The American issue of Collier’s dated February 6, 1943. On the cover of the issue is an ironic caricature by Arias Bernal – “10 Jahre 1933–1943 der Freude” – “Ten Years of Happiness” – Adolf Hitler and senior figures of the Nazi regime receive a bouquet of flowers presented to them as a gift by a child giving a Nazi salute, with a gun pointed at his head.
The cover of the issue ironically alludes to the results of a decade since the Nazis’ rise to power, presented here as the complete opposite: violence, oppression, and cruelty. A small child, dressed in simple summer clothes, gives a Nazi salute to Adolf Hitler. He appears innocent and fragile facing a “wall” of black uniforms, while a gun is pointed at his head. The anti-Nazi caricature was intended to mock Nazi propaganda, which sought to portray Hitler’s rule as a golden age for Germany, while at the same time the entire world was engulfed in death and destruction brought about by the Nazi regime. The contrast between the child holding flowers and the armed officers exposes the true face of Nazi “happiness” – a regime based on the murder of the helpless and the innocent. In February 1943, the Battle of Stalingrad ended in a crushing German defeat. Americans who saw this cover understood that the Nazi “celebration” of ten years in power was in fact a campaign of genocide and devastation that was approaching its end.
On the inside pages are extensive articles about the United States Army and its military superiority, the exposure of Nazi crimes in the occupied countries (among other things, reporting on the expulsion of 20,000 residents from their homes in Frascati – Italy), “All for Victory, ” and more.
The illustrator Antonio Arias Bernal, also known as “The Brigadier” [1913–1960], is considered one of the most important Mexican cartoonists of the twentieth century. He was especially known for his sharp works against the fascist regimes of the 1930s and 1940s. Bernal was brought to Washington, D.C., by paid invitation of the U.S. government, to create cartoons and posters for the Office of the Coordinator of Inter-American Affairs to promote the Allied war effort. He was awarded the prestigious Maria Moors Cabot Prize, honoring “journalists and news organizations with a distinguished body of work that has contributed to Inter-American understanding, ” for his work as a cartoonist in 1952.
66 pages. Complete issue. Light stains on some of the pages. Good condition.
