Immediately after the attack on Pearl Harbour, American capitalism and racist jingoism met and fell in love. Their offspring was a flood of dime-store tat that was fed to the public in an ultimately successful attempt to stir feeling enough that they were prepared to spend whatever it took to defeat the Empire of Japan. Here is an example from my collection of a postcard printed for that purpose.
Here’s a second variation on the sheet music for that classic agi-prop song, “We’re gonna have to slap the Dirty Little Jap”. The other one I have is here, and the record is here. The lengths the US Government had to go to get the US people fired up for war were pretty extreme at times and resorted to gross caricature and racism in most cases.
A little big of home-front propaganda. Probably American due to spelling. Late war and part of the dime store effort to make a penny while appearing to support the war effort.
Another simple bit of propaganda, mocking the Fuhrer. Looking at the material that propagandists used to attack the Germans, it focused mostly on Adolf Hitler. He was characterised as being a carpet biter, portrayed as a monkey or a rat or, as in this example, there was a toilet joke in there somewhere. This looks mid-war American, unofficial and designed for the home front. Let’s say it together, Fuck Hitler.
Very cool items here. This is a pair of medium sized posters I obtained from Henrik in Germany. He told me that a civil servant has retired who had found these in storage in the 70’s. Crisp edges, appropriate spotting, all as you would expect. The text translates to “One People, One Nation, One Leader”. The poster was printed by the offset printer Carl Werner of Reichenbach. By the way, fuck Hitler!
Visitors to this site will have noted, perhaps, my rather retro-racist love for WW2 anti-Japanese propaganda. A common theme to this kitsch is the invitation to “Slap Japs”. It was pretty widespread to use this kind of disparagement of the enemy to build morale on the homefront. This birthday card, dating from 1943, is an example of this theme. Other examples are here and here, oh and here and here.
Man this stuff just cracks me up. It’s a cardboard doll from, I would guess, the USA around 1943. The legs and one arm are articulated and if you hold the noose and pull the string, well Adolf just goes nutzi! Honestly, fuck Hitler.
Cheaply made and pressed out in their millions these little lapel badges helped fuel the American people in their struggle against the Axis. This example is labelled “Wanted for Murder, Adolf Schicklgruber alias ‘Hitler'”. This is a reference to Adolf’s grandmother Maria Schicklgruber who gave birth to Alois, Hitler’s father out of wedlock. Apparently Americans found Schicklgruber to be a more comical surname than Hitler. It also suggested Hitler was a bastard by proxy.
This is the second version of this novelty that I have. Content wise it is very similar to this one here. However there are minor differences, in the front and rear pages and small verbiage deltas. This one is not attributed to the Robbins Novelty Company but it is so similar that it’s either theirs or a knock-off.
More home front nonsense here. This plate topper (designed to be mounted above the rear number plate of a private car) comes out of the States and perfectly captures the three axis stooges theme of mid-war anti-axis personality propaganda. A good solid yellow bucktooth Tojo, followed by Hitler and the giant-chinned Mussolini. These are just about impossible to find anymore. They didn’t have reflective paint like we do now so the paint contains ground glass to make it shine under light at night.
I love these home front items. They represent a great view into the social zeitgeist that existed or had to be manufactured in the middle of the largest war we have ever seen. They range in execution from the cheesy comedy to toxic racism. It really does show how hard they had to work to generate the hatred necessary for a democracy to defeat militarism. This particular one is a novelty representation of Adolf’s last testament. It was manufactured by the prolific D J Robbins Novelty Company of NY in 1943.
This is a great example of the mid-war propaganda coming out of the U.S. home front. It’s a card designed to be mailed in the accompanying envelope. It uses a bit of misdirection in the delivery of the joke as initially you are led to believe that Hitler will be squashed under the heel of a boot. Instead he’s in the shitter and obviously not too happy about it. Made by the D J Robbins Novelty Company of NY in 1943. Charming.
Advertisement for these novelty cards. These were intended as “ticket lifters” and sold through convenience stores and barbershops.
This is the 12th of April 1945 edition of “Nachrichten Für Die Truppe”. This was a German language newspaper craeted by the Allies and dropped by bomber over the troop lines. It combined real news about Allied successes with unverifiable gossip about the Nazi leadership. Classed as grey propaganda since the Allies never owned up to producing it and the German soldier was under no doubts about who did write it. It was very popular with German soldiers. The newspaper was produced from April 1944 until the end of the war. Interestingly enough the Germans themselves printed their versions of this in order to combat it.
This is an example of the S.H.A.E.F. (Supreme Headquarters Allied Expeditionary Force) The Daily Organ of Supreme Headquarters newsletter from April 13th 1945. In the Summer of 1944 the Psychological Warfare Division of SHAEF, under General Eisenhower, took over the propaganda campaign against Germany. This newsletter was produced from April until July 1945. The newsletter was dropped from converted bombers and was produced in 4 languages (1 per page), English, German, French and Polish. It was classified as white propaganda as it contained factual information about Allied successes as well as survival and civilian advice for displaced populations.
The arrival of the US in the First World War was accompanied by a rash of the usual cheesy propaganda items. This one, a sheet of toilet paper with Kaiser Wilhelm’s face printed on it, was typical of the tone many of these items adopted. Bloody funny still and Bill’s been dead for 90 years.
There’s a racist theme in early war propaganda coming out of the US. Fairly uniformly the Japanese were displayed as small, bucktoothed and simian-like. Certainly the phrase “Slap the Jap” was very common. Of course the US would have a very hard war in the Pacific that wasn’t really helped by their consistent underrating of the Japanese soldier. This postcard, franked in October 1942, is illustrative of the messaging used at this point in the war.
Fieldings of Staffordshire put out a very successful run of propaganda items in the opening months of the war. These included small “po’s” that mocked the Axis leadership. Of course there were imitators that got onto the market, hoping to take advantage of the demand that Fieldings created. These imitators are generally lower in quality than the Fieldings ones. Here is an example. It simply says “Adolf in Poland” on the outside and has a caricature of the guy inside.
More googling tells me that these were made by Lancaster Ltd. in Hanley, England during 1939-1940.
This is the fifth in a series of faux chamber pots put out by Fieldings of Staffordshire, England. On the front it says ‘Jerry No 2”. On the rear it says “Flip your ashes on Old Piggy″ and “Violation of Poland. Inside is a cartoon image of Goering. The design is a tongue in cheek one executed by the outstanding designer Enoch Boulton. These pots were viewed as being a little bad taste at the time, especially the ultra-rare large one that rotated on a wooden base and played “Rule Britannia”. Funnily enough I never realised that this one existed. An internet guy emailed me looking to buy my Mussolini and he ended up selling me the Goering one.
Here’s a particularly ugly bit of home decor. It’s a caricature of Benito Mussolini, intended as an ashtray and manufactured by Bassons Dummy Products of New York City in 1942. There’s one of Adolf and Tojo as well which I shall cast the Eye of Sauron onto and track down.
I never get sick of the overt racism inherent in the US response to the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor. Here is the sheet music for the December 23rd 1941 hit by the Murphy Sisters, “You’re a Sap, Mister Jap”. On a side note the A-B-C-D that the song refers to is the joint alliance of America, Britain, China and the Dutch, most of whose naval assets were sent to the bottom of the South Java Sea by the Japanese in early 1942.
You’re a sap, Mr. Jap, you make a Yankee cranky
You’re a sap, Mr. Jap, Uncle Sammy’s gonna spanky
Wait and see before we’re done
The A, B, C and D will sink your rising sun*
You’re a sap, Mr. Jap, you don’t know Uncle Sammy
When he fights for his rights, you’ll take it on the lammy
For he’ll wipe the Axis right off the map
You’re a sap, sap sap, Mr. JapYou’re a sap, Mr. Jap, you make a Yankee cranky
You’re a sap, Mr. Jap, Uncle Sammy’s gonna spanky
Wait and see before we’re done
The A, B, C and D will sink your rising sun
You’re a sap, Mr. Jap, oh what a load to carry
Don’t you know, don’t you know, you’re committing hari-kari
For we’ll wipe the Axis right off the map
You’re a sap, sap, sap, Mr. JapYou’re a sap, Mr. Jap, oh it makes a Yankee cranky
You’re a sap, Mr. Jap, Uncle Sam’s gonna spanky
Wait to see before we’s done
The A, B, C and D will sink your rising sun
You’re a sap, Mr. Jap, oh you don’t know Uncle Sammy
When he fights for his rights, you’ll take it on the lammy
For he’ll wipe the Axis right off the map
You’re a sap, sap sap, Mr. JapYou’re a sap, Mr. Jap, oh what a load to carry
You’re a sap, Mr. Jap, you’re committing hari-kari
For we’ll wipe the Axis right off the map
You’re a sap, sap sap, Mr. Jap
British-made, celluloid-covered metal cover designed to hold a box of wooden matches. Front shows hand with thumb and fingers labeled “China/Britain/America/Russia/Free French” squeezing Hitler’s neck. The one side panel of the piece reads “The Greatest Enemy In History Against Humanity Is At Last In The Allies Grip.” The back of the piece has verse “Mussolini’s Note To Hitler/Why Oh! Why, Must I Die, All Through You, Oh! The Pity Of It All. With One Sharp Twist/Of That Wrist,/We’ll Both Be Through/I’m Sure We’re Heading For A Fall/Yours Broken-Heartedly,/Mussolini.”
Such fun!
Here’s a fun little item. This is a Daily Sketch parody of the well-known German children’s book, Struwwelpeter. Der Struwwelpeter is a German children’s book by Heinrich Hoffmann. It comprises ten illustrated and rhymed stories, mostly about children. Each has a clear moral that demonstrates the disastrous consequences of misbehaviour in an exaggerated way.
In this version, printed in 1941 or before judging from the content, the writers parody Hitler, Stalin and Germans in general. Struwwelhitler: A Nazi Story Book by Dr. Schrecklichkeit was written by Robert & Philip Spence to benefit the War Relief Fund of the Daily Sketch, a now-defunct conservative British tabloid.
This is the rarest of the propaganda items put out by Fieldings of Staffordshire, England in 1940 to take advantage of the, then recent, “Violation of Poland” by Hitler’s armies. On the top it says “Caught In The Allies Web” while down below says “Drop Your Ashes On Old Nasty”. Inside is a cartoon image of Hitler, probably by David Low, a prominent political cartoonist of the period. The design is a tongue in cheek one executed by the outstanding designer Enoch Boulton. These items were viewed as being a little bad taste at the time, especially the faux chamber pots.
These ash trays are very hard to find in good condition. This one took me three years to find.
I don’t know what to say here. Basically I think, in WW2 USA you could stick an anti Japanese or anti German statement on a turd and someone would say I’ll buy it. This pair is stamped U.S Navy and has the message “Shoot the Pants off the Japanazi”. So Kitsch.
I am guessing this isn’t quite propaganda since it dates from 1946, more accurately you could describe this as a cross between American triumphalism and private enterprise. In June 1945, Albert J. Weatherhead, President of the Weatherhead Company was in Europe completing a US Government contract. While sightseeing at the Berghoff he decided to remove a portion of the fireplace there. When he returned to the US he had it sliced up into sub 1″ pieces and fitted into a cast facsimile of Hitler’s fireplace. Much win! There also exists a brass version of this.
The fireplace in 1938
The fireplace in 1945
Kiwi Medals 