Bidspirit auction | Third Reich Propaganda Poster

Third Reich Propaganda Poster - German Political Propaganda Poster, “Gegen die schwarze Vergesslichkeit…!”, Early 1930s Large-format German political propaganda leaflet directed against political Catholicism during the final years of the Weimar Republic and the early National Socialist period. The headline “Gegen die schwarze Vergesslichkeit…!” (“Against the black forgetfulness…!”) employs polemical language, using “black” as a derogatory reference to Catholic political organizations. The leaflet combines extensive text with graphic illustration. The left panel features stylized flower motifs labeled with references to newspapers, organizations, and political figures, presented metaphorically as “Sumpfblüten” (“swamp blossoms”), a disparaging visual device. The central and right panels contain dense blocks of text accusing Catholic political institutions, clergy, and affiliated press organs of undermining national unity and opposing political transformation in Germany. The layout, typography, and rhetoric are characteristic of mass-produced political leaflets intended for public distribution, agitation, and ideological persuasion. The text repeatedly urges readers not to forget perceived political actions of the Catholic Church and concludes with a moralizing call to judge institutions “by their fruits.” Printed on thin paper stock, the leaflet shows folding marks, edge wear, and age-related toning consistent with period circulation and handling. This item survives as a historical artifact of interwar German political propaganda, illustrating the intensity of ideological conflict, anti-clerical polemics, and rhetorical strategies employed in Germany during the early 1930s. It is preserved solely for purposes of historical study, documentation, and research. “When political Catholicism ruled in Germany as the ally of Heinrich Brüning’s emergency decrees (then all German bishops declared the theological justification for emergency decrees and sacrifices demanded of believers as morally binding), the Catholic Church openly aligned itself with the system of parliamentary power and became a force hostile to the state.” “No German must forget in which rooms and cinemas—under the eyes of the emergency-powers police—Heinrich Brüning’s propaganda films were shown to deceive the German public.” “No German must forget with which slogans, in newspapers and books, the Catholic press worked to undermine the national renewal, and how it was bound to international interests.” “No German must forget that political Catholicism in Berlin—e.g., the Karl-Marx School, whose Jewish teachers (women) trained future Catholic priests—supported the struggle against national renewal and publicly attacked the state.”