Simplicissimus, No 48, 25th November 1942 - Back Cover

Simplicissimus No. 48, 25th November 1942 - Backcover, 47 Jahrgang. (Years of publication) (The name is a Latin term meaning simplest and is the name given to the protagonist of a 17th-century novel, Der Abenteuerliche Simplicissimuss, in which a naive and innocent boy with the name Siplicissimus, navigates a corrupt 17th-century Europe). Simplicissimus was a long-running political satire magazine published continuously from 1896 through to September 1944, when, as for the majority of print publications in the Third Reich, paper shortages forced it to cease. The magazine was popular and known for its biting satire, attacking bourgeois morality, the church, civil servants, lawyers and the military. During the Weimar period it attacked the politics of the left and the right equally, including numerous Adolf Hitler caricatures, and these continued into 1933 even after the Nazis regime assumed power. However, later in 1933, Simplicissimus underwent Gleichschalting - the process of coordination and Nazification, which forced publications to align with National Socialist ideology and state control. This involved replacing journalists who didn't conform, sacking Jewish or those of non-Aryan descent and ensuring that all content served approved Nazi objectives. Following this Simplicissimus published increasing anti-Semitic, anti-British and anti-American material which hardened once Germany was at war. Simplicissimus was published from 4th April 1896 to No 37 to the 13th September 1944. The back cover picture shows a woman in bed, she is wearing a classic red liberty hat as worn in the French Revolution. A cowboy is pulling at the bed covers and the implication is that he could assault her and that his presence is unwanted. The title and text reads: Marianne and the Gangster Don't be brusque, Madame, I'm only here to protect you. The woman in the cartoon is Marianne. She is the national personification of France, representing liberty and the French Republic. In the cartoon, she is depicted in bed, a vulnerable position. Her liberty hat refers to her role as the embodiment of the Republic while the cowboy represents the United States. Nazi propaganda frequently depicted the USA as a decadent, capitalistic, gangster-controlled nation. The cowboy stereotype portrayed Americans as uncivilised aggressors while his statement that I'm only here to protect you is a sarcastic inversion of the truth with the implication being that the U.S. will take advantage of a weakened France under the guise of protection

Advantage Aggressors Antisemitism Brusque Capitalistic Decadent Embodiment Frequently Guise Implication Long-running Marianne Personification Portrayed Presence Protect Refers Representing Represents Sarcastic Simplicissimus Statement Stereotype Truth Uncivilised Unwanted Vulnerable Weakened

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