Huge Collection of WWII Propaganda Posters
August 1, 2007 11:23 PM   Subscribe

Huge Collection of WWII Propaganda Posters (Axis & Allied powers represented). Via.
posted by jonson (25 comments total) 21 users marked this as a favorite
 
I seem to remember this guy offering me a nice hot cup of shut the fuck up.
posted by tehloki at 11:47 PM on August 1, 2007


This is good.
posted by travis vocino at 11:51 PM on August 1, 2007 [1 favorite]


All those posters are extremely low resolution .bmp files. They're from different wars, badly sorted, and badly scanned.

Instead, try the World War II Poster Collection from Northwestern University Library or flickr.
posted by stereo at 11:53 PM on August 1, 2007 [4 favorites]


yeah, tiny bitmaps. it's for custom textures in a videogame.
posted by sergeant sandwich at 12:09 AM on August 2, 2007


Good post, johnson. I enjoy looking at, and studying, propaganda posters... It's amazing (and scary) how efficient they are at influencing the general public.
posted by amyms at 12:21 AM on August 2, 2007


The German Historical Museum in Berlin had an exhibition on stuff like this a while ago. You can still see some of the stuff here.
posted by creasy boy at 12:27 AM on August 2, 2007


Does anyone else see Darth Vader under the American posters in the original link? "He's Watching You"!
posted by creasy boy at 12:30 AM on August 2, 2007


Does anyone else see Darth Vader under the American posters in the original link? "He's Watching You"

I reckon it's no secret that the WW2-era German helmet was the inspiration for ol' Darth. And weren't the evil soldiers even called "storm troopers"?
posted by flapjax at midnite at 12:34 AM on August 2, 2007


While I dig the link - and I dig popurls - how can this be via popurls? It's almost like saying "via Google", y'know?
posted by loquacious at 12:57 AM on August 2, 2007


I guess I must've known already that Darth Vader has German blood. But I was still surprised to see him staring at me from out of the 1940s.
posted by creasy boy at 1:06 AM on August 2, 2007


Is anyone here an expert on the whole "loose talk can cost lives" and "loose lips sink ships" phenomenon? Was this aimed at the general public? I'm wondering what Joe Six-pack could possibly know and who he would tell it to -- even if he were chummy with Otto Normalverbraucher, what would Otto do, call up Hitler on the telephone? Was there a real danger that the guy at the urinal next to you was a spy?
posted by creasy boy at 1:17 AM on August 2, 2007


Still, this poster cracked me up.

posted by dabitch at 1:46 AM on August 2, 2007


direct link to image
posted by dabitch at 1:47 AM on August 2, 2007


When you ride alone...

This is one of my favorites.
posted by maxwelton at 2:10 AM on August 2, 2007


Is anyone here an expert on the whole "loose talk can cost lives" and "loose lips sink ships" phenomenon? Was this aimed at the general public? I'm wondering what Joe Six-pack could possibly know and who he would tell it to -- even if he were chummy with Otto Normalverbraucher, what would Otto do, call up Hitler on the telephone? Was there a real danger that the guy at the urinal next to you was a spy?

These sorts of posters were created for military bases and other facilities for servicemen. See, for example, the details on my all-time favorite. I first saw it in a postcard from the Imperial War Museum. The friend who sent it said it reminded her of me. I don't know if it was intended as a compliment, but I was flattered.

I'm sure many have seen Bill Maher's Iraq War remix of this, which is a sad symbol of how the "war on terror" might have and should have been fought.
posted by foxy_hedgehog at 2:36 AM on August 2, 2007


Still, this poster cracked me up.

People who proclaim the supposed superiority of the Aryan race are inevitably...um...how to put this....less-than-stellar examples of the Aryan ideal. Cf. Hitler, Goebbels, Tom Metzger et al. Most of the shots in Triumph of the Will feature b-grade actors sent over from central casting.
posted by foxy_hedgehog at 2:46 AM on August 2, 2007


Is anyone here an expert on the whole "loose talk can cost lives" and "loose lips sink ships" phenomenon? Was this aimed at the general public? I'm wondering...

Not an expert at all, but I know that in East Coast ports, there was a "don't talk shop" sort of initiative encouraged at waterfront bars frequented by Merchant Marine types -- you never quite knew whether some character sitting and listening to the chitchat was actually gathering intel on sailing dates that could ultimately help German U-boats be in the right place at the right time to sink them as they formed for convoys.

*****

I searched the American part of the poster collection in vain for one I remember seeing someplace:

What you do here
What you say here
When you leave here
Let it stay here

posted by pax digita at 3:19 AM on August 2, 2007


I've always had a fondness for WWII propaganda posters. I wish I had seen this site when I was playing original Day of Defeat, which is the video game these spray files are made for.

This is my favorite resource for wartime propaganda pictures, videos, cartoons, etc., even if some of the links are broken. And this surreal "sowing of skulls" one has always been my favorite.
posted by gemmy at 3:36 AM on August 2, 2007


Thank you foxy and pax. So am I right in thinking that before technology got so modern, simply sitting around in a sailors' dive was a viable model of espionage? And this is now an outdated model?
posted by creasy boy at 6:06 AM on August 2, 2007


"The server encountered an unexpected condition which prevented it from fulfilling the request."

Damnit.

I'll check back later. This seems to have potential.
posted by CitrusFreak12 at 7:34 AM on August 2, 2007


Thank you foxy and pax. So am I right in thinking that before technology got so modern, simply sitting around in a sailors' dive was a viable model of espionage? And this is now an outdated model?

I'm an "expert" on WWII and the Cold War, not on contemporary espionage, but I'm convinced that as electronic surveillance becomes more and more sophisticated, espionage may very well become more and more low-tech to avoid being snared by technology.
posted by foxy_hedgehog at 7:34 AM on August 2, 2007


oh man, that 500 error hurts ... I love this stuff ...

until the main link heals, lemme get some Red Army all up in this.
posted by EatTheWeek at 7:50 AM on August 2, 2007


None of the direct links to the main site images work. They're redirected to a different image.
posted by East Manitoba Regional Junior Kabaddi Champion '94 at 8:12 AM on August 2, 2007


Sitting around in a sailor's dive, or other analagous place, remains a very viable model of intelligence gathering. (Indeed, a sizable proportion of our intelligence apparatus engages itself in simply reading foreign newspapers and websites and watching foreign television.)
posted by MattD at 9:09 AM on August 2, 2007


Can't seem to access the site
posted by chanakya at 3:08 PM on August 3, 2007


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