Another photo—we are still dealing with anti-British propaganda. It is a favorite theme of German propaganda. This photo is entitled, “Thanks to the English, our Road to Calvary.” It tries to prove to the French by recalling certain historical events, that the English have always been the cause of French sufferings: Joan of Arc, Napoleon, the war of 1939-40 are the principal themes exploited by means of the poster.
This one now represents the English hydra which is encircling Africa; but it is mercilessly beheaded in Germany, in Norway, and rather oddly, in Syria. The text of this poster reads, “The hydra is still being systematically decapitated.”
Poster Number 6 has the following text, which is almost invisible here:
“The ally of yesterday, great promises before the war: No help during the war. Retreat and flight of the English Expeditionary Force. Bombardment of French cities and blockade after the debacle. Let us be done with it!”
Poster Number 2, which is also anti-British, is constructed on the same model. There are three parts, “Yesterday, Today, Tomorrow.”
The Germans developed not only the theme of Anglo-Saxon greed which they represented by a hydra or a bulldog, but also the theme of the prestige of the occupied countries at sea. On this point we show photographs of French and Norwegian posters.
This poster is entitled, “You won’t catch anything with that De Gaulle, Gentlemen!” British corpulence and Jewish capitalism bulge out from a fishing boat stopped by the coastal guns of Dakar.
The style of the wording and the sailor’s gesture are purely German. A Frenchman would have said, “With that Gaulle (fishing rod),” and the allusion would have been clear enough.
Poster Number 9 invites enrollment in the German Navy, “The Time Has Come to Free the Seas.”
Here is a Norwegian poster: “Defend Norway. Enlist in the German Navy.” The inscription might apply, firstly, to all the services of the German uniformed police; secondly, to all the commands of the German Wehrmacht; thirdly, to German harbor masters and port control officers; fourthly, to the commander of the SS Reserve Corps of Norway in Oslo, et cetera. Another Norwegian poster, with the following title, “All for Norway. . . . Help from England.” This poster tries to prove to the civilian population that ruin, fire, and devastation are the only benefits of the English alliance.
The second enemy, America, is the subject of the posters we are going to show now.
Poster Number 11—“The American Press: 97 percent in the hands of the Jews.” That allows the Germans to kill two birds with one stone: The Jews and America.
Poster Number 12—in the middle of this poster is the inscription, “They Wanted War,” and the persons concerned are represented by six photographs. These persons, who were responsible for the war, are not any of the men whom you see in the dock, but six Americans: magistrates, officials, men in the public eye. Their names were not familiar to the French public, who had rarely seen them on the screen, except for Mr. La Guardia. Those who read articles on economics knew of Mr. Morgenthau; but it was difficult to persuade the French that Messrs. Baruch, Frankfurter, Wise, and Lehman were the instigators of the present war, and Hitler and Göring the victims. As I have said, however, Nazi propaganda did not shrink from any improbability.
The photo Number 13 is more picturesque. It shows both sides of a dollar bill and consists of two lines separated by a Masonic star with the inscription, “A dollar has no value unless signed by Morgenthau.” Here are the texts of the inscriptions showing the imagination of the Nazi authors in this matter. On the left-hand side we read:
“The Minister of the Treasury is Jew Morgenthau Jr., related to the great racketeers of international finance. All the Jewish attributes are found on this dollar: the Eagle of Israel, the triangle, the Eye of Jehovah, the 13 letters of the motto, the 13 stars of the aureole, the 13 arrows, the 13 olive branches, the 13 steps of the unfinished pyramid. This money is Jewish indeed.”
And on the right-hand side:
“This dollar paid for the Jewish war, the sole message which the Anglo-Americans can address to us. Will it be enough to repay us for the misfortunes arising from that Jewish war? The money does not stink but the Jew does.”
Number 14—“Mr. Churchill and Mr. Roosevelt are dividing Africa.”
Number 15—this is anti-Semitic propaganda properly speaking. We have already seen it mingled with anti-British and anti-American propaganda. This photograph shows children of a French technical school who were taken to an anti-Jewish exhibition and given anti-Jewish pamphlets to read.
Number 16—“Behold the Jewish invasion.” France is gnawed by a symbolical hydra and figures are scrawled across her. “In 1914, 200,000 Jews; in 1939, 800,000 Jews, without mentioning the half-Jews.”
Number 17—“For the Jews the right to live; for us the right to croak. Beneath the recriminations of all-enveloping Jewry, the crosses of the daily growing number of war victims are lined up.” This propaganda aims on the one hand at collecting the Jews into a compact mass and isolating them, and on the other hand, at arousing the hatred of the remainder of the population against them. It aims at dividing France.
Number 18—finally, we see the terrible Russian foe. A tortured human beast is hauling a barrow-load of stones while a monster in uniform lashes him with a knout or nagaïka and threatens him with a revolver. This picture was first intended for inclusion in a composite picture entitled “The Workers’ Paradise.” This gives it additional interest; but owing to the lack of time, the poster was put out just as it was. We submit the plans for the entire project as Document Number RF-1151.
Number 19—this is a lovely Norwegian poster: “No” in the form of a flash of lightning strikes against the Russian hand which attempts to tear the national flag.
Number 20—“Never!” A romantic picture reminiscent of certain Russian pictures of the last century. Death escorts a train of deportees. The Nazis showed something which they knew well!
Number 21—a final picture concerning Russia, “What Bolshevism would bring to Europe.” Scenes of mutilation, infanticide, rape, hangings, murder—exactly what the Nazi movement brought to Europe! However, this Europe must realize her good fortune in being led by the Führer, must realize her strength and her unity, in order to fight victoriously against the barbarous enemy.
And here is a photograph of a poster, “A Leader and His People.” Hitler is depicted as endowed with every charm: sweetness, simplicity, understanding, while the text, unreadable on the reproduction, recalls that he, Hitler, is the unknown soldier of the first war. We call the Tribunal’s attention to the photo.
THE PRESIDENT: Could you let the Tribunal know how much longer you are likely to be?
M. FUSTER: About 10 minutes, Mr. President.
THE PRESIDENT: You may continue.
M. FUSTER: In the photograph to the left, Hitler is shaking a little girl’s hand and we read underneath, “The Little Congratulator.” This term, which is not French, betrays the origin of the document.
Here is a poster—Number 23—which was widely circulated in France: “I work in Germany for my family and for France. Do as I do.”
Number 24—“1918 to 1943—History Speaks. 1918—The Debacle. 1943—The Great Unity.” This poster is the counterpart of the inscriptions which patriots used to write on the walls in France. The German defeat was rapidly approaching; and they could hope that the end of the year 1943, like the end of the year 1918, would bring the final victory. The Nazis were unable to make any reply to these crushing communiques except by issuing denials and posters like this, affirming the great unity of Europe.
Number 25—here