(Berlin, Germany, 1891 - 1968, East Berlin, Germany)
1933
Photogravure
14 3/4 x 10 1/8 in. (37.6 x 25.7 cm)
Collection of the Akron Art Museum
Gift of Roger R. Smith
1991.31
© Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York / VG Bild-Kunst, Bonn
December was marked by political intrigue and backstabbing within the Nazi Party. The tumbling figures are Hitler and Theodor Leipart (1867-1947), a Social Democrat and trade union leader known for being anti-communist. Leipart’s Social Democratic Party had been ousted from power in Berlin through a presidential decree the previous July. The future looked encouraging to Heartfield, who had been a member of the German Communist Party since 1918, and to the publishers and readers of AIZ, which was an anti-fascist and pro-communist publication.