Cartoon map of Europe – Verlagsgesellschaft Union, 1914

UNCOMMON PICTORIAL PROPAGANDA MAP „Europäische Treibjagd.“ [European hunting party], lithograph published in 1914 by Verlagsgesellschaft Union in Charlottenburg (Berlin). Size:…

UNCOMMON PICTORIAL PROPAGANDA MAP

„Europäische Treibjagd.“ [European hunting party], lithograph published in 1914 by Verlagsgesellschaft Union in Charlottenburg (Berlin). Size: 39,5 x 44,5 cm.

This German propaganda map was published at the beginning of WWI to convince Germans of the power and early successes of the Central Powers‘ military. As the title suggests, the imagery shows a European hunting party, in which the Central Powers are depicted as soldiers hunting the Allied Powers, which are each depicted as animals. The typically formidable Russia is depicted as three bears, scampering away from a German uhlan and a Hungarian soldier with a musket. Another German soldier holds the Belgian hare up by its ears, while another fires a musket at a French cat. Possibly in response to Johnson & Riddle’s Co. Hark! Hark! The Dogs Do Bark! in which each European country is depicted as a dog, with Britain as a fierce bulldog, here a German warship fires upon several British bulldogs, who flee toward the Irish Sea (although an Irish maiden appears to laugh at their misfortune). Serbia is illustrated as a trio of pigs, and Japan, not to be left out, appears as a monkey at the edge of the map. Neutral countries are depicted in human form, however as peaceful civilians rather than soldiers. A short poem by a Dr. Storch explains that although the European zoo (“Menagerie”) has attempted to rise up against its “noble master” (“der edle Meister”), the beasts will soon be “behind protective bars again”.

Price: Euro 1.250,-