DER RICHTER DER GERICHTETE (THE JUDGE THE JUDGED)

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This montage again addresses the Reichstag fire trial, which continued through December 23, 1933. Dimitrov was a Bulgarian working in Berlin for the Comintern, an international communist organization, when he was arrested for complicity in the fire. The cover of this issue showed Göring addressing the court and was accompanied by a text reporting a heated exchange between Göring and Dimitrov. Once the reader turned the page, they saw this photomontage. By extracting, reversing and reducing the size of the image of Göring, Heartfield diminishes the Nazi and transforms the prosecutor into the one being judged. Dimitrov was acquitted and deported to the Soviet Union.

Keywords

Photogravure
Commercial Art
World War II
Propaganda
Germany
Photomontage
Politics