Category Archives: War Museum

MORE Vintage World War II Posters from Germany

Today is the final article from the German Historical Museum in Berlin, Germany.

With the exception of one bit of commentary further down, I am going to let the artwork speak for itself. These are all original posters that are rarely seen outside of Europe. And in spite the horrors of this period in history, I am grateful that someone thought to preserve these for posterity.

Hitler Election Campaign Poster

Hindenburg and Hitler Poster

Raised Arm Salute

Hitler believed that his war was a contemporary religious and racial Crusade.

The worker and the soldier are apparently united against Socialism. The red star and Hammer & Sickle symbol on the jacket of the bottom figure reference the Russians aka USSR — Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. And that same figure has clothing that references the stars and stripes of the USA and a top hat with the British flag on it. An interesting and layered political statement!

Kampffront — Battle Front Black White Red

I’d like to make a few comments about the final poster. As we stood in front of it, it was clear that it was a poster for a film, but I had no idea what the context was. As I researched the title, I discovered that this was a rather infamous movie that served its purpose — to create a divisive attitude of resentment and outright hatred of the Jews in Europe.

Jud Suss ended up being considered to be one of the most anti-semetic films of all time and it was well attended in every movie theatre. It was fully supported by Hitler’s devoted follower and Reich Minister of Propaganda in Nazi Germany from 1933 to 1945 — Joseph Goebbels.

The artwork of the poster was even meant to summon up negative emotions amongst the everyday German population by showing the title character with a deeply green and reptilian skin colour and sinister-looking yellow eyes. I have placed a link to the article about this film in the paragraph above.

Poster advertising the anti-semetic film Jus Suss.

I hope you have enjoyed a glimpse at this rather strange social and political time period.

Vintage World War II Posters from Germany

In this second part of the visit to the Zeughaus, the late 17th and early 18th Century building that houses the German Historical Museum in Berlin, the Deutsches Historisches Museum — I must admit that it was both fascinating and a bit off-putting.

In the lead-up to those galleries full of nationalistic poster art, there are exhibits of social history that explained the frightful poverty and economic collapse in Germany in the period leading up to World War II.

Since there are so many images, I have decided to do a 3rd post about this museum. With the exception of the one rather depressing ink drawing style poster from the 1930s showing a starving family, today’s article shows lots of happy and upbeat propaganda to reinforce the message that the German people were unified in their thinking and to drum up feelings of purposefulness about their cause.

A 1930s poster showing a woman and child in extreme poverty.

A 1930s poster showing a mother and children in extreme poverty.

1936 Winter Olympics poster

Silhouette of the top of the iconic Brandenburg Gate in Berlin overlaid onto this poster for the summer Olympics.

The German ideal of happy families with blonde hair and healthy bodies was highly encouraged.

More perfect-looking blonde children to create Hitler’s future Utopia.

And of course, the idea was heavily promoted that once this temporary messiness of war was over, all good German working families would have prosperity and their own car for drives in the countryside. Recognise the early Volkswagon?

Whether you are a university educated man who works with his brain or a tradesman who works with his hands, the we’re-all-in-this-together approach is on display in this propaganda poster.

The glamourous airships or Zeppelins were still flying into the late 1930s. They provided a mental boost to the German public about their superiority with the construction of these massive airships.

The era of the Zeppelins came to an end in 1937 with the Hindenburg Disaster which took the lives of 35 out of 97 people on board. All remaining German airships were ordered to be destroyed in 1940. The article at the link above is quite comprehensive and if you are interested in that sort of aviation history, it’s definitely worth the time to read through it.

The third and final article from this museum in Berlin shows World War II posters from Germany that are significantly less sunny and optimistic. Watch for those in my next article.

A Day At The Zeughaus — The German Historical Museum in Berlin

We weren’t sure what to expect when we visited the German Historical Museum in Berlin, more correctly known by the actual name Deutsches Historisches Museum on the wonderful street, Unter den Linden. The charming street name translates to under the linden trees.

The museum is housed in an equally historical building, the Zeughaus — the oldest building on Unter den Linden and a former arsenal built between 1695 and 1730 in the Baroque architectural style.

Although ancient and relatively contemporary history is always interesting, both of us are quite curious about the historical periods from the 1920s through the 1940s — and this museum certainly didn’t let us down in that regard. It has halls full of information, remnants of those decades gone by, and a large collection on the emergence of the German Third Reich. Below is a small selection of what is on display.

The next TWO articles after this one will have a very specific theme. They will be photo essays of original World War II proganda posters distributed by the Nazi government of the time. So do come back and see some of that artwork that is rarely seen outside of Europe.

The courtyard of the German Historical Museum, established in the historic Zeughaus building, contains an I.M. Pei designed roofline over the large courtyard.

A vintage petrol pump from the 1920s-40s.

Pre-World War II motorcycle

Complete coffee set

Rather oddly — a display of vintage lingerie and clothing is right next to a display filled with old typewriters!

Sailor ceramic statue — advertising art.

A poster for the 1927 Fritz Lang masterpiece film — Metropolis.

Row of German uniform jackets with a swastika on each of them.

Back To Bayeux

In several previous posts, I showed you some glimpses of the glorious Bayeux Cathedral, the outside of the Bayeux Tapestry building, and some of the wonderful gargoyles and grotesques on the exterior of the very ornate cathedral.

Today we are just having a bit of a walk around the town itself. It is quite lovely, very walkable size-wise, and is blessed to still have rather a lot of the original architecture since it was less impacted by World War II than most of the Normandy countryside.

The charming streets of Bayeux, a very pretty, historic, and walkable town in Normandy, France.

People walking down a small cobbled street in the shopping district of Bayeux in Normandy, France on a bright and sunny day.

Looking down a narrow one way street in Bayeux, Normandy, France towards the 11th Century medieval cathedral at the end of the block.

Close-up details of the upper third of the dark red doors of the Bayeux Cathedral.

A poignant war memorial on a side street in Bayeux, Normandy, France. As a French soldier is shot and begins to fall, the young boy takes the weapon and will carry on.

Apologies for the return of the slightly larger watermarks again. I discovered several of my images being used on a German website where the person in question posted 3 of my images and claimed that they were his vacation pictures from Paris! Obviously the fact that they were all watermarked (and he cut that part off) and there is a COPYRIGHT notice posted in both my side bar and at the bottom of each page or post made no difference to this man.

After making direct contact with the person and receiving no response, I notified their ISP about their use of my image without payment or attribution. I gave them a link so that they could see that they were indeed my pictures and I told them that I had contacted the person and suggested that they just pay the bill for using the images.

The person in question apparently decided to ignore the issue, even after being contacted by me and by the ISP. So thankfully the ISP stepped in and the man’s site is no longer active. Good! It’s rather scandalous that people continue to troll the internet and use other people’s images as their own — but I am VERY PROACTIVE about pouncing when I discover that sort of blatant theft!

A Wanderful Life

The Neverending Journey

Category Archives: War Museum

Back To Bayeux