Waffen SS recruitment poster featuring a young uniformed soldier
Extent and Medium
overall: Height: 34.250 inches (86.995 cm) | Width: 24.375 inches (61.913 cm)
Creator(s)
- Klemens Behler (Subject)
- Ottomar C. Anton (Artist)
- Obpacher AG (Printer)
Biographical History
Ottomar Carl Joseph Anton was born in Hamburg Germany on December 15, 1895. From 1912 to 1913 he attended the school of decorative art in Hamburg and later attended the University of Modern Fine Arts in Hamburg. From 1920 to the early 1930s Anton was commissioned to design print advertisements for commercial air and cruise lines such as the Hamburg-America Line, the Deutsche Afrika Line, the White Star Line and the Cunard Line. He also created posters for beer and cigarette companies and for the 1936 Olympic Games in Berlin. In 1933 he joined the National Socialist German Workers Party (Nazi Party). He designed several political posters for the party, the Hitler Youth and the Waffen SS. During this time his posters were translated into several languages and sent to every corner of Nazi occupied Europe. In 1936, Anton joined the Schutzstaffel (SS), member number 283,804, and achieved the rank of SS-Hauptsturmführer (head assault leader). After the war Anton worked for companies such as Cologne 4711 and Adler and he became a professor at the School of Arts in Bremen. Ottomar Anton died in 1976 in Hamburg, Germany.
Archival History
The poster was acquired by the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum in 1990.
Acquisition
United States Holocaust Memorial Museum Collection
Scope and Content
Recruitment poster for the Waffen SS featuring a profile image of a uniformed soldier. The Waffen SS was the armed military division of the Schutzstaffel (SS), the Nazi paramilitary organization that was responsible for security, intelligence gathering and analysis, and enforcing Nazi racial policies. They controlled the concentration camp system and planned and coordinated the Final Solution. The SS was originally formed in 1925 to protect Hitler along with other Nazi leaders and provide security at political meetings. In 1929, Heinrich Himmler was appointed Reichsführer-SS (Reich Leader of the SS) and turned the organization into an elite corps based on visions of racial purity and absolute loyalty to Hitler. The Waffen SS was established in 1939, eventually fielding more than twenty divisions and half a million men at its peak. The figure in the poster may have been based on Klemens Behler, who was an SS recruit at the time of the poster’s creation. He would go on to reach the rank of Obersturmbannführer (Senior assault unit leader) in the 23rd SS division, and was awarded the Knights Cross for his actions during the war.
Conditions Governing Access
No restrictions on access
Conditions Governing Reproduction
No restrictions on use
Physical Characteristics and Technical Requirements
Offset lithographic poster printed on faded white paper with a linen backing featuring a portrait of a young, uniformed Waffen SS soldier in right profile. Above and behind him is a large, waving, black flag featuring white SS bolts. He wears a gray military uniform with white SS bolts on black collar tabs and black shoulder straps. A gray Stahlhelm helmet with black SS bolts is strapped tightly under his chin. In the lower portion, is a line of large red block letter text and another line of smaller gray text below. The poster has a yellow-green hue with black shading at the edges.
front, bottom left on linen, handwritten, pencil :16/H front, bottom right on linen, handwritten, pencil : pII 388
Corporate Bodies
- Waffen-SS
- Nationalsozialistische Deutsche Arbeiter-Partei. Schutzstaffel
Subjects
- Nazi propaganda--Germany.
- Munich (Germany)
- Soldiers--Germany.
Genre
- Posters
- Object