KARAGÖZ – TÜRKİYE’NİN EN ÇOK BASILAN GAZETESİ – Karagöz, the most widely circulated and widely read newspaper in Turkey. A bi-weekly publication issued on Sundays and Thursdays. In Turkish. Each issue features a large, colorful anti-Nazi cartoon on the front page. Six issues from the years 1942, 1944, and 1945. Extremely rare example of anti-Nazi material from the East during the war years.
The issues include ongoing reports on the Allied advance toward victory in the war: the Allies cross the Siegfried Line, the Soviet winter offensive begins, Germans are trapped, the Allies clear Italy, and America takes control of Bulgaria. On the front page of each issue appears a large, colorful anti-Nazi cartoon mocking Nazi Germany and the Axis powers’ defeat in the war.
KARAGÖZ was founded in Turkey on August 10, 1906. During World War II, it consistently featured battlefield reports from an explicitly anti-Nazi perspective, focusing on the progress of the Allied forces and the downfall of Nazi Germany. Each front page presents a bold, colorful anti-Nazi cartoon ridiculing Hitler, Nazi Germany, and the Axis powers, foretelling the approaching end of the Nazi era. Flanking the newspaper’s title in every issue are the two traditional “Karagöz” figures. In early Turkish culture, this was a form of shadow theater featuring two contrasting characters: Karagöz, the rough, illiterate but street-smart commoner; and Hacivat, the refined, intellectual figure who speaks in elevated Ottoman Turkish. Since only the framework of each show was scripted, much of the performance relied on improvised wit, making Karagöz inherently satirical. The newspaper employed these familiar characters to satirize and ridicule Nazi Germany.
Complete issues. Six complete issues (four pages each). Overall good condition.
