"Spieglein, Spieglein an der Wand, wer ist der Stärkste im ganzen Land?"

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The evil stepmother in the German fairy tale “Snow White” has a magic mirror that must tell the truth. When she asks, “Mirror, mirror on the wall, who’s the fairest of them all?” and the mirror replies “Snow White,” the stepmother orders her killed. The skeleton in the mirror strangling (or embracing?) Hitler recalls a tradition in German Renaissance art of showing Death embracing a maiden, meant to remind us that all things that seem beautiful and fresh eventually turn to dust. The statement suggests that the nation’s state of crisis was what allowed Hitler to gain power; the mirror suggests that it will also lead to his downfall.

Keywords

World War II
Germany
Propaganda
Commercial Art
Photogravure
Politics
Photomontage