satirical magazine (Kladderadatsch). It was entitled "The seed of peace, not dragons teeth". Hitler presented himself as a man of Peace whose goal was only to reoccupy German territory that had been lost (by the treaty of Versailles). He did go a few steps too far with his definition of "German territory".
ReplyDeleteThese are all so interesting Steviewren!
ReplyDeleteI never heard of a ship blowing uo in New York harbor during WWII! Do you have more details on that? How sad and horrible for your Mother's family!
Pat and Denise, I'll check my facts again, but that is the way I always hearing the story. The ship might have just left the harbor though. It was a troop transport ship and I think a torpedo from a U-boat hit it mid-ship. All of the best family historians are dead now. My mother was only about 9 or 10 when it happened. My uncle saw something on the History Channel a couple of years ago and he seemed to think the ship the program was talking about was the right ship....but that information died with him not long afterwards. I tried googling attacks in NY harbor, etc but I couldn't find anything without more information. I'm going to ask my mother again. The cousin who died didn't have a first and middle name. His name was A.M. which didn't stand for any other names. That makes it kind of hard to find anything by googling his name.
ReplyDeleteI'll let you know if I discover anything else out.
Wow...these posters are powerful! The first one really spoke to me. Thanks so much for sharing with us.
ReplyDeleteWow! Some of these are pretty shocking. Imagine a time when they were hanging up in plain sight. If that would put fear into kids, I don't know what would. Great find!
ReplyDeleteStevie - you haven't seen that blasted sapphire around anywhere, have you? Little Cyndi Lou hoo is on my case.
Kat
The picture with the water dripping on the guy's head I think is depicting a Japanese trying to conquor Australia as a part of their attempt to conquor the Pacific. The dripping water symbolises every little bit of effort to stop them. There were two wars going at once - the Germans in Europe and the Japanese in the Pacific. My Dad was in the New Zealand army fighting the Japanese. He survived. - Dave
ReplyDeleteIsn't it interesting how we all bring our pieces of family history to make a story. Dave, do you have some of your dad's stories?
ReplyDeleteemotion is definitely the word that comes to mind when i see these. there is no subtlety at all. they go straight to the message, the heart and the fear of the times. i do like the poster graphics from that era very much!!
ReplyDeleteWow, they just tell it like it is, don't they!? I get a little tired of some of the over the top political correctness these days. A bit milquetoast at times. I wonder if the bottom one is a father and son? Other cultures definitely feel a little differently about kissing than we do.
ReplyDeleteThese are wonderful posters.I just love them.Thank you for finding them.Hugs Marie Antionette
ReplyDelete