Posters on the theme of WWII 1941 1945. Posters of the Great Patriotic War
Published: May 8, 2011 at 10:00
The Great Patriotic War poster is one of the most memorable and striking artistic cultural events of the twentieth century. Its persuasiveness and high patriotic pathos are largely explained by the professionalism of Soviet poster artists, their extensive life experience and ability to speak clearly using poster graphics. Today, decades after its creation, the poster of 1941–1945 remains an ageless art, sharp, combative and conscript.
V. Koretsky (1909-1998). Our strength is incalculable. M., L., 1941.
V. Koretskii (1909-1998). Our forces are numberless. Moscow, Leningrad 1941.
2. I. Toidze (1902-1985). The Motherland is here! M., L., 1941. 
Toidze (1902-1985). Your Motherland needs you! Moscow, Leningrad 1941.
3. V. Koretsky (1909-1998). Be a hero! M., L., 1941. 
V. Koretskii (1909-1998). Be a Hero! Moscow/Leningrad 1941.
4. V. Pravdin (1911-1979), Z. Pravdin (1911-#980s). Youth, go to battle for the Motherland! M., L., 1941. 
V. Pravdin (1911-1979), Z. Pravdina (1911-1980s). Young people, to the battle for the Motherland! Moscow, Leningrad 1941.
5. V. Serov (1910-1968). Our cause is just - victory will be ours. L., M., 1941. 
V. Serov (1910-1968). Our cause is just. We'll win the victory. Leningrad, Moscow 1941.
6. N. Zhukov (1908-1973), V. Klimashin (1912-1960). Let's defend Moscow! M., L., 1941. 
N. Zhukov (1908-1973), V. Klimashin (1912-1960). We'll defend Moscow! Moscow, Leningrad 1941.
7. V. Koretsky (1909-1998). Red Army warrior, save me! M., L., 1942. 
V. Koretskii (1909-1998). Red Army warrior, help! Moscow, Leningrad 1942.
8. N. Zhukov (1908-1973). Something to drink to! M., L., 1942. 
N. Zhukov (1908-1973). There is something to toast to! Moscow, Leningrad 1942.
9. V. Koretsky (1909-1998). Samed goes to his death so that Semyon does not die... M., L., 1943. 
V. Koretskii (1909-1998). Sahmed would sacrifice his life to save Semyon/ As Sahmed’s life is what Semyon had fought for. / Their password’s “Motherland” and “Victory”’s their motto! Moscow, Leningrad 1943.
10. V. Ivanov (1909-1968). We drink the water of our native Dnieper... M., L., 1943. 
V. Ivanov (1909-1968). We drink the water of Old Father Dnieper. We’ll drink from the Prut, the Neman and the Bug! Let’s wash the fascist filth off the Soviet land! Moscow, Leningrad 1943.
11. V. Ivanov (1909-1968). To the west! M.,L., 1943. 
V. Ivanov (1909-1968). Go West! Moscow, Leningrad 1943.
12. V. Koretsky (1909-1998). Hit like this: no matter the cartridge, it’s the enemy! M., 1943. 
V. Koretskii (1909-1998). Shoot like that! Every bullet means the murdered enemy! Moscow 1943.
13. N. Zhukov (1908-1973). Strike to death! M., L., 1942. 
N. Zhukov (1908-1973). Shoot to kill! Moscow, Leningrad 1942.
14. N. Zhukov (1908-1973). A German tank won't get through here! 
M., Leningrad, 1943. N. Zhukov (1908-1973). No way for German tanks! Moscow, Leningrad 1943.
15. A. Kokorekin (1906-1959). When an armor piercer stands in the way... M., L., 1943. 
A. Kokorekin (1906-1959). When our armor-piercing trooper is on the way/The fascist tanks will never pass! Moscow, Leningrad 1943.
16. V. Denis (1893-1946), N. Dolgorukov (1902-1980). Stalingrad. M., L., 1942. 
V. Deni (1893-1946), N. Dolgorukov (1902-1980). Stalingrad. Moscow, Leningrad 1942.
17. V. Ivanov (1909-1968). You gave us life back! M., L., 1943. 
V. Ivanov (1909-1968). You saved our lives! Moscow, Leningrad 1943.
18. L. Golovanov (1904-1980). Let's get to Berlin! M., L., 1944. 
L. Golovanov (1904-1980). Well reach Berlin! Moscow, Leningrad 1944.
19. V. Ivanov (1909-1968). You will live happily! M., L., 1944. 
V. Ivanov (1909-1968). You will live a happy life! Moscow, Leningrad 1944.
20. A. Kokorekin (1906-1959). To the victorious warrior - nationwide love! M., L., 1944. 
A. Kokorekin (1906-1959). Nation-wide love to Warrior the Winner! Moscow, Leningrad 1944.
21. N. Kochergin (1897-1974). Soviet land has been finally cleared of Nazi invaders! L., 1944.
V. Klimashin (1912-1960). Long live the warrior who won victory! Moscow, Leningrad 1945.
24. L. Golovanov (1904-1980). Glory to the Red Army! M., L., 1946. 
L. Golovanov (1904-1980). Long live the Red Army! Moscow, Leningrad 1946.
During the war, posters were the most accessible form of fine art. Capacious and clear, it reflected the whole essence at once. The posters strengthened the morale of the soldiers. They appealed to conscience and honor, courage and bravery. And after many years, people far from the war, when looking at the image, do not have to think for long about the meaning of what was drawn.
The so-called TASS Windows were especially popular. These are posters that were replicated manually by transferring images using stencils, and were aimed at raising the morale of soldiers and performing feats of labor by the population. This type of campaigning made it possible to instantly respond to ongoing events. The images were more colorful than printed posters. When working with Windows, contrasting colors and short, sharp phrases were used that “hit like shells.”
The poster art of the Great Patriotic War featured several popular motifs.
The first motive is Until the last bullet! They urge you to stand to death, save your ammunition, and shoot straight at the target. Because it is known for certain that metal for weapons was obtained with great difficulty from home front workers. Most often, the central figure on such posters was the personality of the fighter, whose facial features were etched in the memory for a long time.
Another popular call was “ Attack!" Posters with this motif depicted military equipment - the T-35 tank, airplanes, Pe-2. Sometimes legendary heroes, generals of past years or heroes were depicted.
Also common was the motive about fighter, wincurrentenemy in hand-to-hand combat. On these posters, the Red Army soldier was depicted as red, and the fascist as gray or black.
Widely known use caricatures in posters. Sometimes not only the enemy himself was ridiculed, but also the destructiveness and inhumanity of his actions. It is noteworthy that the artists who worked on the image always very accurately noted the character, habits, gestures, and distinctive features of the characters depicted. Such a subtle impact on people’s souls through a poster required not only long, painstaking work studying German newsreels, photographs of Hitler, Goebbels, Goering, Himmler and others, but also the skill of a psychologist.
No less popular was the motive Death to child killers. Such posters usually depicted the suffering or death of children, and called for help and protection.
Motive Do not chat! called on the local population to be vigilant.
There was a call to the population to collect scrap metal, to work without absenteeism, to harvest to the last grain, to bring victory closer with every blow of the hammer.
When it comes to posters, paintings and images, it is better to see once than to read their description a hundred times. We bring to your attention the most famous posters from the Great Patriotic War of 1941-1945.
Posters of the Great Patriotic War 1941-1945.
Text on the poster: Conquer the world! Bondage to the peoples! - Fascist rate. Red Army amendment!
Artist, year: Victor Denis (Denisov), 1943
Main motive: caricature
Brief explanation: Hitler's overconfidence was ridiculed. They tried to remove fear of the enemy from the Red Army soldiers by portraying Hitler as funny and absurd.
Text on the poster: Take revenge!
Artist, year: Shmarinov D., 1942
Main motive:Death to child killers
Brief explanation:The poster raises the topic of the suffering of Soviet citizens in the occupied territories. The poster shows a full-length image of a woman holding her murdered daughter in her arms. The suffering and grief of this woman is silent, but so touching. In the background of the poster there is a glow from the fire. One word “Take revenge” raises a storm of indignation and anger towards the fascist barbarians.
Text on the poster:Dad, kill the German!
Artist, year: Nesterova N., 1942
Main motive:Death to child killers
Brief explanation:The poster depicted the suffering of the people in the occupied territories.He aroused fierce hatred towards the enemy who encroached on the most sacred things - women and children.The slogan on the poster was based on a phrase from Konstantin Simonov’s poem “Kill him!”
Text on the poster:Hit like this: no matter the shell, it’s a tank!
Artist, year: V.B. Koretsky, 1943
Main motive:Until the last bullet!
Brief explanation:The poster encourages soldiers to improve their combat skills.
Text on the poster:A fighter who finds himself surrounded, fight to the last drop of blood!
Artist, year: HELL. Kokosh, 1941
Main motive:A fighter defeating the enemy in hand-to-hand combat
Brief explanation:They called upon us to stand to the death, to fight with all our strength.
Text on the poster:Death to the Nazi invaders!
Artist, year:N.M. Avvakumov, 1944
Main motive: Attack!
Brief explanation:The poster called on the soldiers to selflessly go into battle, attack . In the background there are tanks and planes that are rapidly rushing into battle against enemies. This is a kind of symbol of the fact that all forces are concentrated in the fight against the Germans, that all military equipment follows the Soviet soldier into battle, instilling fear in the fascists and confidence in the Soviet soldiers.
Text on the poster:This is what the German beast looks like now! So that we can breathe and live and finish off the beast! (on the drum - lightning war, behind the belt - the extermination of the Slavs, on the flag - total mobilization)
Artist, year: Victor Denis (Denisov), 1943
Main motive: Caricature
Brief explanation:The artist caricatures a ragged, tortured German beast. The beaten German can see all his slogans with which he so arrogantly attacked Russia. The author, making the German funny and pitiful, tried to add courage and remove fear from the soldiers.
Text on the poster:To Moscow! Hoh! From Moscow: oh!
Artist, year: Victor Denis (Denisov), 194 2
Main motive: Caricature
Brief explanation:The poster is dedicated to the Great Battle of Moscow and the failure of the plan for a lightning war (Blitzkrieg).
Text on the poster:The Motherland is calling! (Text of the military oath)
Artist, year: I. Toidze, 1941
Main motive: Attack!
Brief explanation: Artist r It lays out a complete monolithic silhouette on the plane of the sheet, using a combination of only two colors - red and black. Thanks to the low horizon, the poster is given a monumental feel. But the main force of influence of this poster lies in the psychological content of the image itself - in the expression of the excited face of a simple woman, in her inviting gesture.
Text on the poster:Do not chat! Be on alert, on days like these the walls listen. Not far from chatter and gossip to betrayal.
Artist, year: Vatolina N., Denisov N., 1941
Main motive: Do not chat!
Brief explanation:Just before the start of the Great Patriotic War and during its years, many German sabotage groups and spies operated on the territory of the Soviet Union, especially in the border regions. These groups carried out various acts of sabotage - violations and breaks of power and communication lines, destruction of important military and civilian facilities, disruption of water supply in cities and destruction of wooden bridges, as well as murders of military and party workers and technical specialists. These days, the task has arisen to bring to the attention of the population the need to be careful and vigilant in conversations and communication, especially with strangers.
Text on the poster:Comrade! Remember that a well and warmly dressed fighter will defeat the enemy even more powerfully.
Artist, year:A. and V. Kokorekin, 1942
Main motive:Everything for the front, everything for victory
Brief explanation:The poster calls for mobilizing all the resources of the population and giving everything they need to the soldiers who are fighting for their Motherland.
Text on the poster:The Red Army is taking a threatening step! The enemy in the lair will be destroyed! Conquest of the world. Slavery to peoples. Fascism. Hitler, Goering, Goebbels, Himler.
Artist, year: Victor Denis (Denisov), 1945
Main motive:Attack! Caricature.
Brief explanation:The poster makes you think about the atrocities of German fascism against humanity.
Text on the poster:Victory will be in the country where women and men are equal. Comrade woman! Your son fights like a hero at the front. And the daughter joins the RoKK squad. And you strengthen our rear: dig a deeper trench into the swarm, go to the machine. And drive your tractor instead of the drivers who are now driving tanks. You sister women! You, citizen mothers! Take a crowbar, a shovel, a steering wheel, a chisel! For realunderstand, finally, the stronger the rear, the firmer the army’s step, and the sooner the enemy will die!
Artist, year: I. Astapov, I. Kholodov, 1941
Main motive:Everything for the front, everything for victory!
Brief explanation:The poster carries a political connotation on the superiority of a society where men and women are equal, especially during the war, when men fight on the fronts, women provide security at the rear.
Text on the poster:Blood for blood, death for death!
Artist, year: Alexei Sittaro, 1942
Main motive:Death to child killers; Attack!
Brief explanation:The poster is aimed at instilling the inevitability of victory over the enemy and his complete expulsion from Soviet soil.
Text on the poster: Strike to death!
Artist, year:Nikolai Zhukov, 1942
Main motive:Until the last bullet!
Brief explanation: Appeal to the soldiers of the Red Army to beat the enemy harder for the sake of saving mothers, children and the Motherland.The poster is designed to raise the morale of soldiers.
Text on the poster:Red Army warrior, save me!
Artist, year:Victor Koretsky, 1942 year
Main motive:Death to child killers
Brief explanation:The poster made the soldiers hate the enemy.The dramatic power of this poster is still astounding to this day. The most difficult stage of the war for the Russian people was reflected in the work of Koretsky. The ancient motif - a mother with a child in her arms - receives a completely different interpretation in the poster than we are used to seeing in the paintings of past masters. This work does not have the idyllic features, warmth and warmth that are usually present in scenes with mother and child, here the mother is depicted protecting her child from danger. On the one hand, in the poster we see an unequal clash of two forces: cold, bloody weapons on the one hand, and two defenseless human figures on the other. But at the same time, the poster does not make a depressing impression, thanks to the fact that Koretsky was able to show the strength and deep righteousness of the Soviet woman, despite the fact that she has no weapons in her hands, she symbolizes the strength and spirit of the Russian people, who will not bow to the aggressor . With its protest against violence and death, the poster heralds the coming victory. Using simple means, Koretsky’s work inspires strength and confidence, becoming at the same time a call, a request, and an order; This is how it expresses the danger hanging over people and the hope that never leaves them.
Text on the poster:There is no force that could enslave us. Kuzma Minin. Let the courageous image of our great ancestors inspire you in this war! I. Stalin.
Artist, year:V. Ivanov, O. Burova, 1942
Main motive: Attack!
Brief explanation:The poster contains a second symbolic plan depicting Kuzma Minin’s liberation of the Motherland from the interventionists. Thus, even the great heroes of the past call on the soldiers to fight and fight for their homeland.
Text on the poster:Combat menu for the enemy for each day.The Russian meal begins with an appetizer. Excellent pies with different fillings...Then some soups: naval borscht and okroshka. For the main course there are Cossack-style meatballs and Caucasian-style shish kebab and for dessert - jelly.
Artist, year: N. Muratov, 1941
Main motive: Caricature
Brief explanation:The poster is made in a satirical style and reinforces confidence in the victory of the Soviet people over the enemy.
Text on the poster:The enemy is insidious - be on alert!
Artist, year:V. Ivanov, O. Burova, 194 5 year
Main motive: Do not chat
Brief explanation:The poster calls for vigilance among the population and soldiers.The subject of the poster reminds us that underneath virtue a fascist criminal can be hidden.
Text on the poster:TASS window No. 613 A German went to the Volga to get drunk - a Fritz was hit in the teeth,
I had to run away - my side ached, my back hurt. Apparently, Volga water is not good for a fascist, it is cold for a Fritz, a salty man!
Artist, year: P. Sargsyan
Main motive: Caricature
Brief explanation: The poster emphasizes the idea that the Russian people are invincible and the enemy will still be defeated.
Poster is a universal genre. But the posters of the Great Patriotic War are more than a genre, they are a chronicle that predetermined the Great Victory of a great nation over fascism.
Toidze I. The Motherland is calling! 1941
Fighter, liberate your Belarus!
Poster. Hood. V. Koretsky, 1943
·01/27/43: Hitler’s degenerate wanted a war like in France, but not like in Russia. He wanted, like pimps, to live at someone else’s expense, to drink someone else’s champagne and eat someone else’s chocolate, to send stolen cloth, silks and stockings to his greedy wife, like a she-wolf, who invariably repeated two words in her “touching” letters “let’s go and let’s go”... With With a dim, frenzied gaze, German-fascist males rush at women of a foreign nationality, breathing into their faces the stench of rotten teeth, staining them with drops of their poisoned saliva. ("Red Star", USSR)
Kill the fascist fanatic!
Poster. Hood. V. Denis. 1942
·Sailor! Deliver your dear girl from vile reptiles! Be merciless with the executioners, kill the rapists in battle! (1941)
Red Army warrior, save me!
Poster. Hood. V.A. Serov, 1942.
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Fascist captivity means atrocities, suffering and torture.
Poster. Hood. V.A. Kobelev, 1941.
·06/29/41: The main idea of the fascists is the superiority of the German race over other races. They compiled a description of an exemplary representative of the Germanic race. This is how a description of a purebred bull or a purebred dog is made. According to the “scientists” of fascism, a pure German is distinguished by his slimness, tall stature, light skin and hair color, and elongated head shape. It must be said that the three leaders of the fascists hardly fit the listed signs. Hitler is a dark-haired man of average height, Goering is an extremely corpulent creature. And Goebbels generally bears little resemblance to a person - German or non-German - he is a tiny monkey, ugly and fidgety. The appearance of the leaders does not prevent the fascists from persisting in the exaltation of the German race...
The fascists turned people into animals, and the complex world of human feelings was replaced by a textbook on pedigree cattle breeding... The ancestors of today's German fascists declared: “The Slavs are only fertilizer for the German race.” The fascists picked up such a “smart” idea. They consider the Slavs “a minor race, created for agriculture, for dancing or choral songs, but absolutely unsuitable for urban culture and for independent state existence.” Russians, in the words of fascist “scientists”: “a cross between Mongols and Slavs, created to live under someone else’s leadership.” ("Red Star", USSR)
Fascism is hunger, fascism is terror, fascism is war! 1941 Karachentsev Petr Yakovlevich
Fascist captivity means torture and death.
Poster. Hood. Yu.N. Petrov, 1941
·08/24/41: In one of the hotels in the city of Smolensk, the German command opened a brothel for officers with 260 beds. Hundreds of girls and women are forced into this terrible den; they were dragged by the arms, by the braids, and mercilessly dragged along the pavement. The Germans also opened a brothel in the village of Levikino, Glinkovsky district, Smolensk region. The fascist barbarians forced 50 collective farm girls, including schoolgirls, there. This is what the bearers of the “new order” do in many other villages and cities. ("Pravda", USSR)
07/14/41: The Russians give a total response to a total war: even women and children fight the enemy. One German correspondent reported that he saw in a broken truck the body of a beautiful girl of about seventeen with lieutenant's buttonholes - she never let go of a self-loading rifle. Other "Amazons", sometimes poorly equipped, but always well armed, continue to cause a lot of trouble for the Germans. Girls and boys aged 8-16 who belong to the organization of "Young Pioneers" - the Russian equivalent of Boy Scouts - are formed into groups to detect parachutists. Even Russian mosquitoes in the endless Pripyat swamps are waging their own “guerrilla war” against the Germans. ("Time", USA)
Take revenge! Poster. Hood. D. Shmarinov, 1942
·05.27.42: Now the war interests us: we want to liberate the regions and cities captured by the Germans. We cannot breathe while German soldiers are rampaging through Smolensk and Novgorod. We will not sleep while German corporals rape Ukrainian girls. We will not rest until we exterminate the fascists. Our strength is in our consciousness: there is no Red Army soldier who does not understand why we are fighting. ("Red Star", USSR)
01/14/42: These were not buried. They are lying near the road. Either a hand or a head sticks out from under the snow. A frozen German stands by a birch tree, his hand is raised - it seems that he is dead, he still wants to kill someone. And next to him lies another, covering his face with his hand. Can’t count... On the birch cross the hand of a Russian wrote: “We went to Moscow, ended up in the grave”...
Here are their corpses. And next to it are bottles of French champagne, Norwegian canned food, and Bulgarian cigarettes. It’s scary to think that these pitiful people are the gentlemen of today’s Europe... Some of the “gentlemen,” however, will no longer drink champagne: they lie in the frozen ground.
It's good when they are taken by surprise. In the village of Belousovo, dinner remained untouched. They uncorked the bottles, but didn’t have time to take a sip. In the village of Balabanovo, the staff officers were sleeping. They ran out in their underpants - and solemnly, in silk French underpants, died from a Russian bayonet. ("Red Star", USSR)
·09/13/41: Drunken fascist bastard shoots, hangs, bayonets, tears into pieces, burns old people, women and children at the stake. Fascist two-legged brutes rape girls and women, and then kill them... Nazi-German trash commits its atrocities with the cold calculation of professional murderers and executioners. Intoxicated with blood, sadists carry out the program proclaimed by the cannibal Hitler who sent them. ("Pravda", USSR)
09/10/41: Animals in the uniforms of Nazi officers and soldiers show what they are capable of. They gouge out the eyes of the wounded, cut out the breasts of women, they shoot old people and children with machine guns, burn collective farmers in their huts, rape girls, and drive them into brothels. Cowardly fascist dogs, under threat of execution, drive Soviet women and old people in front of them, covering their skin with their bodies. ("Pravda", USSR)
I'm waiting for you, warrior-liberator! Poster. Hood. D. Shmarinov, 1942
·12/27/41: A brothel instead of a family - such is the bestial morality of the Nazis!... This morally and physically corrupted, dirty, lousy, syphilis and gonorrhea-stricken fascist soldier rapes Soviet women in captured cities and villages. The scoundrels mock their victims doubly - they trample on their honor and deprive them of their health. It becomes scary when you think how many unfortunate victims of fascist rapists are infected with severe venereal diseases!... ("Red Star", USSR)
Poster. Hood. YES. Shmarinov, 1942
·14.01.42: Women cry when they see ours. These are tears of joy, a thaw after a terrible winter. They were silent for two or three months. They looked at the German executioners with dry, hard eyes. They were afraid to exchange a short word, a complaint, a sigh. And then it moved away, broke through. And it seems, on this chilly day, that it really is spring outside, the spring of the Russian people in the middle of the Russian winter.
The stories of peasants about the black weeks of the German yoke are terrible. Not only the atrocities are terrible, but the appearance of the German is terrible. “He shows me that he’s throwing a cigarette butt into the stove and asks: “Kultur. Cultures." And he, excuse me, was recovering in the hut with me and a woman in the hut. It’s cold, it’s not working out”... “They’re dirty. I washed my feet, dried them, and then my face with the same towel...” “One is eating, and the other is sitting at the table and killing lice. It’s disgusting to look at...” “He’ll put his dirty laundry in a bucket. I tell him the bucket is clean, and he laughs. They desecrated us."
“They desecrated us” are good words. They contain all the indignation of our people before the dirt, not only physical, but also spiritual, of these Hans and Krauts. They were reputed to be cultured. Now everyone has seen what their “culture” is - obscene postcards and drinking. They were reputed to be clean, but now everyone saw lousy brats with scabies who set up a latrine in a clean hut. ("Red Star", USSR)
My son! You see my fate... Defeat the fascists in holy battle!
Poster. Hood. F. Antonov, 1942
·10/18/41: They commit atrocities in captured villages and villages. Robbers with swastikas, they revel in the blood of Soviet people. They are intoxicated by blood and schnapps. They drink vodka and do their bloody deeds. Then they drink again and commit atrocities with redoubled force... The Germans began to beat the prisoners and spit in their faces. Several people who resisted were immediately shot. Then the robbers with swastikas staged a ride on the captured Red Army soldiers. They found a pig somewhere. One of the soldiers sat on the shoulders of a captured Red Army soldier, the other on a pig, both were driven to make it look like a race. The drunken Germans giggled, gloated, and mocked.
The fascist beast cannot escape retribution!
Poster. Hood. V. Koretsky, 1942
·01/30/43: Ten years ago you chose Hitler. You went after the ogre. You went to France. You came to us. Now you have only one thing left: die. You thought on January 30, having received a double portion of schnapps, to hang the Russians. You will meet this day in your grave. ("Red Star", USSR)
01/28/42: Comrade soldiers, look again to see if hand grenades have any effect on the “unfeeling” non-human. Check again whether the bayonet strikes reach them. Look how well they die from our mines and shells... They demand: “be cruel,” they torture, rape, burn. We say: you woke up, a new day is before you, in the name of philanthropy, kill a couple more Krauts - your children and grandchildren will remember your name. ("Red Star", USSR)
01/25/42: Be silent, Krauts, so that we don’t find out how scared you are. Be silent, Gretchen, so that we don’t know how hard it is for you... Do you perhaps think that we are eager to study your animal psychology? No. We want one thing - to destroy your Hitler tribe. ("Red Star", USSR)
·01/28/42: Anticipating his death, he is eagerly preparing new tortures. Disciples of the lame-legged one, all these “Herr-Doctors” sit and figure out how else to torture our wives and our children. They were not particularly “sensitive” to us. They ripped open the bellies of pregnant women. They gave horse urine to the dying wounded. They raped girls, and then took them to the ice and raped them again...
10.30.41: In Hitler’s army, mass rape of women is a general legalized phenomenon. It is encouraged by the entire policy of fascism in the army. Abuse of the population, savage torture and mass rape of women, widely practiced by fascist gangs before, intensified many times over in the war against the USSR. Cruelty serves as a cover for the cowardice of the fascists, who did not expect such resistance from the Soviet people. ("Red Star", USSR)
Hood. Kukryniksy (M. Kupriyanov, P. Krylov, N. Sokolov), 1942
03.25.42: The Germans announced with special posters: Staraya Russa is an original German city. Wanting, apparently, to give the city a “German” appearance, the Nazis drove cattle into the ancient beautiful Old Russian Cathedral, hung the corpses of the people they tortured at the intersections of the main streets, and opened brothel houses where women and teenage girls are forcefully dragged in. Yes, after all this the city really looked German!
However, even Hitler’s bigwigs apparently became somewhat stumped by such Germanization. It turned out that during the German occupation in the city, 20 percent of all women, driven by the Germans under threat of execution into brothel houses, fell ill with venereal diseases. The order that announced this does not deny that the disease was brought in by German officers and soldiers. The order addresses the sick with urgent advice not to rape women. Concern for the population? No. “One sick soldier can make dozens of others sick.” women? I don’t care, here’s more tenderness!
There is a notice hanging: “At the birth of their ninth living child or seventh son, parents have the right to choose Adolf Hitler or Imperial Marshal Hermann Goering as godparents.” And nearby on the street two pregnant women are hanged - Nilova and Boytsova. A third woman is hanging right there - Prokofieva, after which four little children were left. Why were these women hanged? So, for warning. ("Red Star", USSR)
Poster. Hood. Antonov Fedor Vasilievich, 1942
·12/30/41: The German command ordered us to be placed in a completely cold building. For several days we were starved and not even given water. Everyone suffered terribly, some were on the verge of madness. Finally... the Germans threw us a dead horse. Hungry people began to tear pieces of carrion. It was a terrible sight. Some comrades, outraged by such mockery, raised a cry. Then one officer ordered to place a machine gun at the door and ordered them to shoot at us. A German machine gunner opened fire at point blank range. We began to hide behind the ledges of the walls, but not everyone could do this. 25 people were killed and wounded. The corpses of the dead were left lying there; they were not allowed to be taken out. ("Red Star", USSR)
Poster. Hood. B.V. Ioganson, 1943.
The beast is wounded! Let's finish off the fascist beast!
Poster. Hood. D.S. Moore, 1943
·12.04.45: In many Soviet libraries and clubs you will probably see a solid volume. A single word is stamped on the cover: “They.” They are Germans. The book contains many illustrations - terrible illustrations, because we are talking about torture and torment that the Germans subjected Soviet citizens: men, women, children. We read equally terrible facts in press reports about German death camps on the territory of the USSR and Poland: what happened there cannot be described in words, these are manifestations of absolute evil. Let's add to this the completely destroyed and devastated western regions of Russia and gigantic losses at the front. Every Russian understands: the disaster that befell Europe is not just a war, but something more. Who is to blame for this? (The Times, UK).
I was waiting for you - warrior liberator! 1945
·01/10/43: Every Soviet soldier knows what he is fighting for. Killing a German became our air, our bread. Without this we have no life. ("Red Star", USSR)
01/01/43: From a soldier’s flask we drank the icy water of hatred. It burns your mouth stronger than alcohol. Damn Germany has intervened these days. Europe dreamed of flying into the stratosphere, now it must live like a mole in bomb shelters and dugouts. By the will of the possessed man and those close to him, the darkening of the century came. We hate the Germans not only because they basely and vilely kill our children. We also hate them because we have to kill them, and of all the words with which man is rich, we are now left with only one: “kill.” We hate the Germans not only because they basely and vilely kill our children. We hate them also because we have to kill them, because of all the words with which man is rich, we now have only one: kill. ("Red Star", USSR)
· Red Army warrior, save me! Hood. Koretsky Viktor Borisovich, 1942
"Pravda" dated August 5, 1942.
· Glory to the liberators of Ukraine! Death to the German invaders!
Poster. Hood. D. Shmarinov, 1943
·01/30/43: Fritz howled: “What bad did he do?” He had not said this before... For nineteen months he calmly killed, robbed and hanged. Now he howled: “For what?”... Because in Kislovodsk we found a five-year-old girl with her stomach ripped open. Because in Kalach we found a three-year-old boy with his ears cut off. Because in every city the Germans kill innocents. For all the executions. For all the gallows. Fritz howls: “If only we could live peacefully!” I remembered too late, damn it. Who called you to our land? ("Red Star", USSR)
Let's save the Soviet guys from the Germans!
Poster. Hood. L.F. Golovanov, 1943
· 10/30/41: The German fascist command proceeds from the fundamental Hitlerite position that terror and fear are the most powerful means of influencing people, and that therefore the German must frighten the population everywhere. Therefore, the most brutal methods of execution are encouraged in the fascist army: executions take place in public and, moreover, in a deliberately frightening environment. But this does not help the executioners; The Soviet people respond to the ferocious terror of the fascists by developing the partisan movement. ("Red Star", USSR)
Guard attack pilot Senior Lieutenant Andrei Filippovich Kolomeets told how the Germans blinded his father:
One morning I opened the newspaper and read in the Sovinformburo report the name of my native village, liberated by the Red Army.
I wrote a letter and received the long-awaited answer: everyone is alive and well - my sister, my mother, and my father. They ask me to tell you about myself, how I fight, how I live.
Only one thing surprised me: why the letter was written in my sister’s hand, why doesn’t my dad write - he’s a literate, talkative person. I began to repeat in my letters: I want, dad, to receive news written by your hand. And my sister still writes letters from home. At this point I got angry: if my father didn’t answer, I’d stop writing. And here comes the answer to my letter: “Don’t be angry, Andryusha, with dad - he can’t write to you with his own hand because he’s blind: the Germans burned out his eyes. He didn’t want to work for them at the iron foundry. They took him to the Gestapo , kept for two days, then released. Instead of eyes - two wounds..."
Since then I have been twice as sharp in flight. No matter how the German disguises himself, I find him and beat him. Nothing can hide the bandit from my fire. I am mercilessly taking revenge on the damned little woman for the injury of my own father.
Son, take revenge!
Poster. Hood. N. Zhukov, 1944
·07/27/42: It was to the peasant soul that Tymoshenko and all of Russia addressed in his last May Day order that Stalin, the man whose face symbolizes the entire country: “They [the Red Army soldiers] learned to truly hate the Nazi invaders. They realized that it is impossible to defeat the enemy without learning to hate him with all the strength of the soul.”
It was these forces of the soul - the souls of the soldier and the worker - that the secretary of the Moscow trade union organization Nikolaeva had in mind when speaking to the weavers: “All work in the rear takes place under the banner of hatred.”
This is the hatred of the defenders, and the Red Army is still on the defensive: it has not yet been able to achieve great success in offensive operations, and now it is seeking from its own experience the answer to the question whether defense alone can give the desired result. It is precisely this hatred that Moscow’s communiqués appeal to, emphasizing the need to exterminate German soldiers, destroy German tanks, guns, and planes.” ("Time", USA)
I will take revenge on the Nazis for your torment!
Poster. Hood. B. Dekhterev, 1943.
·And the more hopeless the position of the Nazis becomes, the more furious they become in their atrocities and robberies. Our people will not forgive these crimes to the German monsters. Joseph Stalin, 1943
· 10.30.41: These scoundrels with swastikas, going into attacks, drive civilians ahead of them. In recent days, in only one sector of the front - on the approaches to Crimea - the Germans several times tried to hide, like armor, with the bodies of old people, women and children. These scoundrels, the Germans, trampling all the laws of warfare, which they recognized in words, villainously deal with the wounded and captured Red Army soldiers, and turn the survivors into their slaves. Our soldiers know hundreds of facts when the Nazis burned the wounded alive, gouged out their eyes, and tore them to pieces with tanks. And how many such crimes remained unknown!... ("Red Star", USSR)
No army has disgraced itself with such vile and dishonest tricks as the Nazi army.
Poster. Hood. N. Bylyev, 1943
Daddy, save me!
Poster. Hood. I. Kruzhkov, 1943
·11.11.41: A letter from his father was found in the pocket of a German soldier. He wrote: “I don’t understand you, Hans. You write that in Ukraine they hate you, they shoot from behind every bush. You need to explain it well to these brutes, because you are liberating them from the Bolsheviks, maybe they didn’t understand you.” ("Pravda", USSR)
Fighter, Ukraine is waiting for you!
Poster. Hood. N. Zhukov, V. Klimashin, 1943
During the war years, political posters took a leading place among other types of fine art. State Publishing House "Art" (Moscow and Leningrad), "TASS Windows", "Combat Pencil" (Leningrad), studio named after M.B. Grekov, publishing houses in the republics of Central Asia and Transcaucasia, cities of Siberia and the Far East, in Kuibyshev, Ivanovo, Rostov-on-Don, visiting editorial offices of central newspapers and teams of artists created at creative unions, art institutes - the entire gigantic propaganda industry of socialist realism worked like a well-oiled machine.
Perhaps nowhere in the world during the war years did such a wide range of the greatest masters of their time work in the genre of political posters: D. Moor, V. Denis, A. Deineka, Kukryniksy, D. Shmarinov, G. Vereisky, S. Gerasimov, B Ioganson and others. Summer. 1941 22nd of June. Sunday. On the radio - a TASS message about Germany's treacherous attack on our country.
And already on June 24, a poster “We will ruthlessly defeat and destroy the enemy!” appeared on the streets of Moscow and became an integral part of the austere appearance of the capital!
Within a few days the whole country recognized him, and a week later - the whole world. This poster was followed by others. Posters, cartoons in newspapers, "TASS Windows", book illustrations, anti-fascist leaflets for German soldiers, even packaging for food concentrates sent to the front - all these diverse forms were used by artists Mikhail Kupriyanov, Porfiry Krylov and Nikolai Sokolov (Kukryniksy), forcing them to serve their purpose.
At the same time, posters dedicated to the army and home front, the ideological and practical role of the country's leadership in organizing resistance to the enemy, were published in large quantities. “Poster artists are very often pressed closely to the events,” wrote the famous artist Viktor Ivanov. With each new year of the war, the tonality of the pre-historic paintings also changed.
In 1943, the topic suggested itself. ... A soldier uses the butt of a machine gun to knock down the sign board installed by the Nazis "Drang nach osten". From now on, the wave of the campaign rushes to the west, and it seems that no force can stop this impulse. "To the west!" - theme and title of the most popular posters of this period. 1944, 1945. The war entered a new phase. The roads of war, slow, containing traces of retreat, where death awaited at every step, were left behind.
The rapid roads of advance, the joyful roads of return and meetings become the theme of the posters: “Let's get to Berlin!”, “Motherland, meet the heroes!” (Leonid Golovanov), "Let's free Europe from the chains of fascist slavery!" (I. Toidze), "Hello, Motherland!" (Nina Vatolina), “Glory to the winner!” (Valentin Litvinenko), "May Day greetings to the heroes of the front and rear!" (Alexey Kokorekin). The memory collection, like the museum collection, firmly preserves what is no longer there, what was and has passed. Time... He has something to remain silent about, and something to remember. And all this remained in the posters: “Stalin is the greatness of our era” (A. Zhitomirsky), “For the Motherland! For Stalin!” (A. Efimov), “Stalin’s order is the order of the Motherland” (A. Serov), “Chatterbox is a godsend for a spy” (L. Elkovich), “Comrade! Be alert, do not blurt out secrets to the enemy” (B. Zhukov). M. Nesterova 1945 The main monuments of the Stalin era were blown up and destroyed. Once famous works are in inaccessible museum storage rooms.
Koretsky V. Be a hero! 1941
Koretsky V. Partisans, beat the enemy without mercy! 1941
Moore D. Everything is "G". 1941
Dolgorukov N. So it was... So it will be! 1941
Kukryniksy. We fight great... 1941
Avvakumov N., Shcheglov V. We will not give up the conquests of October! 1941
Zhukov N., Klimashin V. Let's defend Moscow! 1941
Ivanov V. Let him inspire you in this war... 1941
Kokorenkin A. This front-line report also contains my combat work! 1943
And only recently has this cultural layer begun to gradually emerge from oblivion, showing its unchanged face to the world. And perhaps the only thing in our power is to try not to distort the truth behind the discordant memories. This selection presents both famous works by masters of political posters of the Soviet era, as well as works that are not so well known today, which for various reasons were not included in albums and catalogs published in recent decades. Without them, the poster chronicle of the Great Patriotic War would not be accurate.
Ivanov V. Drinking the water of our native Dnieper... 1943
Sachkov V. To the Soldier-Liberator - Glory
This poster from 1946 is interesting because it contains the inscription “Glory to the Russian people” as a quote from the Reichstag wall. Subsequently, Soviet propaganda did not allow this to happen and instead of the “Russian people”, the posters featured the “Soviet people”.
Here's another poster from 1946. As you can see, the Russian people already appear in the main slogan on the poster: 
Obviously, the use of the term “Russian people”, instead of the “Soviet people”, which was constantly used by official propaganda before, became possible after Stalin’s famous toast to the Russian people at a Kremlin reception on May 24, 1945 in honor of the commanders of the Red Army. Here is the transcript of this toast:
Comrades, allow me to raise one more, final toast.
I, as a representative of our Soviet government, would like to raise a toast to the health of our Soviet people and, above all, the Russian people. (Stormy, prolonged applause, shouts of “hurray”)
I drink, first of all, to the health of the Russian people because they are the most outstanding nation of all the nations that make up the Soviet Union.
I raise a toast to the health of the Russian people because in this war they have earned and have previously earned the title, if you like, of the leading force of our Soviet Union among all the peoples of our country.
I raise a toast to the health of the Russian people, not only because they are the leading people, but also because they have common sense, general political common sense and patience.
Our government made many mistakes; we had moments of despair in 1941-42, when our army retreated, left our native villages and cities in Ukraine, Belarus, Moldova, the Leningrad region, the Karelo-Finnish Republic, left because there was no other way out. Some other people could say: you did not live up to our hopes, we will install another government that will make peace with Germany and provide us with peace. This could happen, keep in mind.
But the Russian people did not agree to this, the Russian people did not compromise, they showed unlimited trust in our government. I repeat, we made mistakes, for the first two years our army was forced to retreat, it turned out that we did not master the events, did not cope with the situation that had arisen. However, the Russian people believed, endured, waited and hoped that we would still cope with the events.
For this trust in our government that the Russian people have shown us, we thank them greatly!
For the health of the Russian people!
1945. Kokorekin A. Glory to the Victorious Motherland!
1980. Lukyanov M. The feat of the Soviet people is immortal!
Tsesler V., Voichenko S., Shelutto A. 40 years of peace.
Gornyak M. We defended the world, we will defend the world!
HAPPY VICTORY DAY!!!