Reichstag election poster with a giant figure of the German worker subduing Communists and Nazis
Extent and Medium
overall: Height: 44.125 inches (112.078 cm) | Width: 32.500 inches (82.55 cm)
Creator(s)
- R. Schumann (Publisher)
- Karl-Heinz Geiss (Artist)
Archival History
The poster was acquired by the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum in 2004.
Acquisition
United States Holocaust Memorial Museum Collection
Funding Note: The cataloging of this artifact has been supported by a grant from the Conference on Jewish Material Claims Against Germany.
Scope and Content
Social Democratic Party campaign poster issued for the November 6, 1932, Reichstag election in Germany. The striking Modernist design in orange and black is by Karl Geiss. The poster features a giant statuelike figure of the proletariat grasping the collars of two men, one with a hammer and sickle Communist Party cap and the other with a swastika National Socialist (Nazi) Party hat. The SDP was the major political party in Germany until 1932. No party won a majority in this 2nd election of 1932, but the Nazis received the largest vote percentage, 33%. This was the last democratic national election held in prewar Germany. On January 31, 1933, Adolf Hitler was appointed Chancellor.
Conditions Governing Access
No restrictions on access
Physical Characteristics and Technical Requirements
Large poster on offwhite paper dominated by the image of a giant reddish orange, bare-chested, muscular male figure. He faces forward and his statuelike face has rectangles of cropped hair, black triangles for eyes, a rectangle for a nose, and a wide, open black mouth, as if shouting. The figure fills the upper 3/4 of the poster and with outstretched arms clutches the back collars of 2 downward slumping men. The angular faced man in his right hand wears a reddish budenovka with a Communist symbol, a hammer and sickle on a white 5-sided star. The round faced man in his left hand wears a reddish orange kepi with a Nazi symbol, a black swastika within a white circle. In the upper right corner are the artist’s name and a circular printer’s mark with a Fraktur letter G surrounded by German text. There is a vertical center crease and 3 horizontal creases; the reverse has stains.
front, upper right corner, black ink : K. GEISS / MÜNCHEN front, upper right corner, around edge of circle, red ink : R • SCHUMANN • GRAPH • WERKSTÄTTE • MÜNCHEN 2 • 50
Corporate Bodies
- Germany. Reichstag
Subjects
- Elections--Germany--Posters.
- Elections
- Germany--Politics and government--1918-1933--Posters.
- Political campaigns--Germany--History--20th century.
- Propaganda--Germany--20th century--Posters.
Genre
- Object
- Posters