St. Louis and Milwaukee Poster advertising the flagships of the Hamburg-Amerika Line
Extent and Medium
overall: Height: 33.000 inches (83.82 cm) | Width: 23.500 inches (59.69 cm)
Creator(s)
- Ottomar C. Anton (Designer)
- Muhl Meister & Johler (Printer)
Biographical History
Ottomar Carl Joseph Anton was born in Hamburg Germany on December 15, 1895. From 1912 to 1913 he attended the school of decorative art in Hamburg and later attended the University of Modern Fine Arts in Hamburg. From 1920 to the early 1930s Anton was commissioned to design print advertisements for commercial air and cruise lines such as the Hamburg-America Line, the Deutsche Afrika Line, the White Star Line and the Cunard Line. He also created posters for beer and cigarette companies and for the 1936 Olympic Games in Berlin. In 1933 he joined the National Socialist German Workers Party (Nazi Party). He designed several political posters for the party, the Hitler Youth and the Waffen SS. During this time his posters were translated into several languages and sent to every corner of Nazi occupied Europe. In 1936, Anton joined the Schutzstaffel (SS), member number 283,804, and achieved the rank of SS-Hauptsturmführer (head assault leader). After the war Anton worked for companies such as Cologne 4711 and Adler and he became a professor at the School of Arts in Bremen. Ottomar Anton died in 1976 in Hamburg, Germany.
Archival History
The poster was acquired by the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum in 1990.
Acquisition
United States Holocaust Memorial Museum Collection
Scope and Content
German advertisement poster for the Hamburg-America Line’s transatlantic liners, St. Louis and Milwaukee. On May 13, 1939, the St. Louis set sail from Hamburg, Germany with 937 passengers, almost all of whom were Jews fleeing the Third Reich. The majority of the passengers had applied for US visas, and planned to stay in Cuba until they could enter the United States. However, shortly before the ship set sail, Cuba invalidated the landing permits and transit visas of the Jewish refugee passengers. When the St. Louis arrived in Cuba on May 27, the Cuban government only allowed 28 passengers into the country. On June 2, the ship was ordered to leave Cuba. With 908 passengers still aboard, the St. Louis sailed to Miami, Florida where the Jewish refugees were again refused entry due to strict quota limits and isolationist sentiment. The St. Louis sailed back to Europe on June 6, 1939. Jewish organizations were able to secure entry visas for the passengers in Great Britain, France, Belgium, and the Netherlands rather than return to Germany. Of the 620 passengers who returned to continental Europe, 254 died in the Holocaust. Gustav Schroeder, the captain of the St Louis was recognized as Righteous Among the Nations on March 11, 1993 in acknowledgement of his efforts to find safe passage for his Jewish passengers.
Conditions Governing Access
No restrictions on access
Conditions Governing Reproduction
No restrictions on use
Physical Characteristics and Technical Requirements
Offset Lithographic German advertising poster printed on heavy weight, off white paper depicting two ocean liners, the St. Louis and Milwaukee. The background is yellow, and the ships and shipping line are identified in large black text at the top and bottom with a short description in gray text near the top right. In the center are two large ships with black hulls, white upper decks, and yellow smoke stacks with red, white and black tops. Red lines along the ships’ keels symbolize the water. On the left, the front ship is positioned diagonally in ¾ profile, while on the right, the rear ship is in profile and is partially obscured by the front ship. The artists’ name and publisher information is in the lower right corner. For a similar example of this poster see accession number 2000.254.1.
back, lower left corner, handwritten, pencil : S359 back, lower right corner, handwritten, pencil :16
Corporate Bodies
- St. Louis (Ship)
Subjects
- Advertising--Posters.
- Refugees, Jewish--History--20th century.
- Lithography--20th century.
- Hamburg-American Line.
Genre
- Object
- Posters