World War II political cartoons
Encyclopedia
Propaganda
Propaganda is a form of communication that is aimed at influencing the attitude of a community toward some cause or position so as to benefit oneself or one's group....
and public information. Individuals expressed their own political views and preferences.
History
During World War IIWorld War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
, every major military power had propaganda offices that employed political cartoons to influence public opinion.
Examples
Before the outbreak of war in Europe, Germany and the Soviet Union formed a pact to divide the intervening buffer zones between them, and started with the conquest of Poland. The New Zealand cartoonist, David Low, produced a famous cartoon about this for the Evening StandardEvening Standard
The Evening Standard, now styled the London Evening Standard, is a free local daily newspaper, published Monday–Friday in tabloid format in London. It is the dominant regional evening paper for London and the surrounding area, with coverage of national and international news and City of London...
which appeared on 20 September 1939. It ridiculed the way in which the relationship of Adolf Hitler
Adolf Hitler
Adolf Hitler was an Austrian-born German politician and the leader of the National Socialist German Workers Party , commonly referred to as the Nazi Party). He was Chancellor of Germany from 1933 to 1945, and head of state from 1934 to 1945...
and Joseph Stalin
Joseph Stalin
Joseph Vissarionovich Stalin was the Premier of the Soviet Union from 6 May 1941 to 5 March 1953. He was among the Bolshevik revolutionaries who brought about the October Revolution and had held the position of first General Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union's Central Committee...
had changed from bitter enmity to courteous cooperation.
Arthur Szyk
Arthur Szyk
Arthur Szyk was a graphic artist, book illustrator, stage designer and caricaturist. Arthur Szyk was born into a Jewish family in Łódź, in the part of Poland which was under Russian rule in the 19th century. He always regarded himself both as a Pole and a Jew...
received recognition for his political cartoons during World War II. First lady Eleanor Roosevelt called him a "one-man army." Adolf Hitler even put a price on his head.
Dr. Seuss
Dr. Seuss
Theodor Seuss Geisel was an American writer, poet, and cartoonist most widely known for his children's books written under the pen names Dr. Seuss, Theo LeSieg and, in one case, Rosetta Stone....
worked in an animation department of the U.S. Army, where he drew more than 400 political cartoons He published many political cartoons against Hitler and Mussolini, as well as Americans who were against American involvement. His cartoon, titled Waiting for the Signal From Home, published shortly before Franklin D. Roosevelt
Franklin D. Roosevelt
Franklin Delano Roosevelt , also known by his initials, FDR, was the 32nd President of the United States and a central figure in world events during the mid-20th century, leading the United States during a time of worldwide economic crisis and world war...
ordered Japanese American internment
Japanese American internment
Japanese-American internment was the relocation and internment by the United States government in 1942 of approximately 110,000 Japanese Americans and Japanese who lived along the Pacific coast of the United States to camps called "War Relocation Camps," in the wake of Imperial Japan's attack on...
, and depicting West Coast Asians preparing dynamite attacks, was described by Donald Dewey as "particularly tasteless", and historian Richard Minear, in Dr Seuss Goes to War (1999), criticised Dr Seuss's wartime cartoons and suggested that "racism was an ingredient in much if not all American wartime thinking about Japan."
The Punch
Punch (magazine)
Punch, or the London Charivari was a British weekly magazine of humour and satire established in 1841 by Henry Mayhew and engraver Ebenezer Landells. Historically, it was most influential in the 1840s and 50s, when it helped to coin the term "cartoon" in its modern sense as a humorous illustration...
cartoonist Fougasse
Fougasse (cartoonist)
Cyril Kenneth Bird, pen name Fougasse was a British cartoonist best known for his editorship of Punch magazine and his iconic World War II warning propaganda posters....
produced a series of cartoons which the British Ministry of Information used on posters. These included a series to illustrate the slogan, Careless talk costs lives.
In the Soviet Union the style of cartooning was savage and unsubtle. Cartoons appeared in the satirical magazine, Krokodil
Krokodil
Krokodil was a satirical magazine published in the Soviet Union. It was founded in 1922. At that time, a large number of satirical magazines existed, such as Zanoza and Prozhektor...
. The byline "Kukryniksy
Kukryniksy
The Kukryniksy were three caricaturists/cartoonists in the USSR with a recognizable style."Kukryniksy" was a collective name derived from the combined names of three caricaturists The Kukryniksy were three caricaturists/cartoonists in the USSR with a recognizable style."Kukryniksy" was a...
" labeled the especially famous work of three artists, Mikhail Kupriyanov, Porfiri Krylov and Nikolai Sokolov, who worked together.
Vincent Krassousky, a Kiev-born émigré, produced pro-Nazi comics in occupied Paris.
The French-language comic-strip series "Marc le Téméraire" [Marc the Bold] (1943) conveyed anti-communist and anti-English messages through the deeds of a collaborationist member of the Vichy Milice
Milice
The Milice française , generally called simply Milice, was a paramilitary force created on January 30, 1943 by the Vichy Regime, with German aid, to help fight the French Resistance. The Milice's formal leader was Prime Minister Pierre Laval, though its chief of operations, and actual leader, was...
.
In contrast to official government-sponsored propaganda, German-occupied Europe also produced resistance
Resistance during World War II
Resistance movements during World War II occurred in every occupied country by a variety of means, ranging from non-cooperation, disinformation and propaganda to hiding crashed pilots and even to outright warfare and the recapturing of towns...
cartoons mocking the new order.
Italian cultural imperialism
During World War II Italy projected its culture into areas which it occupied in the Balkans - including the use of children's comics in Croatian and in Italian.See also
- American propaganda during World War II#Comic books and cartoons
- Walt Disney's World War II propaganda productionWalt Disney's World War II propaganda productionBetween 1942 and 1945, during World War II, Walt Disney was involved in the production of propaganda films for the US government. The widespread familiarity of Walt Disney's productions benefited the US government in producing pro-American war propaganda in an effort to increase support for the...
- British propaganda during World War IIBritish propaganda during World War IIBritish propaganda during World War II took various forms. Using a wide variety of media, it called for actions needed for the war, such as production and proper behavior in the blackout, painted a dark picture of the Axis powers, and praised the Allies....
- Japanese propaganda during World War II
- Nazi propagandaNazi propagandaPropaganda, the coordinated attempt to influence public opinion through the use of media, was skillfully used by the NSDAP in the years leading up to and during Adolf Hitler's leadership of Germany...
- Propaganda of Fascist ItalyPropaganda of Fascist ItalyPropaganda of Fascist Italy was the material put forth by Italian Fascism to justify its authority and programs and encourage popular support.-Use:...
- List of Allied propaganda films of World War II
External links
- British Cartoon Archive How did British cartoonists portray Hitler in 1942?