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Zerschmettert den Weltfeind. Wählt Nationalsozialistisch!

Poster
ca. 1926 (published)
Artist/Maker
Place of origin

Despite its appearance during an election, this poster was designed to illustrate Nazi promises to deliver dramatic solutions to pressing social problems that the democratic system had been unable to solve. Opposition to parliamentary rule was a distinctive feature of both Left- and Right-wing activism in Germany in the 1920s; the figure of the proletarian destroying a parliamentary chamber was a typical theme in Kommunistiche Partei Deutschlands (German Communist Party) posters of the period.

Object details

Categories
Object type
Titles
  • Zerschmettert den Weltfeind. Wählt Nationalsozialistisch! (assigned by artist)
  • Smash the World Enemy. Vote National Socialism! (assigned by artist)
Materials and techniques
Lithograph in red and black
Brief description
Election poster, 'Wählt Nationalsozialistisch!' created for the Nazi Party by Mjölnir; Saxony, Germany, ca. 1926
Physical description
portrait format poster printed in red and black on creamy ground. Gigantic male figure, bare chested, raises in his arms an enormous pile driver which he is about to smash down on a building below inscribed "internationale Hochfinanze"[International high finance].To his right an inscription in red in German and below, the main caption in red. with the sub-caption (hitler bewegung) [(hitler movement)]
Dimensions
  • Sheet height: 859mm
  • Sheet width: 613mm
Production typeMass produced
Marks and inscriptions
  • Streiter -Verlag,Zwickau (Distributor's identification; German; centre bottom margin; lithography)
    Translation
    Streiter Publishers Zwickau
  • Wählt Nationalsozialistisch!/ (hitler-Bewegung)
    Translation
    Vote nationalsocialist!/ (Hitler Movement)
  • Zerschmettert den Weltfeind (written in red, Sütterlin script)
    Translation
    Smash the World Enemy
Gallery label
(01/05/2014-02/11/2014)
The motif of a worker destroying a parliament building is usually associated with Communism. However, the Nazis also used the idea to attract the worker’s vote. Here a muscular proletarian smashes the Saxon parliament, home of ‘International High Finance’. The implication is that the Nazis will deliver dramatic solutions to problems the democratic system had been unable to solve.

A World to Win: Posters of Protest and Revolution, V&A, Galleries 88a and 90, (1 May-2 Nov 2014)
Production
Reason For Production: Commission
Subjects depicted
Summary
Despite its appearance during an election, this poster was designed to illustrate Nazi promises to deliver dramatic solutions to pressing social problems that the democratic system had been unable to solve. Opposition to parliamentary rule was a distinctive feature of both Left- and Right-wing activism in Germany in the 1920s; the figure of the proletarian destroying a parliamentary chamber was a typical theme in Kommunistiche Partei Deutschlands (German Communist Party) posters of the period.
Collection
Accession number
E.1365-1931

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Record createdMarch 10, 2003
Record URL
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