Greater Germany Yes! On April 10 Poster encouraging the public to vote yes in the 1938 Anschluss referendum
Extent and Medium
overall: Height: 46.625 inches (118.428 cm) | Width: 33.625 inches (85.408 cm)
Creator(s)
- Max Eschle (Artist)
- Friedrich J. Rehse (Previous owner)
Biographical History
Friedrich Josef Rehse was born on March 23, 1870, in Münster, Germany. He worked as a photographer until the outbreak of World War I, when he began collecting printed materials such as pamphlets, maps, stamps, postcards, letters, photographs and posters. Rehse continued to add to his collection throughout the 1920’s, becoming friendly with Adolf Hitler and other National Socialist German Workers' Party (Nazi Party or NSDAP) leadership and acquiring many pieces of their early propaganda work. In 1929, the NSDAP, which up to that point had saved little of their early works, purchased the entire collection from Rehse for 80,000 Reichsmarks and appointed him archivist of the collection. The collection was kept in the office of the NSDAP in the Munich Schellingstrasse, and in 1932 was named the "FJM Rehse Archive for Contemporary History and Journalism Munich.” In 1935, the collection was moved to the north wing of the Munich Residence, which was turned into a museum and renamed the “FJM Rehse Archive and Museum of Contemporary History Munich." The collection continued to grow both through legitimate acquisitions and through Nazi plunder until the end of the war when Munich was liberated by American troops in 1945. The collection was confiscated, and the unlawfully acquired pieces were returned to their rightful owners. The remainder of the collection, along with the files of the NSDAP main archive, were taken to the Library of Congress in Washington DC. Friedrich Rehse, aged 81, died on January 14, 1952 in Munich, Germany. Much of the confiscated collection was returned to the Federal Republic of Germany in 1963 as part of a "book repatriation" by the United States.
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
Anschluss poster displaying several arms raised for the Nazi salute in support of the Anschluss, the German annexation of Austria in 1938. Austria had experienced a prolonged period of economic stagnation, political dictatorship, and intense Nazi propaganda. When German troops entered the country on March 12, 1938 they received the enthusiastic support of most of the population, and Austria was incorporated into Germany the next day. The poster is an attempt to curry support for a referendum that would legitimize the annexation. On April 10, the German annexation was retroactively approved in a referendum that was manipulated by the Germans to indicate that about 99 percent of the Austrian people wanted the union. This poster was initially preserved by the FJM Rehse Archive and Museum of Contemporary History Munich, a museum operated by the Nazi Party that preserved much of their early propaganda.
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 depicting a close up view of numerous forearms and hands raised in the Nazi salute. All the arms wear suit sleeves and are bathed in a beam of soft, yellow light. The outside edges of the image are darkened to enhance the light effect. At the top is a line of large white text in fraktur font. At the bottom is the phrase “ja!” in very large red print, and below that is a line of white text. A faded black oval stamp is inside the exclamation mark. At the bottom right is a circular off white publishers mark.
front, bottom, within exclamation point stamped, faded black ink: F.J.M RESHE / ARCHIV /f. / Zeitgeschichie u. Publizistik / Munchen [F.J.M. Rehse Archive for History and Journalism Munich] back, bottom, handwritten, pencil : pII477
Subjects
- National socialism--Austria.
- Germany--Foreign relations--Austria.
- Austria.
- Austria--History--Anschluss, 1938.
- Austria--History--Anschluss, 1938.
Genre
- Propaganda posters.
- Posters
- Object