Arbeit oder Hungersnot
- Object:
Poster
- Place of origin:
Germany (made)
- Date:
1919 (made)
- Artist/Maker:
Cay, A. M. (artist)
- Materials and Techniques:
Lithograph
- Credit Line:
Gift of the American Friends of the V&A; Gift to the American Friends by Leslie, Judith and Gabri Schreyer and Alice Schreyer Batko
- Museum number:
E.13-2004
- Gallery location:
Prints & Drawings Study Room, level C, case 3G, shelf DR1
This poster's appeal - 'work not strike' - comes from one of the most volatile periods in German history. The country was trying unsuccessfully to rebuild itself after the end of the First World War. Germany was held responsible for the conflict and ordered to pay punishing reparations to the other countries involved. The urgent message here is to kick-start the nation's economy through collective hard work in order to restore the cycle of income through importation. It suggests that the bleak alternative to work is starvation.
