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WW1 Propaganda art can’t get any more gruesome and moving than that painted and etched by the hand of the Dutch artist Louis Raemaeker. Although originally of Germany descent himself, Raemaekers seems to have had an insatiable desire for depicting the Kaiser and German army in the worst light possible. His pictures were so persuasive and damning that the German government offered a reward of 12,000 Dutch Guilders for him, dead or alive.
A set of cigarette cards, issued by Carreras in 1916, showcases many of his spine-chilling war cartoons, revealing vivid scenes of death and destruction on the battlefield. One card depicts a skeleton ironically drinking to the health of civilisation with a glass filled with red blood. Another equally memorable card shows a murdered girl being fed to a herd of pigs wearing German military helmets.
Many of the illustrations on these cards give us a glimpse of the horrors of chemical warfare, such a battle trenches being saturated with liquid fire and poisonous gas from the mouth of an evil serpent. Another card shows a man in a hospital bed struggling to breathe as he suffers from the effects of poison gas. Raemakers also shares the pain and distress caused by sea and land mines, U-boat, submarine and Zeppelin air ship attacks.
Several cigarette cards hint at North America’s disapproval of Germany’s naval attacks on merchant ships and defenceless passenger liners at a time when the US had not officially joined the war. Another card depicting a house of cards shows the precariousness of Germany’s approach to financing the war through loans.
Most people were extremely God fearing when these cards were issued so it is not surprising that many cards demonise Germany by showing pictures of their contempt of the Christian faith. One card depicts the Kaiser cowering down and hiding from a vision of Jesus Christ and another presents an illustration of a demolished statue of Jesus.
Carreras, Raemaekers War Cartoons, 1916 (140 cards)
Includes:Louis Raemaekers, Christendom After Twenty Centuries, We Wage War on Devine Principles, The Harvest is Ripe (The Grim Reaper), Satan's Partners, Luther-Liebknecht In the Reichstag, Von Bethman Hollyweg and Truth, The (Human) Shields of Rosselaere, The Hostages, The Massacre of the Innocents, Seduction, Bernhardi-ism, Unmarsked, Bluebeard's Chamber, A Conflict of Testimony, Spoils for the Victors Belgium, From Liege to Aix-La-Chapelle, Sympathy, Husbands and Fathers, Mon Fils Belgium 1914, A Pitiful Exodus (Antwerp), Our Lady of Antwerp, King Albert's Answer to the Pope, War and Christ, It's Fattening Work, Prosperity Reigns in Flanders, A Fact (Terrorism), A Letter from the German Trenches, My Son Go and Fight For Your Motherland, The Yser, "Liberte! Liberte Cherie!", The Very Stones Cry Out, The Mothers of Belgium, The Widows of Belgium, The Beauties of War, The (War) Prisoners, Gott Stafe England, The Junker, The Envoy of her Majesty, The Self-satisfied Burgher, Oranje Bopven (Cheers for Holland), The Dutch Junkers, The Eagle in the Hen-Run, The Friendly Visitor, Fairsightedness, The Belgian Refugee to his Dutch Brother, Idyllic Neutrality, The New Dutch Oil Line, Fox Tirpitz Preaching to the Geese, It's Unbelievable, Our Candid Friend, Jackals in the Political Field, Van Tromp and de Reuter, The Free Sea, A Political and Economic Rapprochement, Holland to Belgium, One of the Ferrocious Bellicose Party, Better a Living Dog Than a Dead Lion, The Patriots-Down With Militarism, Little Red Riding Hood, The Awakening, The Promise, Christmas Eve, The Wonders of Culture (Zeppelin Airship Attack Victims), The Zeppelin Triumph, The Raid (German Navy), You See How I Manage to Keep The Enemy Out Of My Country, Have Another Piece?, The Latin Sisters, The Broken Alliance and Italy, The Wolf-Trap, Gott Staffe Italien, We'll Give You The Title of Mpret of Poland, War Loan Music, The German Loan, Loan Jugglery, We Don't Understand This Loan Game, The New School Carriculum, The Ex-Convict, The Great Surprise, Confidences, The German Tango, Easter 1915, Lusitania Amok, Murder on the High Seas, The Lusitania Herod's Nightmare, Misunderstood, The Fallaba, Our Resolute President Wilson, The Next to be Kicked Out, German U Boats, The Last Race (German Submarines), Kultur has Passed Here, The Sea Mine, The Land Mine, Barbed Wire, The Gas Fiend (Effects of Poison Gas), Liquid Fire (Flame Throwers), Burning Fire, "Is It You, Mother?", Neuve Chapelle, A German, Alcoholism - Britons Never Shall Be Slaves, The Anniversary August - 1915 (Bernhardi), September - 1915, "Why, I've Killed You Twice and You Dare To Come Back Again", Thrown To the Swine (Murdered Girl Fed To Herd of Pigs), Miss Cavell, The Holy War, The Order of Merit, Serbia Autumn 1915, October in Serbia, Serbia, Ferdinand the Chameleon, Ferdinand Sets Out For The War But is Doubtful As To His Return, Vox Populi Suprema Lex, A Stable Peace, A Second Napoleon, Pan Germanicus as Peace Maker, Peace and Intervention, New Peace Offers, The Marshes of Pinks November 1915, The Higher Politics, To the End, "To Your Health , Civilisation", L'Avenir, Europe - 1916, The Braggart, Gott Mit Uns, "Kreuzland, Kreuzland Uber Alles, Slow Asphyxiation (Effects of Poison Gas), The Trials of a Court Painter, President Wilson and Humanity , The Ancona Protest, Botha to Britain, The Sacrifice, The Wandering Jew, Retribution, I Crush Whatever Resists Me, Mater Dolorosa, Reciprocity,
If you would like to find out more about the classic WW1 propaganda cartoons featured in this blog please click here.
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