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  • Last updated 19th December 2016

Caricatures

By Eberhard Demm
This article presents cartoonists as patriotic propagandists mobilizing their pens and brushes for the national cause during the war. It analyses their techniques for arousing emotions such as ridicule or hate. Their particular functions, to attack the enemy and to defend their own countries, are demonstrated in cartoons about the leading representatives, the soldiers, and the political and cultural conceptions of each war coalition. It also shows how the artists tried to tone down problems on the home front and blame various scapegoats such as war profiteers, strikers, shirkers, and pacifists. Two magazines are presented which succeeded in publishing anti-war cartoons, and finally, the difficult question of the impact of cartoon propaganda is discussed.

Introduction: The new Role of the Cartoonists During the War

The term “caricature”, is derived from the Old Italian word “caricare” which means “to exaggerate” and “to attack vehemently”.1 Thus the normal task of a caricaturist is to attack and to ridicule society and government, usually in an exaggerated or distorted way.2 Such caricatures are usually more aggressive than articles in the press.3 The caricatures discussed in this article are in the form of satirical cartoons (simple drawings) rather than the written word.

Caricatures were popular in the first half of the 20th century.4 Newspapers not only contained cartoons but occasionally published weekly cartoon supplements; indeed, in all major countries, specialized cartoon and humour magazines competed for the favour of the public. In Germany the eight cartoon magazines had a total circulation of 986,000 copies, just a little less than the Berliner llustrirte Zeitung (1,000,000)5 and can thus rightly be considered a mass medium.6 The contemporary German publicist Maximilian Harden (1861-1927) claimed that “no other sort of publication can have such an effect on public opinion as the illustrated satirical magazine”.7

Not the biggest, but the most famous and perhaps the most influential of them in Germany was the Simplicissimus, which especially attacked the Junkers, the Catholic Church and the military. Between 1903 and 1907 alone, the paper was confiscated twenty-seven times. The cartoonists frequently had to appear in court, and at least one of them, Ludwig Thoma (1867-1921), spent six weeks in the Stadelheim prison on the charge of lèse-majesté.8

When war broke out, the cartoonists faced a dilemma: should they continue to antagonize society and criticize the government? At a meeting with his colleagues, the editor-in-chief of Simplicissimus, Ludwig Thoma proposed that the paper should cease publication, because, while Germany was fighting for its existence, all satirical opposition to the government should stop. But Thomas Theodor Heine (1867-1948) refused and said that satirists now had a new task: to behave as good patriots and to support Germany’s war policy at home and abroad.9 His point of view was accepted, and the other cartoon magazines took the same decision. On 8 August 1914 Paul Warncke (1866-1933), the editor-in-chief of the Kladderadatsch, explained to readers that his magazine would renounce all political satire and would instead fight against the disturbers of peace: and he put his trust in the victory of the German arms.10

Similar developments took place in other countries. Owen Seaman (1861-1936), editor-in-chief of the leading British humour and cartoon magazine Punch, also wondered if he should discontinue publishing, but finally decided to mobilize Punch for the national cause.11 In France, in August 1914, the cartoon magazines halted publishing. La Vie Parisienne explained to its readers that its collaborators were at the front and the Germans at the doors of Paris.12 When they were published again, from November 1914,13 some of them, such as Le Rire, renamed Le Rire Rouge, felt obliged to justify their decision:

In these horrible and tragic, but highly glorious hours […] the Rire [literally “laughter”] is by no means inappropriate, but on the contrary necessary. […] How many heroic deeds must be vaunted by the masters of satire and drawing? And is it not also necessary to mark the contemptuous and grotesque William II with the red iron of the caricature?14

Thus in all countries the cartoonists joined the propaganda war and enlisted in an “intellectual military service” [ Thomas Mann (1875-1955) ] transforming the cartoon into a “weapon of combat” as the French cartoonist John Grand-Carteret (1850-1927) put it.15

Cartoonists in the Service of Official Propaganda

Initially, the propaganda offices did not need to impose their views on the cartoonists because they shared them and had decided to put their pens and brushes at the service of their country. Even the censors remained rather discreet. In France, which usually applied the most severe censorship of all belligerent countries, only 1 percent of caricatures in the newspapers were suppressed, and in 1916, President Raymond Poincaré (1860-1934) congratulated the cartoonists “for their pro-French propaganda produced since the beginning of the war”.16 In Germany, cartoonists could come to an arrangement: for instance, on the occasion of the papal peace offer, a caricature of the Pope was removed from the cartoon in order to obtain approval.17

Gradually, in Germany, Britain, and France the authorities tried to give cartoonists instructions and employed them especially for propaganda abroad. For instance, on 8 June 1915, the Nachrichtenabteilung (News Department) of the German Foreign Office asked the editors of the Simplicissimus not to satirize the death of the British minister of war, Lord Herbert Horatio Kitchener (1850-1916), but they did not comply. The Zentralstelle für Auslandsaufklärung (Central Office for Propaganda Abroad) at the same Ministry asked Heine, his colleague Olaf Gulbransson (1873-1958), and Walter Trier (1890-1951) of the Lustige Blätter to draw certain caricatures for them; ordered special editions of cartoon magazines in foreign languages; and had 12,000 copies per week distributed abroad.18

In Britain, in the beginning of September 1914, Charles Masterman (1873-1927), director of the secret War Propaganda Bureau under the direction of the Foreign Office, recruited twenty-five leading writers and journalists to produce propaganda pamphlets for abroad.19 At the end of 1915 he published albums of the Dutch cartoonist Louis Raemaekers (1869-1956) in eighteen languages and had them distributed widely, including to each British soldier. In February 1916, he set up a pictorial department and commissioned artists to produce drawings and cartoons.20 In February 1916, the military also created a special propaganda department, M17, and soon began recruiting writers and artists, amongst them the famous caricaturist Bruce Bairnsfather (1887-1959) who was sent to France and Italy in order to draw caricatures at the front.21 But it was again Masterman who started the most successful cartoon campaign launching Raemaekers in the US – an enterprise which, after some initial problems, led to the flooding of the American press with millions of representations of his cartoons.22

George Creel (1876-1953), the director of the American propaganda organization Committee on Public Information (CPI), also appreciated the work of cartoonists: “The world is much too busy to stop and listen to the orators, or even read all the story of the war […] but your appeal is irresistible.” As American cartoonists had already been active during American neutrality with most of them advocating the war, he eventually set up an Office of Cartoons, which circulated a weekly bulletin for caricaturists with pertinent suggestions.23

French propaganda in neutral countries was less active than its British or German counterparts: however, the French were the first to target both German soldiers and civilians. One of their best propagandists was the Alsatian Jean-Jacques Waltz (1873-1951), called “Hansi”, who worked for the Service de la propagande aérienne (Service of Air Propaganda), founded in August 1915. He had cartoons produced as individual leaflets or inserted in his propaganda newspapers: Die Feldpost or Kriegsblätter. They were either dropped by plane over the German trenches or smuggled over the Swiss frontier to southern Germany.

One of the most important propaganda initiatives comprised the “atrocity” stories disseminated by military reports and backed up by government statements. For instance the propaganda lies that German soldiers had cut the hands off small children and torn apart the body a French officer, was told in Belgian army communiqués; the burning of the village of Triaucourt and the massacre of all its inhabitants was announced in a French army communiqué; and the crucifying of a Canadian soldier was reported in a British army communiqué. The latter story was gloomily reproduced ninety-nine years later by Russian television: this time the Germans were replaced by the Ukrainians, and the crucified person was a three-year-old boy.24

Cartoons are characterized by a “double-edged character” which Sigmund Freud (1856-1939) had emphasised in his book The Joke and its Relation to the Unconscious: by attacking the enemy and showing him “as small, low, despicable, comic, ridiculous, we give ourselves the enjoyment of a victory”, but at the same time our laughter also gives us a certain release from constraint.25 As the war exhausted soldiers and civilians alike it was not surprising that the production of humour and caricatures became a vast industry, especially in the first two years of the war.26 For instance the percentage of cartoons in the French daily Le Journal rose from 0.3 in 1913, to 18.6 in 1914, and 22.6 in 1916/1917: and its circulation rose from 700,000 in 1913 to 1.4 million in 1915.27 In Britain, the excellent caricatures by William Kerridge Haselden (1872-1953) helped to increase the circulation of the Daily Mirror from 630,000 in 1910 to 1.5 million in 1915.28 Cartoon magazines sold much better as well: Punch increased its number of issues per week from 120,000 in 1913 to 150,000 in January 1915; Lustige Blätter from 60,000 to 125,000; and Der Wahre Jakob from 286,000 to 380,000. Only magazines such as Meggendorfer Blätter and Fliegende Blätter which neglected the war somewhat declined a bit.29 In view of the general boom, new cartoon magazines were founded in 1914/15: in Germany Der Brummer, in France L’Europe Anti-Prussienne, L’Anti-Boche, A la Baionnette and, last but not least, the only anti-war cartoon magazine Le canard enchaîné.30 In the second half of the war circulation fell owing to the shortage of paper and the prize increases, but also because some people had had enough of war propaganda; for instance, as Der Wahre Jakob continued to support the government, half of its readers, most of them socialist workers, contemptuously called it Durchhalte-Jakob (Jakob Hold On), and cancelled their subscriptions.31 The authorities tried to stem the tide by organizing cartoon exhibitions at home and abroad, showing not only current popular caricatures, but also pre-war cartoons and even selected enemy ones.32

The Techniques of the Cartoonists

Normally one expects cartoons to be funny, and the majority of them are, but there are also cartoons with a serious intent, for instance “Dropping the pilot” by John Tenniel (1820-1914) after the dismissal of the German chancellor Otto von Bismarck (1815-1898) by Wilhelm II, German Emperor (1859-1941) in 1890.33 Furthermore, in the overheated atmosphere of the war, certain cartoonists, for instance Henri Zislin (1875-1958) in France, and Raemaekers, preferred to present atrocity – and hate cartoons – in order to arouse fanatic hostility against the Germans all over the world.34 Normally caricatures have to refer to actual events, but during the war actuality could span several years so that the same atrocities could be stirred up time and again.35

Even the most aggressive artist sometimes drew friendly cartoons. Such cases were usually reserved for valiant soldiers and confidence-inspiring generals and statesmen of the home country or one of its allies, of course.36 In Germany, Field Marshal Paul von Hindenburg (1847-1934), the famous victor of the Battle of Tannenberg in autumn 1914 and commander-in-chief of the German armies from August 1916, was depicted as a father-figure guaranteeing victory. In the same way, cartoonists in France presented General Joseph Joffre (1852-1931), commander-in-chief of the French forces, after his victory on the Marne.37 Friendly caricatures were also devoted to patriotic women and children, to historical personalities, and, not to forget, to war bonds and gold collecting.38 Some scholars have calculated the relation between aggressive and friendly cartoons and arrived at five to one for the Lustige Blätter, and 10.5 to one concerning foreign powers in the war cartoons of the French artist Jean-Louis Forain (1852-1931).39

Humorous Cartoons

One of the simplest techniques was punning, that is, producing a comical effect by misspelling words or using homophones and homonyms.40 Examples are the transformation of the German “crown prince” into “clown prince”41 or representing British Foreign Minister Sir Edward Grey (1862-1933) as Dorian Gray from the eponymous novel by Oscar Wilde (1854-1900): Grey’s immoral war policy does not leave any visible marks on his face while his hidden portrait reveals his real nature: a depraved face and bloody hands, like the fictional Gray.42

The most common technique was exaggeration and distortion. Less important features were reduced and a characteristic trait was magnified in order to produce a humorous effect.43 An example widely used in German propaganda was the small stature of Victor Emmanuel III, King of Italy (1869-1947). In one cartoon he was even reduced to the size of a baby, sitting helplessly on the knees of his wife who consoles him after the defeat at Caporetto with the words: “Hushaby, what shall we do? We shall join grandpa Nikita.”44 Nikola I, King of Montenegro (1840-1921), was her father who had already capitulated, and lived in exile in Lyon. The small king was the symbol of a country which was hopelessly overstrained by the war.

Association and incongruity created surprise out of the disparate and anomalous elements. In an Italian cartoon, German soldiers are paving a street in occupied territory using skulls instead of stones.45 Transposition, alienation and disguise transfer persons into a new context, another social or historical setting. Examples are Austrian and British cartoons presenting the enemy’s leaders as a circus variety troupe – a very appropriate picture because they had to perform ingenious tricks in order to have their peoples accept more and more privations and sacrifices. In the Austrian caricature one sees King Peter I. Karadjordjević (1844-1921) and Nicholas of Montenegro playing tragi-comic clowns; Albert I, King of the Belgians (1875-1934), falling from a ladder; and the Parisians, afraid of the German invasion, inventing the shaking dance. In 1917, the British, probably inspired by the Austrian model of 1914, had Kaiser Wilhelm dance on a revolving globe; his chancellor manipulate rationing cards; General Hindenburg swallow nails; and the Austrian Kaiser sing the “Rhapsodie hongroise”. An example of a historical setting is Kaiser Wilhelm as a pirate menacing free shipping.46

Narration is realized in comic strips. An American cartoon shows a German setting a dog called Revolution on a Russian, but, after killing the Russian, the dog returns and attacks the German as well.47 Contradiction twists things around, image and text do not coincide, metaphors are mixed, and the logic is displaced. After the declaration of war by Romania in August 1916 a caricature in the Simplicissimus shows the sinking ship of the Allies, full of ugly rats, with Romania as another rat climbing on the ship. The commentary says: “The last rat is jumping on the sinking ship of the Entente.” When a ship sinks the rats normally leave, and this classic cliché has been used in a caricature of King Nicholas after his capitulation. In the Romanian case a ship sinks and the rats climb on it against all logic. With the help of a downright paradox a clear advantage of the Allies is being transformed into a catastrophe – a masterful example of psychological brainwashing. As the human sub-conscious also does not think logically and works with transferences – as demonstrated in many dreams – such an image can have a deep influence once it has passed the sphere of reason and established itself in the sub-conscious.48

Playing on contradictions between image and text was a favourite technique of some Russian cartoonists. In a narrative cartoon, German women demonstrating for bread and peace are beaten, dispersed by police and put in jail. In the text the women explain that their patriotic demonstration was welcomed by the Kaiser and that they now live very comfortably.49

Parody and satire are considered as a comic reference to human behaviour, conventions and beliefs. Parody makes fun by means of ironic imitation, whereas satire is more militant, ridiculing and shaming the vices, abuses and shortcomings of individuals and groups. German cartoonists presented the allied soldiers as incompetent or ridiculous, and especially enjoyed mocking the desperate recruiting efforts in Britain before the introduction of conscription. (See “Propaganda at Home and Abroad”, section “How was the enemy ridiculed?”).

Atrocity and Hate Cartoons

The technique of these cartoons was quite simple: they depicted real or invented atrocities by German soldiers or drew up hate cartoons with ugly Germans in disgusting postures, both in a very expressive style. A typical example by Raemaekers is a scene in a French or Belgian village where a visibly insane woman bemoans her dead baby while in the background two old men lie slain on the ground. No text is necessary, because the message was clear: they were killed by the German “Huns”.50 This cartoonist was very skilled in depicting in the faces emotions such as hatred, anger or in this case despair.51 However, he was not able to differentiate: in one of his cartoons Allied soldiers marching over dead bodies look as cruel and fanatical as their German counterparts.52 Furthermore, he presented sadistic violence even in cases which did not really fit. When, in March 1916, a German submarine sank nine neutral ships he commented on this break of neutrality with a gorilla called “The German beast” sitting on the corpses of two violated women.53 While British cartoonists very rarely depicted atrocities, their Italian and French colleagues, especially in the first two years of the war, presented numerous atrocity cartoons as well. In its Christmas edition of 1915 the Italian cartoon magazine Asino depicted the nativity attacked by German soldiers who were spearing Jesus, murdering Mary, strangling Joseph and robbing the donkey of their belongings.54

Even more deceitful than the well-known propaganda lie of the German corpse-conversion-factory55 was a cartoon by Zislin with the title “The Imperial shambles” showing a cruel-looking German butcher selling corpses, hands, feet and heads of German soldiers “directly imported from Verdun” accompanied by the cynical commentary: “No more meat shortage in Germany”.56

The Principal Types of Cartoon Caricatures

The Symbolic Caricatures

Not only John Bull and Marianne were used as symbols, but also kings, statesmen, and generals.57 The cartoonists depicted them as ridiculous or horrid, and then, through this personification, the emotion could be transferred against the people as such. The principal symbol of Germany in the Allied cartoons was not the traditional German “Michel”, who is far too peaceful, but rather Kaiser Wilhelm II, very popular with cartoonists even before the war. In Manichean tendency, caricatures associated him with the negative symbols of devil and death. When he goes to Hell, the devil greets him with the words: “Welcome, Sir, all my personnel are German”, and little monsters with Prussian spiked helmets are flying around. He also shudders because the gallows awaits him.58 The German and Austrian cartoonists responded in similar fashion. Nikolai Nikolaevich, Grand Duke of Russia (1856-1929), the Supreme Commander of the Russian armies, wades in blood, like Macbeth. John Bull, symbol of Britain, ruthlessly oppresses small nations and, by his total blockade of the Central Powers, violates international law. Another symbol is the shopkeeper: “War is a business like any other,” says Sir Edward Grey coldly, with two piles of skulls lying in front of him on the counter.59

The cartoons of the enemy coalition always differentiate between the principal enemy – England or Germany – and their respective allies, who appear as totally oppressed. For example, the French Prime Minister Georges Clemenceau (1841-1929) is depicted as a jack-in-the-box, chained to England, while Francis Joseph I, Emperor of Austria (1830-1916) listens like an obedient dog to his German master’s voice.60 Sometimes even the themes are similar: England or Germany are portrayed sitting in a cart being pulled by their respective allies.61

The Ideological Cartoon Caricatures

The propaganda war between “Kultur” and “Civilization” seems to reveal a real “clash of civilizations” between Germany and the western Allies. No wonder that some researchers also recognize a “clash of humour” between them. It has been claimed that German humourists tried to present a certain superiority over the other peoples and that British cartoons were less combative and more humorous that the German and the French ones.62 However, in German cartoons I could not find such superiority tendencies: they were more characterized by the desperate desire to shake off the overwhelming French influence in fashion, refined food, and high-brow parlance.63 I would, however, concede that the keynote of British cartoons was humour. While the French depicted the German invasion as a sequence of horrid atrocities, the British ridiculed a future German invasion of Britain. In a cartoon book called, “The Hun’s handbook for the Invasion of England” they depicted German soldiers as hopelessly incapable of accomplishing their task while the British calmly continued their usual life.64 With one exception, in August 1914, the leading British satirical magazine Punch did not show atrocities:65 many Englishmen refused Raemaekers’ hate cartoons as un-British and with the exception of Edmund J. Sullivan (1869-1933) no British cartoonist followed in his footsteps.66 Likewise, German cartoonists did not present atrocities, and humorous cartoons of the French and the Italians were not that different from the British ones. The French magazine L’Europe anti-prussienne published exclusively cartoons from allied and neutral countries and had no problem tying in with the French mentality.67 Besides, all cartoonists used the same topics and in some cases even copied from each other. Some examples have already been discussed,68 but there are many more, the most impressive being three caricatures on toys that even contained two exact replicas.69

I would suggest, however, that English humour is better than its German and French counterparts: as the German philosopher Max Scheler (1874-1928) put it: “Is there any humour outside Britain which has not been copied from the British? […] Be that as it may English humour is the most humorous humour in the world.”70 It speaks volumes that this was the only compliment in a most hateful diatribe against Britain. No wonder that German soldiers at the front asked their British counterparts for copies of Haselden’s cartoons.71

Differences between cartoon magazines did not depend on the country but more on the audience. The style of the Simplicissimus which addressed itself to the higher echelons of society had more in common with Punch than with Der wahre Jakob, the organ of the socialist workers, or with the Meggendorfer Blätter appealing to the lower middle class and to children.72

The Social Cartoon Caricatures

In the most famous French cartoon of the war, drawn by Forain, one soldier says to another, “Let us hope that they will hold out. – Who? – The civilians of course.”73 The home front was indeed one of the major problems, and the social cartoons give us much information about which problems tormented the societies in war. The most important question, especially from 1916/1917 on, was the inadequate supply of commodities, especially food. Germany, Austria and Italy were hardest hit, and the cartoonists did not hesitate to criticize this shortage.74 But usually the cartoonists had another function. It was their job to shift the responsibility for these problems from the real culprits – government and bureaucracy – to various scapegoats against whom the people could direct their hatred without calling into question the entire political system.75 Thus, the cartoonists not only fought the enemy abroad, they also fought the enemy at home. I shall now present some of the pertinent caricatures.

In Germany, John Bull with his blockade is presented as responsible for the food shortage but the cartoonists console the population by claiming that German submarine warfare will starve him as well.76 War profiteers were especially hated by the people because they pushed up the prices. In an Italian cartoon, Austrian Emperor Francis Joseph congratulates the Italian food speculator and says, “Bravo, you are working for the Austrian victory.” In another, a fraudulent supplier dining with his mistress in a posh restaurant is asked, “What have you done for the fatherland”? He replies, “I have supplied the army with shoes.” On top, one sees the soldiers’ feet marching either with completely rotten shoes or with no shoes at all.77 Many cartoons mock the nouveau riche and ridicule their pretentiousness, vulgarity, and bad taste.78 Hoarders were ridiculed as well, and in both cases the aim of the cartoonists was not only to disapprove of their behaviour but also to isolate them socially.79 The strikers were accused of aiding and abetting the enemy. In Punch, a British striker tries to stab a soldier in the back and another obtains the German iron cross.80 Pacifists, some of them of socialist leanings – such as members of the Italian Socialist Party, the Independent Social Democrats in Germany (USPD), and the British Union of Democratic Control (UDC) – were accused of high treason and collaboration with the enemy.81 One of the greatest obstacles on the way to peace is depicted in La Baïonnette: a pacifist states that he wants peace on the basis of the status quo before the war, but the war invalid says, “OK, then give me back my lost leg.”82 As compensation for all their losses and privations, the people wished to obtain something in return; they would not accept that they had suffered all those years for nothing. Cartoons also accused shirkers pretending to be sick, blind or mad,83 but the real trick to avoid the trenches – well-placed connections – was not to be shown. In a war which did not seem to end there were more and more defeatists and pessimists, and the cartoonists had to fight them as well.84

Propaganda against spies, a main topic at the beginning of the war, had led to so many errors that cartoonists, except in the United States, later preferred to deride the exaggerated fear of them. In Britain, Alfred Leete (1882-1933) created “Schmidt the Spy”, a ridiculous figure who misunderstands everything. When he sees women fighting each other during the sales he reports to Berlin that a revolution has broken out. In a French cartoon a wife says to her husband, “Can you imagine, our German nanny – that was General von Kluck!” And he replies, “Shocking! Imagine that I deceived you with her!”85 With more and more men in the trenches women had to take their places at home, and the exclusively male cartoonists, feeling somewhat uneasy about these beginnings of emancipation, ridiculed working women. In a British cartoon, they drive cars, construct houses or try to empty a post box against the fierce protest of an aggressive dog.86 In La Baïonnette a man is mending socks, his wife is going to her office and tells him, “Once you have finished, go to the department store, today they have remnants.” A wife reproaches her husband about the expensive tailor’s bill, and he explains, “I hadn’t got a thing to wear any more.”87 The Canard enchaîné mocks at women’s future political rights: a woman tells her husband, “If you are kind and buy me this hat I shall vote for your candidate.”88

The Anti-war Cartoon Caricatures – Le Canard Enchaîné and Glühlichter

Le Canard enchaîné is the only satirical magazine of the war, which still exists to-day.89 It was founded on 4 September 1915, suspended after five issues in November, re-founded on 5 July 1916 and could, one year later, boast a circulation of 40,000.90 It had a very special strategy explained in the first issues of 1915 and 1916. Contrary to other newspapers it would only publish false news and “un-stuff the skulls”. In 1917, it invited its readers to elect the greatest skull-stuffer: they voted for Gustave Hervé (1871-1944), closely followed by Maurice Barrès (1862-1923).91 The main aim of this magazine was to ridicule French war propaganda: it even dared to mock the atrocity stories and mostly succeeded in outwitting the censors.92

In the context of this article I cannot analyse all the sophisticated techniques employed by the Canard,93 but shall concentrate on cartoons only. In the category of the false reports an anonymous cartoon shows a whole battalion of German soldiers with a white flag going to surrender. This event is explained in a story about the murder of a man in Paris. Allegedly the poilus in the trenches were so shattered by this news that they could not sleep at night and had only one desire: to know more details. Even the Germans on the other side were infected by this curiosity. Finally, a whole battalion displayed a white flag and came over to the French lines. Why? Did they want bread? Not at all! They wanted to know if the killers had been arrested.94 By spreading this false news the press was criticized for putting too much attention on a single murder in Paris, while ignoring or at least toning down the hecatombs of French poilus dying every day in the trenches.

Under the title of each issue of the Canard a small duck says to huge scissors, the symbol of censorship, “You will have my feathers, but not my skin.” Surprisingly, the Parisian censors passed quite a few cartoons criticizing them. In one, a charwoman tells her employer, “The wife of the censor, you know, of this guy who makes the white spaces, has just produced a black baby.”95 And when in autumn 1916 the Prime Minister Alexandre Ribot (1842-1923) promised the abolition of political censorship, a cartoon depicts the censor of the Canard committing suicide.96 Other cartoons ridicule the frequent promises of government propaganda that victory is near: two little boys foresee that as adults they will join their papas in the trenches, and, under the title “Don’t worry”, one poilu says to another, “During the Hundred Years War they all died of old age.”97 In its social cartoons the Canard cartoons ridiculed war profiteers, shirkers or food shortages and did not distinguish itself from other newspapers and magazines.

Glühlichter was an Austrian socialist cartoon magazine, comparable to Der wahre Jakob in Germany. In all of its texts and in some of its caricatures it closely followed German and Austrian war propaganda. For instance, it depicted Francs-tireurs on the gallows and German soldiers helping French farmers to plough.98 On the other hand, Glühlichter was the only cartoon magazine that published cartoons severely condemning war and advocating peace. A few examples from 1915 will do: in a cartoon called “Mobilization” by the famous painter Alfred Kubin (1877-1959), a huge, terrifying man jumps over towns and villages.99 In another, a grandfather tells his little grandson, “Yes, my boy, soon we both will be conscripted as well.”100

War itself is represented in an apocalyptic cartoon as an armed monster driving a cart, accompanied by Furies called Murder, Fire, Pestilence, Hunger and Death (shown as the usual skeleton), with jackals, hyenas, and vultures following them. In another cartoon, a huge library is shown, which contains the lists of casualties.101 In contrast, idyllic cartoons depict peace as the eternal bride whom nobody wants to marry or as two innocent children menaced by a huge hand rising from a dark precipice, with a poem directly below with the title “Longing for peace”.102 In a visionary cartoon about the future, “Alliance of the peoples”, workers are dancing around a globe with the title “Solidarity of Labour” and the words “freedom”, “equality” and “fraternity” beside it. A comment proudly maintains, “What will be despite of all that.”103 Additionally, the Glühlichter published social cartoons sharply criticizing the lack of solidarity and the unequal distribution of commodities in Austrian society. Topics include the landlord who on 1 August 1914 embraces the departing soldier, but on 1 February 1915 evicts his widow and her small children; the delivery of huge sacks of coal to a stately mansion, angrily observed by a poor worker’s family obviously lacking this commodity; and two undernourished old men who look at the dining table through a magnifying glass and explain, “After all one wants to see what one eats.”104

Conclusion: How effective was Cartoon Propaganda?

The extraordinary success of the Allied atrocity cartoons has already been outlined and was acknowledged by the Germans as well. In Mein Kampf, Adolf Hitler (1889-1945) heavily criticized the German propaganda approach of ridiculing the enemy and considered Allied hate cartoons as superior.105 In the 1920s and 1930s, Karl d’Ester (1881-1960), a German professor of journalism, supervised several doctoral dissertations about the Allied propaganda in World War I, perhaps in order to improve German propaganda for World War II. In 1935, one of his doctoral candidates wrote, “The cartoons of Raemaekers had more propaganda value than several volumes of English propaganda pamphlets put together.”106

One may wonder if humorous cartoons were really less effective. After all, they comprised the favourite reading matter of soldiers, who impatiently waited for the next issue of a cartoon magazine, and even actively contributed to it by sending jokes and cartoons to the editor. Soldiers and civilians, alike, copied famous cartoons on to house walls or cut and pasted them into scrap books; cartoonists copied and modified them, sometimes with a dedication to the original cartoonist.107 Some cartoon texts even became dicta. The famous words of soldiers about the civilians, “Let us hope that they will hold out”, in the aforementioned cartoon by Forain was quoted approximately thirty times, applied to shoes or to beds.108

Famous cartoons were not only published in newspapers and magazines, but could multiply their propaganda effects on different visual aids: technically transformed, they were shown in cinemas, printed on cigarette packets and painted on shooting targets at schützenfests.109

One is, however, confronted with a methodological problem: cartoons form an integral part of propaganda; they cannot be isolated from other forms of it. Thus, one cannot distinguish precisely if it was a cartoon, a speech or a newspaper article which led to a certain reaction of the addressees. Under this reserve two striking examples about the dramatic results of Allied and German propaganda supported by cartoons will be given here.

In autumn 1917, the German cruiser SMS Brummer attacked a British convoy near the Shetland Islands and sank several British war- and commercial ships. When the cruiser wanted to take aboard surviving British sailors and passengers they panicked, preferred to swim away, and drowned.110 The second example given here is Adolf Hitler.111 After the American declaration of war, German propaganda attempted to inculcate in the German soldier the conviction that the Americans were incapable of intervening in any decisive way in the conflict. Ridiculing cartoons played an important role. According to them, Americans sent only tin soldiers, an incompetent regiment of billionaires and cowboys riding on sea horses. The last of these cartoons was of 14 July 1918, when already more than 500,000 US soldiers were fighting on the Western Front. It is probable that Hitler who according to his own witness in Mein Kampf was familiar with caricatures112 had seen them. In any case he was heavily influenced by anti-American propaganda in general.113 Throughout his life, he held the Americans in very low esteem. Albert Speer (1905-1981), his architect and, during the war, minister of armaments, recalls Hitler making the following remarks in the 1930s:

The Americans had not played a very prominent part in the war of 19l4-18, he thought, and moreover, had not made any great sacrifices of blood. They would certainly not withstand a great trial by fire, for their fighting qualities were low.114

As late as in 1942, after the Americans had launched their successful landing in North Africa, Hitler described the United States as a country “which did not have the necessary morale in order to win the fight for the new world order”115. Hitler’s ridiculing of Woodrow Wilson (1856-1924) as an “apostle of peace”116 and his scoffing at American military utilities corresponds precisely to the line taken by German propaganda in the First World War. No wonder that on 11 December 1941 he declared war on the US, with the disastrous consequences we all know.

Eberhard Demm, Université Jean Moulin Lyon III

Section Editor: David Welch
  1. Schwalbe, Hans-Hermann: Die Grundlagen für die publizistische Bedeutung der Karikatur in Deutschland (thesis), Berlin 1937, p. 9.↑
  2. Taylor Allen, Anne: Satire and Society in Wilhelmine Germany. Kladderadatsch and Simplicissimus 1890-1914, Lexington 1984, pp. 9ff.; Demm, Eberhard: Propaganda through cartoons, in: Karner, Stefan and Lesiak, Philipp (eds.): Erster Weltkrieg. Globaler Konflikt – Lokale Folgen. Neue Perspektiven, Innsbruck 2014, pp. 333-354, here pp. 333ff.; idem, Propaganda and Caricature in the First World War, in: idem (ed.): Ostpolitik und Propaganda im Ersten Weltkrieg, Frankfurt am Main 2002, pp. 27-52, here pp. 30f.↑
  3. Schneider, Franz: Die politische Karikatur, Munich 1988, pp. 26, 48, 62; Hewitson, Mark: Black Humour: Caricature in Wartime, in: Oxford German Studies 41 (2012), pp. 213-235, here p. 217.↑
  4. Ibid., p. 218.↑
  5. Calculated after Schwalbe, Grundlagen 1937, p. 39; I have added the circulation of ULK (250,000), supplement of the Berliner Tageblatt and the Berliner Volks-Zeitung.↑
  6. Hewitson, Black Humour 2012, p. 218.↑
  7. Quoted after Taylor Allen, Satire 1984, p. 11.↑
  8. Demm, Propaganda 2014, pp. 30 f.↑
  9. Ibid., p. 31.↑
  10. Quoted after Weise, Niels: Der “lustige” Krieg. Propaganda in deutschen Witzblättern 1914-1918, Rahden 2004, p. 15.↑
  11. Ibid., p. 29.↑
  12. Schulte Strathaus, Ludwig: Das Bild als Waffe. Die französische Bildpropaganda im Weltkrieg, Würzburg 1938, p. 49.↑
  13. Le Naour, Jean-Yves: Laughter and tears in the Great War: the need for Laughter/the guilt of humour, in: Journal of European Studies 21 (2001), pp. 265-275, here p. 266.↑
  14. Le Rire rouge, 21 November 1914, quoted after Schulte Strathaus, Bild 1938, pp. 34f, online: http://gallica.bnf.fr/ark:/12148/bpt6k64881414 (retrieved: 14 December 2016).↑
  15. Grand-Carteret, John: Verdun, Paris 1916, p. 64, online: http://gallica.bnf.fr/ark:/12148/bpt6k123135q (retrieved: 14 December 2016) quoted after ibid., p. 3.↑
  16. Navet, Françoise: Des journaux sanctionnés pour des dessins non échoppés (1914-1919), in: Guerres mondiales et Conflits contemporains 173 (1994), pp. 35-51; eadem: Censure et dessin de presse en France pendant la Grande Guerre, in: ibid., 197 (2000), pp. 7-19, here p. 7 (quote).↑
  17. Demm, Propaganda 2014, p. 335.↑
  18. Weise, Krieg 2004, pp. 185ff.; Hartwagner, Siegfried: Der Kampf der deutschen Karikatur gegen England im Weltkrieg 1914-18 (thesis), Berlin 1942, pp. 62f.; Weber, Hellmuth: Die politische Karikatur im Dienst der imperialistischen Kriegsführung 1914-1918, in: Wiss. Zeitschrift der Universität Halle 30 (1981), pp. 73-82.↑
  19. Sanders, Michael L. and Taylor, Philip M.: British Propaganda during the First World War 1914-1918, London 1982, pp. 38ff.↑
  20. Ranitz, Ariane de: Louis Raemaekers. “Armed with pen and pencil”. How a Dutch Cartoonist became world famous during the First World War, Roermond 2014, pp. 154ff.↑
  21. Hiley, Nicholas: “A new and vital moral factor”: Cartoon book publishing in Britain during the First World War, in: Hammond, Mary and Towheed, Shafquat (eds.): Publishing in the First World War. Essays in Book History, London 2007, pp. 148-177, here p. 164.↑
  22. Ranitz, Raemaekers 2014, pp. 181ff.↑
  23. Ibid., p. 200, note 107 (quote).↑
  24. Les atrocités allemandes: rapport officiel et in-extenso présenté à M. le Président du Conseil le 7 Janvier 1915, Paris 1915; Escudier, Paul and Richepin, Jean: Le livre rouge des atrocités allemandes d’après les rapports officiels des gouvernements français, anglais et belge par image, Paris 1916; Schulte Strathaus, Bild 1938, pp. 91ff.; Demm, Eberhard: Censorship and Propaganda in World War I and their Impact on Mass Indoctrination until To-day, in: Suchoples, Jarosław and James, Stephanie (eds.): Re-visiting the First World War: Memories and Perspectives, Frankfurt am Main et al. 2016, pp. 439-475, here p. 473.↑
  25. First quote Hewitson, Black Humour 2012, p. 216; Freud, Sigmund: Der Witz und seine Beziehung zum Unbewussten, www.gutenberg.Spiegel.de/buch/der-Witz-und-seine- Beziehung-zum-Unbewussten-933/2 (retrieved 29 August 2016). Modern research has corroborated Freud’s insights, cf. Le Naour, Laughter 2001, pp. 267f.↑
  26. Kessel, Martina: Talking War, debating unity: order, conflict, and Exclusion in “German Humour” in the First World War, in: Kessel, Martina and Merziger, Patrick (eds.): The Politics of Humour. Laughter, inclusion, and exclusion in the Twentieth Century, Toronto et al. 2012, pp. 82-107, here p. 82.↑
  27. Schulte Strathaus, Bild 1938, p. 26.↑
  28. Hiley, Cartoon book 2007, p. 148.↑
  29. Online: www.punch.co.uk./about/ (Retrieved 8 August 2016); Krollpfeiffer, Gert: Die “Lustigen Blätter” im Weltkrieg 1914/1918. Der publizistische Kampf eines deutschen Witzblattes, Munich 1935, p. 42; Hartwagner, Kampf 1942, pp. 64f., 72.↑
  30. Ibid., p. 96; Schulte Strathaus, Bild 1938, p. 39; Topitsch, Klaus: Die Greuelpropaganda in der Karikatur, in: Zühlke, Raoul (ed.): Bildpropaganda im Ersten Weltkrieg, Hamburg 2000, pp. 49-91, here p. 72; Le Naour, Laughter 2001, p. 266.↑
  31. Hiley, Cartoon book 2007, p. 171; Hartwagner, Kampf 1942, p. 72; Schulte Strathaus, Bild 1938, p. 9.↑
  32. Hartwagner, Kampf 1942, pp. 97ff.; Ranitz, Raemaekers 2014, pp. 130ff., 172f.↑
  33. Schneider, Karikatur 1988, pp. 22ff.; Topitsch, Greuel 2000, p. 55.↑
  34. The best collection of this type of cartoons is in Avenarius, Ferdinand: Das Bild als Narr. Die Karikatur in der Völkerverhetzung, Munich 1918.↑
  35. Schneider, Karikatur 1988, pp. 16ff.; Freud, Witz, 933/3; Schwalbe, Grundlagen 1937, p. 46. ↑
  36. Schulte Strathaus, Bild 1938, pp. 84, 104.↑
  37. See images: “Le silencieux Joffre” by Léandre, in: Le Rire Rouge 19 December 1914 and “Hindenburg”, in: Jugend no. 51, 1914, p. 1371, see Demm, Eberhard: Der Erste Weltkrieg in der internationalen Karikatur, Braunschweig 1988, no. 32.↑
  38. Krollpfeiffer, Blätter 1935, pp. 51ff., 85ff., 93; Schulte Strathaus, Bild 1938, pp.103ff., 109; see image: “Deutsche Kriegsanleihe” by G. J. von Hennig, in: Meggendorfer Blätter, 23 March 1916, no. 1317, p. 178, see Demm, Weltkrieg 1988, no. 242.↑
  39. Schwalbe, Grundlagen 1937, p. 15; Krollpfeiffer, Blätter 1935, pp. 53f.; Schulte Strathaus, Bild 1938, p. 86.↑
  40. In the following, I adapt the categories presented by Roukes, Nicholas: Humor in Art. A Celebration of Visual Wit, Worcester1997, pp. 14-16, 120ff. to the war cartoons; see also Knieper, Thomas: Die politische Karikatur, Köln 2002, pp. 72ff. and Freud, Witz 933/1.↑
  41. Illustration “Le clownprince” by Cappiello, in: La Baïonnette 22 July 1915, see Schulte Strathaus, Bild 1938, p. 95.↑
  42. Illustration “Dorian Grey’s Bildnis” by Rudolf Herrmann, in: Muskete, 4 February 1915, online: http://anno.onb.ac.at/cgi-content/anno?aid=mus&datum=19150204&seite=1 (retrieved 13 December 2016).↑
  43. See also Freud, Witz 933/6; Schneider, Karikatur 1988, p. 32; Schwalbe, Grundlagen 1937, pp. 9ff.↑
  44. See image “Teutoburg am Isonzo” by Walter Trier, in: Lustige Blätter no. 46, 1917, see Demm, Weltkrieg 1988, no. 68.↑
  45. Illustration “La grande civilisation allemande” by Musini, in: Numero, 29 November 1914, see Demm, Weltkrieg 1988, no. 329.↑
  46. “Variété-Saison 1914” by Willy Stieborsky, in: Muskete 17 December 1914, online: http://anno.onb.ac.at/cgi-content/anno?aid=mus&datum=19141217&seite=5 (retrieved 13 December 2016); See image “The Potsdam Variety troupe” by Bernard Partridge, in: Punch’s Almanach for 1917, p. 17f.; “The Bread-Winner” by L. Raven-Hill, in: Punch 3 March 1915, online: https://archive.org/stream/punchvol148a149lemouoft#page/162/mode/2up (retrieved: 14 December 2016) see Demm, Weltkrieg 1988, no. 1, p. 151.↑
  47. See image “Dog-gone it” by Claude Shaver, in Cincinnati Post, reprinted in Hecht, George, War in Cartoons, New York 1919, see Demm, Weltkrieg 1988, no. 57.↑
  48. See image “Die erste Ratte verlässt den Entente-Segler” by G. Randt, in: Kladderadatsch, 30 Janaury 1915, no. 5; illustration “Die letzte Ratte besteigt das sinkende Schiff” by Wilhelm Schulz, in: Simplicissimus, 19 September 1916, vol 21, p. 308, online: http://www.simplicissimus.info/uploads/tx_lombkswjournaldb/pdf/1/21/21_25.pdf (retrieved: 14 December 2016) both in Demm, Weltkrieg 1988, no. 90.↑
  49. Illustration in: Loukoumorie no. 44, 1916, p. 20, see Demm, Weltkrieg 1988, no. 236.↑
  50. See image “Mater dolorosa” by Raemaekers, in: F. Stopford, Raemaekers cartoons, New York 1916, p. 87 or: La Baïonnette 32, 10 February 1916, numéro special entièrement consacré à Raemaekers, p. 81.↑
  51. Ranitz, Raemaekers 2014, p. 263.↑
  52. Illustration “Le chemin de la victoire. Pour la France et pour la civilisation” by Raemaekers, F. Stopford, Raemaekers cartoons, New York 1916, p. 87; see image “Liberté! Liberté! Cherié!” by Raemaekers, Louis Raemaekers Foundation.↑
  53. Illustration “La bête allemande” by Raemaekers, in: Avenarius, Bild 1918, p. 174.↑
  54. Schulz-Besser, Ernst: Die Karikatur im Weltkriege, Leipzig 1915, pp. 101ff, online: http://onlinebooks.library.upenn.edu/webbin/gutbook/lookup?num=52299 (retrieved: 14 December 2016).↑
  55. See image “Cannon-Fodder – and after” by Leonard Raven-Hill, in: Punch, 25 April 1917, p. 267.↑
  56. See image “La Boucherie Impériale” by Henri Zislin, Album vol. 1, Paris 1916, p. 3.↑
  57. See for the following Demm, Weltkrieg 1988, pp.7f.; idem, Caricature 2002, pp. 43ff.; idem, Propaganda 2014, pp. 336ff. ↑
  58. See images “A Deal with the Devil”, “Dancing Partners” and “Lost in the Wood” by Edmund J. Sullivan (1869-1933), in: The Kaiser’s Garland, London 1915, pp. 27, 43, 83; “A la droite du diable” by A. Roubille, in: Le Rire, 25 November 1916, see Demm, Weltkrieg 1988, nos 17, 19, 20, 23.↑
  59. Illustration “Macbeth-Nikolajewitsch” by Thomas Theodor Heine, in: Simplicissimus, vol. 20, no. 4, 27 April 1915, 37, online: http://www.simplicissimus.info/uploads/tx_lombkswjournaldb/pdf/1/20/20_04.pdf (retrieved: 14 December 2016); see image “Ludwig XIV: L’Etat c’est moi – John Bull: Das Völkerrecht bin ich” by A. Johnson, in: Kladderadatsch no. 34, 1915; illustration “Hüter des Völkerrechts” by Olaf Gulbransson, in: Simplicissimus 19/20, 1914, p. 328, see Demm, Weltkrieg 1988, nos. 53, 45, 366, online: http://www.simplicissimus.info/uploads/tx_lombkswjournaldb/pdf/1/19/19_20.pdf (retrieved: 14 December 2016).↑
  60. See image “Clemenceau, l‘homme enchainé” by Johannes Bahr, in: Kladderadatsch, 6 January 1918; illustration “La voix de son maître” by Merger, in: Ruy Blas, 18 July 1915, see Demm, Weltkrieg 1988, nos. 12, 13.↑
  61. See image “The God in the cart” by L. Ravenhill, in: Punch, 6 January 1918, p. 3; illustration “Der neue Geschäftsführer” by Ragnvald Blix, in: Simplicissimus, vol. 22, no. 40, 1 January 1918, p. 504, online: http://www.simplicissimus.info/uploads/tx_lombkswjournaldb/pdf/1/22/22_40.pdf (retrieved: 14 December 2016) see Demm, Weltkrieg 1988, nos. 5, 6.↑
  62. Kessel, Martina: Laughing about death? German Humor in the 2 World Wars, in: Confino, Alon et al. (eds.): Between Mass Death and Individual Loss. The Place of the Dead in 20th Century Germany, New York and Oxford 2008, pp. 199ff.; Kessel, Talking War 2012, p. 82; Hiley, Cartoon book 2007, pp. 148ff., 155.↑
  63. See images “Willkommen deutsche Mode. Auch diese Carrébildung hilft zum Siege” by August Hadjuk, in: Ulk, 11 February 1916; the British answer: “Fashions in the new Germany” by Frank Reynolds, in: Punch’s Almanach January 1917, both in Demm, Weltkrieg 1988, no. 370, 371.↑
  64. Hiley, Cartoon book 2007, p. 160.↑
  65. The exception: see image “The Triumph of Culture” by Bernard Partridge, in: Punch, 23 August 1915, see Topitsch, Greuel 2000, pp. 53f.↑
  66. Ranitz, Raemaekers 2014, pp. 126ff.; Hiley, Cartoon book 2007, pp. 168ff.↑
  67. See for instance image “Nouvelle Armée du Salut”, in: Europe antiprussienne, 20 February 1915 (reprint of an American cartoon), see Demm, Weltkrieg 1988, no. 335.↑
  68. See above section 4.1.↑
  69. See images “Kamelotland” by Henriot, in: La Baïonnette 1916, p. 359 and “Aus unserer Spielzeugschachtel”, in: Lustige Blätter 1915, no. 49 and illustration “A few suggestions for new popular toys” by T. Maybank, in: The Passing Show 4 March 1916, p. 8, see Demm, Weltkrieg, nos. 203, 204, 205; further examples ibid., no. 147, 148, 326, 328.↑
  70. Scheler, Max: Der Genius des Krieges und der deutsche Krieg, Leipzig 1917, p. 402, online: https://archive.org/details/dergeniusdeskrie00sche (retrieved: 1 December 2016).↑
  71. Hiley, Cartoon book 2007, p. 155.↑
  72. A few remarks by Schwalbe, Grundlagen 1937, p. 47.↑
  73. See image “Inquiétude. Pourvu qu’ils tiennent…” by Jean Louis Forain, in: L’Opinion, 9 January 1915, see Demm, Weltkrieg 1988, no. 166.↑
  74. See examples in Demm, Weltkrieg 1988, nos. 221,224, 231.↑
  75. Demm, Propaganda 2014, p. 349; Hewitson, Black Humour 2012, p. 228.↑
  76. Illustration “John Bulls Hungerkrieg” by Johannes Bahr, in: Kladderadatsch, vol. 71, no. 11, 17 March 1918, online: http://digi.ub.uni-heidelberg.de/diglit/kla1918/0129?sid=0226e42cd9ce09902bc596c8e90d3316 (retrieved: 14 December 2016) see Demm, Weltkrieg 1988, no. 210.↑
  77. Illustrations “Il caro viveri” by R. Langari, in: Asino vol. 25, no. 47, 15 November 1916, p. 1; Carlin, in: Numero, no. 100, 21 November 1915, see Demm, Weltkrieg 1988, nos. 273, 271.↑
  78. Illustration “Kriegsgewinnler” by Ragnvald Blix, in: Simplicissimus 23, 2 July 1918, p. 169, online: http://www.simplicissimus.info/uploads/tx_lombkswjournaldb/pdf/1/23/23_14.pdf (retrieved: 14 December 2016); see image “Profiteer”, in: Punch 2 January 1918, p. 16, see Demm, Weltkrieg 1988, no. 277, 276.↑
  79. See image “Familie Hamster in ihrem Bau” by Erich Wilke, in: Jugend no. 18, 1916, p. 364, see Demm, Weltkrieg 1988, no. 282; Robert, Jean Louis: The Image of the Profiteers, in: idem and Winter, Jay (eds.): Capital Cities at War: Paris, London, Berlin 1914-1919, Cambridge 1997, pp. 104-132, here p. 117; Hewitson, Black Humour 2012, p. 230.↑
  80. See images “For services rendered. A German decoration for British strikers”, in: Punch, 23 May 1917, p. 337; “The traitor”, Bernard Partridge, in: Punch, 2 October 1918, p. 216, see Demm, Weltkrieg 1988, nos. 296, 297.↑
  81. Illustrations “Friedensapostel” by Thomas Theodor Heine, in: Simplicissimus, vol. 19, no. 16, 20 July 1915, p. 182, online: http://www.simplicissimus.info/uploads/tx_lombkswjournaldb/pdf/1/20/20_16.pdf (retrieved: 14 December 2016); “La nuova Triplice Italiana” by Nirsol, in: Numero, no. 41, 4 October 1914; “A voluntary handicap” by O. Avesi, in: Passing Show, 17 November 1917, p. 275; “Haase und Genossen” by Thomas Theodor Heine, in: Simplicissimus, vol. 21, no. 2, 11 April 1916, p. 19, online: http://www.simplicissimus.info/uploads/tx_lombkswjournaldb/pdf/1/21/21_02.pdf (retrieved: 14 December 2016); see image “Stage Manager” by F.H. Townsend, in: Punch, 20 June 1917, p. 399; all in Demm, Weltkrieg 1988, nos. 247, 258, 260, 261, 248.↑
  82. See image “Pacifiste” by Henriot, in: La Baïonnette no. 57, 3 August 1916, p. 487, see Demm, Weltkrieg 1988, no. 253.↑
  83. See Demm, Weltkrieg 1988, no. 287, 289, 290.↑
  84. See image “Les pessimistes” by Léandre, in: La Baïonnette 23 Septembre 1915; F. H. Townsend, in: Punch, 20 October 1915, p. 325, see Demm, Weltkrieg 1988, no. 292.↑
  85. Hiley, Cartoon book 2007, pp. 157f.; See images “The populace in London has risen” and “Drastic measures for the defence of London are discovered” in Leete, Alfred: Schmidt the Spy and his messages to Berlin, London 1916, p. 14; see image “Trahison” by Paul Iribe, in: La Baïonnette, 6 July 1916, p. 432; see Demm, Weltkrieg 1988, nos. 305, 300.↑
  86. Illustration “For men must fight and women must – work” by G. E. Studdy, in: Passing Show, 1 May 1915, p. 12, see Demm, Weltkrieg 1988, no. 185.↑
  87. See image “Elles tiendront” by Léonnec, in: La Baïonnette no. 124, 15 November 1917, pp. 728-729.↑
  88. Illustration “Les femmes aux urnes”, in: Le Canard enchaîné 2, no. 35, 28 February 1917.↑
  89. I could only consult the editions of 1915-1917, online: http://digital.staatsbibliothek-berlin.de/suche?queryString=PPN783895224 (retrieved 15 August 2016), and I followed the excellent study by Douglas, Allen: War, Memory and the Politics of Humor. Le Canard Enchaîné and World War I, Berkeley et al. 2002.↑
  90. Douglas, Canard 2002, pp. 15, 24.↑
  91. Coin!Coin!Coin!, in: Le Canard enchaîné 1/no. 1, 10 September 1915; La Rédaction: Re-Présentation, ibid., 1 [sic], no. 1, 5 July 1916; Douglas, Canard 2002, pp. 51ff.↑
  92. For instance: La main coupée. Conte à dormir debout, in: Le Canard enchaîné 1, no. 4, 15 October 1915; sometimes censors intervened, but not more than in other magazines.↑
  93. See for this, Douglas, Canard 2002.↑
  94. Ville-d’Avray, Henry de la: Un homme est tué à Paris. Indescriptible émotion sur la ligne de feu, in: Le Canard Enchaîné 1, no. 10, 6 September 1916; see also Douglas, Canard 2002, p. 94.↑
  95. See image “C’est bien fait!”, in: Le Canard enchaîné 1, no. 9, 30 August 1916.↑
  96. Illustration “Suicide dramatique du censeur du Canard Enchaîné”, by Henri-Paul Gassier, in: Le Canard enchaîné 2, no. 39, 28 March 1917.↑
  97. Illustrations “Doux espoirs”, ibid., 2, no. 28, 10 January 1917, p. 2; see image “T’en fais pas”, by Henri-Paul Gassier, ibid., 2, no. 29, 17 January 1917.↑
  98. I could only consult the year 1915, online: http://anno.onb.ac.at/cgi-content/anno?aid=glu&datum=1915&zoom=33 (retrieved 30 August 2016); Illustrations “Der Franktireur” by Anton Babion, in: Glühlichter XIX, 2, 14 January 1915, online: http://anno.onb.ac.at/cgi-content/anno?aid=glu&datum=19150114&seite=2 (retrieved 13 December 2016); “Im Felde da ist der Mann noch was wert” by D. R. Andre, ibid., 4, 25 February 1915, online: http://anno.onb.ac.at/cgi-content/anno?aid=glu&datum=19150225&seite=1 (retrieved 13 December 2016).↑
  99. Illustration “Mobilisierung” by Alfred Kubin, ibid. 2, 14 January 1915, online: http://anno.onb.ac.at/cgi-content/anno?aid=glu&datum=19150114&seite=3 (retrieved 13 December 2016).↑
  100. Illustration “Zwei, an die man nicht gedacht hat” by D.R. Andre, ibid, online: http://anno.onb.ac.at/cgi-content/anno?aid=glu&datum=19150114&seite=1 (retrieved 13 December 2016).↑
  101. Illustrations “Der Krieg und sein Gefolge” by George Karau, ibid, online: http://anno.onb.ac.at/cgi-content/anno?aid=glu&datum=19150114&seite=4 (retrieved 13 December 2016); “Bibliothek der Verlustlisten” by Corvin, ibid., 4, 11 February 1915, online: http://anno.onb.ac.at/cgi-content/anno?aid=glu&datum=19150211&seite=4 (retrieved 13 December 2016).↑
  102. Illustrations “Die ewige Braut” by George Karau, ibid., 3, 28 January 1915, online: http://anno.onb.ac.at/cgi-content/anno?aid=glu&datum=19150128&seite=1 (retrieved 13 December 2016); “Die Kinder der Gegenwart” by Anton Babion, ibid., 2, 14 January 1915, online: http://anno.onb.ac.at/cgi-content/anno?aid=glu&datum=19150114&seite=2 (retrieved 13 December 2016).↑
  103. Illustration “Der Weltbund der Völker” by Walter Crane, ibid., online: http://anno.onb.ac.at/cgi-content/anno?aid=glu&datum=19150114&seite[1]=8 (retrieved 13 December 2016).↑
  104. Illustrations “Der Hausherr 1. August, 1. Februar” by Rudolf Hermann, ibid., 3, 28 January, online: http://anno.onb.ac.at/cgi-content/anno?aid=glu&datum=19150128&seite=8 (retrieved 13 December 2016); “Man will doch auch sehen, was man ißt” by Corvin, ibid., 5, 25 February 1915, online: http://anno.onb.ac.at/cgi-content/anno?aid=glu&datum=19150225&seite=4 (retrieved 13 December 2016).↑
  105. Hitler, Adolf: Mein Kampf, volume 1, Munich 1933, p. 204.↑
  106. Wanderscheck, Hermann: Weltkrieg und Propaganda, Berlin 1935, p. 171; see also Lasswell, Harold D.: Propaganda Technique in the First World War, New York 1938, p. 171, online: https://hdl.handle.net/2027/mdp.39015000379902 (retrieved: 14 December 2016).↑
  107. Krollpfeiffer, Blätter 1935, pp. 86ff.; Schulte Strathaus, Bild 1938, pp. 117, 121, 194; Hartwagner, Kampf 1942, p. 66; Kessel, Talking War 2012, p. 86; eadem, Laughing 2008, pp. 203f.; Hiley, Cartoon book 2007, p. 153.↑
  108. Schulte Strathaus, Bild 1938, pp. 117; Illustration “Le sommier de Mimi et la guerre” by Lucien Laforge, in : Le Canard enchaîné 1, no. 9, 30 August 1916.↑
  109. Ranitz, Raemaekers 2014, pp. 142, 166; Hartwagner, Kampf 1942, pp. 101f.↑
  110. Meinert Davids, Müller: Erlebnisse bei einem Vorstoß nach den Shetlandinseln an Bord SMS Brummer, 17. Oktober 1917, in: Weise, Krieg 2004, p. 134.↑
  111. See for the following, Demm, Weltkrieg 1988, p. 16; idem, Propaganda 2002, pp. 51f.; idem, Propaganda 2014, pp. 353f.↑
  112. See above and note 105. No information about that question in: Weber, Thomas: Hitlers erster Krieg, Berlin 2011 [English 2010].↑
  113. My view accepted by Weise, Krieg 2004, p. 6.↑
  114. Speer, Albert: Inside the Third Reich, New York 1970, p. 145.↑
  115. Picker, Henry: Hitlers Tischgespräche im Führerhauptquartier 1941-1942, edited by Andreas Hillgruber, Munich 1968, 13 May 1942, p. 137.↑
  116. Kuhn, Axel: Hitlers außenpolitisches Programm. Entstehung und Entwicklung 1919-1939, Stuttgart 1970, pp. 131ff.↑
Eberhard Demm: Caricatures, in: 1914-1918-online. International Encyclopedia of the First World War, ed. by Ute Daniel, Peter Gatrell, Oliver Janz, Heather Jones, Jennifer Keene, Alan Kramer, and Bill Nasson, issued by Freie Universität Berlin, Berlin 2016-12-19. DOI: 10.15463/ie1418.11023

This text is licensed under: CC by-NC-ND 3.0 Germany - Attribution, Non-commercial, No Derivative Works.

Note

Images35

“A deal with the devil“, caricature
Kaiser Wilhelm II leaves the devils office, having sold his soul by way of an “I.O.U.” reading: “myself and mine, body and soul, Wilhelm”.
Sullivan, Edmund J.: A deal with the devil, caricature, in: The Kaiser’s Garland, London 1915, p. 27; source: Internet Archive, https://archive.org/details/kaisersgarland00sull; contributed by Eberhard Demm.
This file has been identified as Public Domain Mark 1.0: http://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/mark/1.0/.

“Pourvu qu’ils tiennent. – Qui ça? – Les civils”, caricature
An illustration by Jean-Louis Forain (1852-1931) of two soldiers in conversation, published in L’Opinion on 9 January 1915. The caption reads: “Pourvu qu’ils tiennent. – Qui ça? – Les civils” (Let’s hope they can hold out. – Who do you mean? – The civilians).
Forain, Jean-Louis: Illustration L’Opinion, 9 January 1915; source: coll. La contemporaine (former BDIC); contributed by Joëlle Beurier.
Courtesy of coll. La contemporaine (former BDIC).

“Le Silencieux Joffre”, caricature
After his victory at the Marne, periodicals heaped praise over General Joseph Joffre. Le Rire Rouge printed this caricature of Joffre on its 19 December 1914 cover. The text reads: “Le Silencieux Joffre. Il ne dit rien, mais chacun l’entend!”
Léandre, Ch.: Le silencieux Joffre, in: Le Rire Rouge, Paris, 19 December 1914; source: coll. La contemporaine (former BDIC), 2012-112424, via Gallica, http://gallica.bnf.fr/ark:/12148/bpt6k6488145s; contributed by Eberhard Demm.
Courtesy of coll. La contemporaine (former BDIC).

“Lost in the Wood“, caricature
Kaiser Wilhelm II tramples on human skulls, lost in a forest of makeshift crosses.
Sullivan, Edmund J.: Lost in the Wood, caricature, in: The Kaiser’s Garland, London 1915, p. 83; source: Internet Archive, https://archive.org/details/kaisersgarland00sull; contributed by Eberhard Demm.
This file has been identified as Public Domain Mark 1.0: http://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/mark/1.0/.

”A la droite du diable”, caricature
In the French magazine Le Rire, Kaiser Wilhelm II is greeted by the devil in hell: “Welcome, Sir, all my personnel are German”.
Roubille, A.: A la droite du diable, in: Le Rire Rouge, Paris, 25 November 1916; source: coll. La contemporaine (former BDIC), 2012-112424, via Gallica, http://gallica.bnf.fr/ark:/12148/bpt6k62446626; contributed by Eberhard Demm.
Courtesy of coll. La contemporaine (former BDIC).

“Das Völkerrecht – bin ICH!” caricature
The German satirical magazine Kladderadatsch mocked Britain’s violations of international law by having John Bull utter a modified version of Louis XIV’s (falsely attributed) quip “l’etat c’est moi”: “Das Völkerrecht – bin ICH!” (“International law – am I!”)
Johnson, A.: Ludwig XIV.: L’Etat c’est moi! in: Kladderadatsch, 22 August 1915, no. 34, p. 538; source: Universitätsbibliothek Heidelberg, http://digi.ub.uni-heidelberg.de/diglit/kla, contributed by Eberhard Demm.
This file is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 Germany license: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/de/deed.en.

”Clémenceau, l‘homme enchaîné”, caricature
Cartoons of enemy coalitions often differentiated between a principal adversary (England/Germany) and its respective allies. In this instance, the French Prime Minister Georges Clemenceau is chained to England.
Bahr: Clémenceau, l‘homme enchaîné, in: Kladderadatsch, 6 January 1918, no. 1, p. 5; source: Universitätsbibliothek Heidelberg, http://digi.ub.uni-heidelberg.de/diglit/kla; contributed by Eberhard Demm.
This file is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 Germany license: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/de/deed.en.

“Kultur or Death”, caricature
The French magazine “L’Europe anti-prussienne” published exclusively cartoons from allied and neutral countries. In this caricature a German marching band passes through a village ravaged by war and death waving banners and banging a drum. The drum and banners read: “Come and be cultured – Kultur or Death – if we shoot you its only for your good”, “Deutsche Kultur for all – no other like it”.
Uknown artist: Kultur or Death, illustration, in: L’Europe anti-prussienne, 20 February 1915; source: coll. La contemporaine (former BDIC); contributed by Eberhard Demm.
Courtesy of coll. La contemporaine (former BDIC).

“Wilkommen, deutsche Mode!” cartoon
German satirical magazines were desperate to shake off the overwhelming French influence in fashion, refined food, and high-brow parlance. This cartoon entices readers to buy German clothing products: “Wilkommen, deutsche Mode! Auch diese Karreebildung hilft mit zum Siege!“ (“Welcome German fashion! These square patterns can also help for victory!”)
Hadjuk, August: Wilkommen, deutsche Mode! cartoon, in: Ulk, 11 February 1916, cover; source: Universitätsbibliothek Heidelberg, http://digi.ub.uni-heidelberg.de/diglit/ulk, contributed by Eberhard Demm.
This file is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 Germany license: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/de/deed.en.

“Kamelotland”, caricature
Cartoonists across national borders often used the same topics and in some cases even copied from each other. An impressive example of this are caricatures on children’s toys.
Henriot: Kamelotland, caricature, in: La Baionnete, 1916, p. 359; source: coll. La contemporaine (former BDIC); contributed by Eberhard Demm.
Courtesy of coll. La contemporaine (former BDIC).

“Aus unserer Spielzeugschachtel”, caricature
Cartoonists across national borders often used the same topics and in some cases even copied from each other. An impressive example of this are caricatures on children’s toys.
Unknown artist: Aus unserer Spielzeugschachtel, in: Lustige Blätter, 1915, no. 49, p. 10; source: Universitätsbibliothek Heidelberg, http://digi.ub.uni-heidelberg.de/diglit/lb; contributed by Eberhard Demm.
This file is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 Germany license: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/de/deed.en.

Paul von Hindenburg, illustration
After his victory at Tannenberg in autumn 1914, German artists began portraying Field Marshal Paul von Hindenburg as a German father-figure.
Unknown artist: von Hindenburg, colored print, in: Die Jugend, no. 51, p. 1371; source: Universitätsbibliothek Heidelberg http://digi.ub.uni-heidelberg.de/diglit/jugend1914_2/0500; contributed by Eberhard Demm.
This file is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 Germany license: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/de/deed.en

“Deutsche Kriegsanleihe”, caricature
The Meggendorfer Blätter show a queue of people disregarding the French, Italian, English and Russian war loans to queue up for the German ones.
Hennig, G. J. von: Deutsche Kriegsanleihe, colored print, in: Meggendorfer Blätter, 23 March 1916, no. 1317, p. 178; source: Universitätsbibliothek Heidelberg, http://digi.ub.uni-heidelberg.de/diglit/meggendorfer104/0191, contributed by Eberhard Demm.
This file is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 Germany license: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/de/deed.en

“Teutoburg am Isonzo“, caricature
The German satirical magazine “Lustige Blätter” lampooned Victor Emmanuel III, King of Italy after the Italian defeat at Caporetto, referencing the Roman defeat to the Germanic tribes at the battle of the Teutoburg forest in 9 A.D. “Cadorna, Cadorna, give me back my legions”.
“Teutoburg am Isonzo. Cadorna, Cadorna, gieb mir meine Legionen wieder!”.
Trier, Walter: Teutoburg am Isonzo, colored print, in: Lustige Blätter, no. 46, 1917; source: Universitätsbibliothek Heidelberg, http://digi.ub.uni-heidelberg.de/diglit/lb32/0740, contributed by Eberhard Demm.
This file is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 Germany license: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/de/deed.en.

“Die erste Ratte verlässt den Entente-Segler“, caricature
When king Nikola I of Montenegro fled to France in January 1916, the German satirical magazine Kladderadatsch printed a cartoon of a rat leaving the sinking ship of the Entente.
Randt, G.: Die erste Ratte verlässt den Entente-Segler, in: Kladderadatsch, 30 January 1916, no. 5, cover; source: Universitätsbibliothek Heidelberg, http://digi.ub.uni-heidelberg.de/diglit/kla, contributed by Eberhard Demm.
This file is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 Germany license: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/de/deed.en.

“La Boucherie Impériale”, caricature
This French cartoon by Henri Zislin shows a German butcher selling corpses “imported from Verdun”. The subheading reads: “No more meat shortage in Germany”.
Zislin, Henri: La Boucherie Impériale, caricature, in: Galli, H. (ed.): L’album Zislin: Dessins de guerre, Paris 1916; source: Gallica, Bibliothèque nationale de France, BNUStr017, http://gallica.bnf.fr/ark:/12148/bpt6k9437193s; contributed by Eberhard Demm.
This image has been identified as public domain.

“Dancing Partners“, caricature
Dressed as court jesters, Kaiser Wilhelm II and death, in the form of a skeleton, dance on corpses wearing Prussian spiked helmets.
Sullivan, Edmund J.: Dancing Partners, in: The Kaiser’s Garland, London 1915, p. 43; source: Internet Archive, https://archive.org/details/kaisersgarland00sull; contributed by Eberhard Demm.
This file has been identified as Public Domain Mark 1.0: http://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/mark/1.0/.

“Familie Hamster in ihrem Bau“, caricature
Throughout the war, German illustrated magazines such as “Jugend” lampooned war profiteers and hoarders driving up prices for food. This cartoon is titled: “The Hamster family in its den.”
Wilke, Erich: Familie Hamster in ihrem Bau, in: Jugend, 1916, no. 18, p. 364; source: Universitätsbibliothek Heidelberg, http://digi.ub.uni-heidelberg.de/diglit/jugend, contributed by Eberhard Demm.
This file is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 Germany license: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/de/deed.en.

Pacifiste, caricature
Pacifists, accused of high treason and collaboration with the enemy, aroused much anger in warring nations.
Henriot, caricature, in: La Baionnette, 3 August 1916, no. 57, p.487; source: coll. La contemporaine (former BDIC); contributed by Eberhard Demm.
Courtesy of coll. La contemporaine (former BDIC).

“The populace in London has risen”, caricature
Spy propaganda, especially at the beginning of the conflict, was so misinformed that cartoonists later preferred to deride the exaggerated fears spies engendered in the population. Alfred Leete (1882-1933) created “Schmidt the Spy”, a ridiculous figure who misconstrues everything. Upon seeing women fighting each other during a sale, he reports to Berlin: “Revolution has broken out in London.”
Leete, Alfred: The populace in London has risen, in: Leete, Alfred: Schmidt the spy and his messages to Berlin, London 1916, p. 51; source: Internet Archive, https://archive.org/details/schmidtspyhismes00leet; contributed by Eberhard Demm.
This file has been identified as Public Domain Mark 1.0: http://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/mark/1.0/.

“Drastic measures for the defence of London are discovered”, caricature
Spy propaganda, especially at the beginning of the conflict, was so misinformed that cartoonists later preferred to deride the exaggerated fears spies engendered in the population. Alfred Leete (1882-1933) created “Schmidt the Spy”, a ridiculous figure who misconstrues everything.
Leete, Alfred: Drastic measures for the defence of London are discovered, in: Leete, Alfred: Schmidt the spy and his messages to Berlin, London 1916, p. 15; source: Internet Archive, https://archive.org/details/schmidtspyhismes00leet; contributed by Eberhard Demm.
This file has been identified as Public Domain Mark 1.0: http://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/mark/1.0/.

“Trahison”, caricature
Spy propaganda, especially at the beginning of the conflict, was so misinformed that cartoonists later preferred to deride the exaggerated fears spies engendered in the population. In a cartoon published in the French magazine La Baionnette, a wife says to her husband: “Can you imagine, our German nanny – that was General von Kluck!” He replies: “Shocking! Imagine that I deceived you with her!”
Iribe, Paul: Trahison, caricature, in: La Baionnette, 6 July 1916, p. 432; source: coll. La contemporaine (former BDIC); contributed by Eberhard Demm.
Courtesy of the coll. La contemporaine (formerly BDIC).

“Elles tiendront”, caricature
Male cartoonists seemed to feel somewhat uneasy about emancipatory developments during the war. In La Baionnette a man mends his socks as his wife is about to go to work. “Once you have finished, go to the department store, today they have remnants.” Another wife reproaches her husband about the expensive tailor’s bill. He tries to explain: “I hadn’t got a thing to wear any more.”
Léonnec: Elles tiendront, caricature, in: La Baionnette, no. 124, 15 November 1917, pp. 728-729; source: coll. La contemporaine (former BDIC); contributed by Eberhard Demm.
Courtesy of coll. La contemporaine (former BDIC).

“C’est bien fait!”, caricature
Surprisingly, the Parisian censors let pass quite a few critical cartoons. In Le Canard enchaîné, a charwoman tells her employer: “’Vous savez, la femme du censeur… du type qui fait les blancs?’ ‘Oui, eh bien?’ ‘Alle vient d’pondre un noir!’ (“’You know, the censor’s wife … the guy who makes the whites?’ ‘Yes, well?’ ‘She has just had a black baby!’”)
Unknown artist: C’est bien fait! Caricature, in: Le Canard enchaîné, year 1, no. 9, 30 August 1916; source: coll. La contemporaine (former BDIC), contributed by Eberhard Demm.
Courtesy of coll. La contemporaine (former BDIC).

“T’en fais pas!”, caricature
Under the title of each issue of Le Canard enchaîné, a small duck defies a pair of huge scissors symbolizing press censorship: “You will have my feathers, but not my skin.” This cartoon ridicules the government’s frequent promises of near victory: “Don’t worry – During the Hundred Years’ War they all died of old age.”
Gassier, Henri-Paul: C’est bien fait! Caricature, in: Le Canard enchaîné, year 2, no. 29, 17 January 1917; source: coll. La contemporaine (former BDIC), contributed by Eberhard Demm.
Courtesy of coll. La contemporaine (former BDIC).

“Dog-Gone it”, caricature
The American cartoon shows a German setting a dog called Revolution on Russia. Unfortunately for him, the dog returns to attack after finishing off Russia.
Shaver, Claude: Dog-gone it, caricature, Cincinnati Post, in: Hecht, George: War in Cartoons, New York 1919, pp. 168-169; source: Internet Archive, https://archive.org/details/warincartoonshis00hech; contributed by Eberhard Demm.
This file has been identified as Public Domain Mark 1.0: http://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/mark/1.0/.

“Liberté! Liberté! Chérie!”, caricature
Louis Raemaekers was extremely skilled in depicting emotions such as hatred, anger or despair in the faces of his subjects.
Raemaekers, Louis: Liberté! Liberté! Chérie!, caricature, n.p., n.d.; source: Louis Raemaekers Foundation, http://louisraemaekers.com/; contributed by Eberhard Demm.
© Louis Raemaekers Foundation.

“Mater Dolorosa”, caricature
Hate and atrocity caricatures were particularly popular during the war. A typical example by Louis Raemaekers shows a French or Belgian village in which a visibly insane woman bemoans the death of her son while two older men lie slain in the background.
Raemaekers, Louis: Mater Dolorosa, caricature, n.p., n.d.; source: Louis Raemaekers Foundation, http://louisraemaekers.com/; contributed by Eberhard Demm.
© Louis Raemaekers Foundation.

“The God in the Cart”, caricature
Cartoons of enemy coalitions often differentiated between a principal adversary (England/Germany) and its respective allies. In this instance, Turkey and Austria, dressed as a horse, complain about Kaiser Wilhelm’s whiplashes: “Turkey: ‘I’m getting a bit fed up with this. I shall kick soon.’ Austria: ‘Well, I was thinking of lying down.’”
Raven-Hill, Leonard: The God in the Cart, caricature, in: Punch, or the London Charivari, 6 January 1915, p. 3; source: Internet Archive, https://archive.org/stream/punchvol148a149lemouoft#page/n47/mode/2up; contributed by Eberhard Demm.
Courtesy of Robarts Library, University of Toronto.

The Triumph of “Culture”, caricature
This caricature, “the Triumph of ‘Culture’”, published in Punch Magazine on 26 August 1914, shows the smoking ruins of a Flemish village and in the foreground a dead family. The father is slightly apart from the woman and her child. The positions of the adults imply a last desperate act of familial defence of their child, for the man is slightly in front of them and the woman’s arm is wrapped round the child. Standing over the corpses is a German officer in ceremonial uniform, thus hinting heavily at the Kaiser and the Crown Prince, holding a German flag in one hand and a pistol in the other. He looks down at the bodies without any sign of emotion: he is an unfeeling war machine.
Partridge, John Bernard: The Triumph of “Culture,” caricature, in: Punch Magazine, 26 August 1914, p. 185; source: Universitätsbibliothek Heidelberg, 327516, http://heidicon.ub.uni-heidelberg.de/id/327516.
This file has been identified as Public Domain Mark 1.0: http://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/mark/1.0/.

“The Traitor”, caricature
Strikers were accused of aiding the enemy and therefore ridiculed in satirical magazines such as “Punch”. This striker tries to stab a British soldier in the back.
Partridge, Bernard: The traitor, caricature, in: Punch, or the London Charivari, 2 October 1918, p. 217; source: Internet Archive, https://archive.org/details/punchvol154a155lemouoft, contributed by Eberhard Demm.
Courtesy of Robarts Library, University of Toronto.

Butt whooping, caricature
Pacifists, accused of high treason and collaboration with the enemy, aroused much anger in warring nations. The subtitles read: “Stage Manager. ‘The Elephant’s putting up a very spirited performance to-night.’ Carpenter. ‘Yessir. You see, the new hind-legs is a discharged soldier, and the front legs is an out-and-out pacifist.’
Townsend, F.H., caricature, in: Punch, or the London Charivari, 20 June 1917, p. 399; source: Internet Archive, https://archive.org/details/punchvol152a153lemouoft; contributed by Eberhard Demm.
Courtesy of Robarts Library, University of Toronto.

Pessimist, caricature
Another favorite target of the war’s cartoonists were the pessimists. “Wife. ‘Grand news this morning, dear. We’ve taken several thousand prisoners.’ Pessimist. ‘They’re sure to escape.’”
Townsend, F. H., caricature, in: Punch, or the London Charivari, 20 October 1915, p. 325; source: Internet Archive, https://archive.org/details/punchvol148a149lemouoft; contributed by Eberhard Demm.
Courtesy of Robarts Library, University of Toronto.

“The Potsdam Variety Troupe”, caricature
Enemy leaders and politicians on both sides were often caricatured as circus performers.
Partridge, Bernard: The Potsdam Variety Troupe, caricature, in: Punch, or the London Charivari, Punch’s Almanack for 1917, pp. 18-19; source: Internet Archive, https://archive.org/details/punchvol152a153lemouoft, pp. 31-32; contributed by Eberhard Demm.
Courtesy of Robarts Library, University of Toronto.

“Cannon-fodder and after”, caricature
A symbol of German barbarity, the satirical magazine Punch sketches Kaiser Wilhelm II pointing towards an establishment for the utilization of corpses, announcing to a recruit: “And don’t forget that your Kaiser will find a use for you- alive or dead.”
Raven-Hill, Leonard: Cannon-fodder and after, caricature, in: Punch, or the London Charivari, 25 April 1917, p. 267; source: Internet Archive, https://archive.org/details/punchvol152a153lemouoft; contributed by Eberhard Demm.
Courtesy of Robarts Library, University of Toronto.

Metadata

Subjects
Author Keywords
Cartoonists as propagandists; techniques of the cartoonists; symbolic and military caricatures; ideological and social caricatures; anti-war caricatures
GND Subject Headings
Karikatur ; Weltkrieg [1914-1918] ; Weltkrieg [1914-1918, Motiv]
LC Subject Headings
World War, 1914-1918--Caricatures and cartoons
Rameau Subject Headings
Guerre mondiale (1914-1918) ; Caricatures et dessins humoristiques
Key Person(s)
Bismarck, Otto von; Masterman, Charles; Barrès, Maurice; Nikola I, King of Montenegro; Bairnsfather, Bruce; Thoma, Ludwig; Heine, Thomas Theodor; Warncke, Paul; Seaman, Owen; Grand-Carteret, John; Gulbransson, Olaf; Trier, Walter; Waltz, Jean-Jacques; Haselden, William Kerridge; Tenniel, John; Zislin, Henri; Wilde, Oscar; Sullivan, Edmund J.; Leete, Alfred; Kubin, Alfred; d’Ester, Karl; Speer, Albert; Clemenceau, Georges; Wilson, Woodrow; Nikolaĭ Nikolaevich, Grand Duke of Russia; Wilhelm II, German Emperor; Kitchener, Horatio Herbert Kitchener, Earl; Creel, George; Hitler, Adolf; Albert I, King of the Belgians; Hindenburg, Paul von; Harden, Maximilian; Poincaré, Raymond; Mann, Thomas; Grey, Sir Edward; Francis Joseph I, Emperor of Austria; Victor Emmanuel III, King of Italy; Joffre, Joseph Jacques Césaire; Ribot, Alexandre Félix Joseph; Karadjordjević, Peter I.; Freud, Sigmund; Forain, Jean-Louis; Raemaekers, Louis; Scheler, Max Ferdinand; Hervé, Gustave
Regional Section(s)
Thematic Section(s)
Title
Caricatures
Author(s)
Eberhard Demm
Articles That Link Here
The Netherlands; Film/Cinema (Belgium); Australia; Propaganda: Media in War Politics; Food and Nutrition; Propaganda at Home (Great Britain and Ireland); Film/Cinema (Germany); Commemoration, Cult of the Fallen (Australia); Graphic Arts and Advertising as War Propaganda; Press/Journalism; Making Sense of the War (Germany); Press/Journalism (Australia); Propaganda at Home and Abroad; Social Conflict and Control, Protest and Repression (Australia); Propaganda at Home and Abroad; Censorship; Music (Portugal); Propaganda in the Colonies (Africa); Censorship; Sexuality, Sexual Relations, Homosexuality; Propaganda at Home (USA); Art; Press/Journalism (Germany); Art (Portugal); Press/Journalism: Serbia (South East Europe); Exile and Migration (Sweden); Historiography 1918-Today (New Zealand); Press/Journalism (New Zealand); Raemaekers, Louis; Medals and Decorations; Propaganda at Home (France); Children and War (Italy); Stars and Stripes (newspaper); Grosz, George; Making Sense of the War (Belgium) and Forain, Jean-Louis
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