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John Heartfield

(Berlin, Germany, 1891 - 1968, East Berlin, Germany)

DER GALGENGRUSS (THE GALLOWS SALUTE)

1933

Photogravure

14 3/4 x 10 3/8 in. (37.6 x 26.4 cm)

Collection of the Akron Art Museum

Gift of Roger R. Smith

1991.27

© Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York / VG Bild-Kunst, Bonn

More Information

Flames shoot from the cupola of the Reichstag beneath the arms of a gallows and of Nazi leader Hermann Göring (1893-1946). Marinus van der Lubbe (1909-1934), a Dutch communist, was accused of setting the Reichstag on fire and put on trial in Leipzig with several other communist leaders. Göring, minister of the interior of Prussia, was the chief prosecutor. This montage was followed by an article comparing that trial to a “counter-trial” in London organized by a group of lawyers and anti-Nazi activists. In London the defendants were found innocent and the arson was attributed to the Nazis.

Keywords
Photogravure
Germany
Propaganda
Photomontage
World War II
Commercial Art
Politics