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German Propaganda Poster

From the collection of the Netherlands Institute for War, Holocaust and Genocide Studies (NIOD), Amsterdam

h 110 cm x w 79 cm 
1944

The Dutch cities of Nijmegen, Enschede, Deventer and Arnhem endured heavy attacks from Allied bombers on 22 February 1944. Due to bad weather conditions, the pilots could not attack the designated targets in Germany so instead they chose an opportune target: the railway yard in Nijmegen.

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Fighting the fires after the Allies accidentally bombed the Dutch city of Nijmegen (source: Beeldbank WO2 – NIOD).
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But a miscalculation resulted in the city itself being hit hard. More than 800 people were killed. The devastation was enormous. The Germans skilfully seized the ‘brutal Anglo-American attack of terror on defenceless citizens’ for propaganda purposes. Posters played an important role here. The Germans who thought up this particular poster were very satisfied with the result. They also ran it by the propaganda council of the National Socialist Department of Public Information and Arts (DVK), which was less enthusiastic. The council felt the poster would remind people of the 14 May 1940 German bombing of Rotterdam.