This poster from 1942, Deutschlands Sieg / Europas Freiheit (Germany's Victory, Europe's Freedom), depicts a German soldier striking down a red dragon with a Soviet star on its forehead. At a time when Germany and its allies already controlled most of western Europe., Germany violated a non-aggression pact with the Soviets and launched a brutal invasion of the Soviet Union. [SOURCE: Library of Congress]
Advertises a cause
Nazi propagandists played on fears of Communism to garner public support for Germany’s surprise attack on the Soviet Union (June 22, 1941). This poster depicts the German invasion as a preventive action designed to thwart Communist plans to conquer Europe and destroy western civilization. Here a German soldier defends western Europe (represented by a church and farm laborer) by vanquishing the red dragon of “Bolshevism” using lightning bolts in a “V” for victory (Viktoria).
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