<< FAMOUS POLITICAL ART

His Warnings: Anti-Fascist Anti-Nazi Antiwar Art

John Heartfield’s famous anti-fascist, antiwar, anti-Nazi art appeared on the covers of the popular AIZ illustrated magazine. These images were blow-by-blow visual warnings of the rise of fascism and The Third Reich. They were warnings powerful enough to earn John Heartfield the number-five slot on the Gestapo’s Most Wanted List. They are warnings that remain totally relevant today. This page contains only a sample of the famous political art John Heartfield risked his life to produce. In the coming months, with the cooperation of several institutions and the help of exhibition supporters, this museum plans to display all of Heartfield’s brilliant AIZ magazine covers.

CLICK IMAGES BELOW TO EXPAND OR VIEW SLIDESHOW.CLICK VIEW PAGE FOR THE FULL PAGE ABOUT AN IMAGE.

On The SPD Party Crisis (Tiger Montage)

On The SPD Party Crisis (Tiger Montage)

Goering The Executioner

Goering The Executioner

A Puppet In Thyssen's Hand!

A Puppet In Thyssen's Hand!

Blind And Deaf Media

Blind And Deaf Media

Never Again!

Never Again!

Adolf, The Superman

Adolf, The Superman

Hurrah, There's No Butter Left!

Hurrah, There's No Butter Left!

Forced Supplier of Human Material Take Courage!

Forced Supplier of Human Material Take Courage!

Gestapo letters to German Women – Adding Mockery to Murder!

Gestapo letters to German Women – Adding Mockery to Murder!

Blood and Iron

Blood and Iron

The Executioner and Justice

The Executioner and Justice

New Chair to the German Universities

New Chair to the German Universities

Deutsche Eicheln (German Acorns)

Deutsche Eicheln (German Acorns)

Conversation In The Berlin Zoo

Conversation In The Berlin Zoo

Illustration for Grimm

Illustration for Grimm

A New Man - Master of a New World

A New Man - Master of a New World




“Heartfield
famous anti-fascist images ww2 heartfield aiz nazi germany
famous anti-fascist art ww2 heartfield aiz nazi germany

His Anti-Fascist Art Challenges Nazis and Warns of War

From 1930-1938, many of John Heartfield’s most famous political art appeared on the front covers of the AIZ (Arbeiter-Illustrierte-Zeitung), a popular illustrated magazine published by left-wing publisher Willi Münzenberg. The artist, hunted by the Gestapo, produced an astonishing 240 photomontages for the AIZ. Heartfield’s montages openly appeared on street corner newsstands throughout Berlin as the Nazi Party rose to power. The AIZ magazine eventually enjoyed Germany’s second or third-largest circulation (300,000-500,000).

Several powerful antifascist antiwar AIZ magazine covers were reproduced as John Heartfield posters. These anti-Nazi posters were pasted all over the walls of Berlin to combat Goebbel’s propaganda machine. Heartfield’s 1932 montage “Adolf, the Superman: Swallows Gold and Spouts Junk” could be thought of as a miracle of political alchemy.

A demagogue can turn gold from supporters into junk (tinny noise) for the public. Fascists will say anything if their financiers profit from their ugly words.

Hitler’s supporters quickly responded to Heartfield, Berlin’s resident anti-fascist rebel artist. They publicly beat him and threw him from a streetcar. But Heartfield refused to leave Berlin until he was forced to become a fugitive after an SS assassination squad smashed down the door of his apartment on April 14, Easter Sunday, 1933.

Heartfield defiantly continued to produce antiwar anti-fascist anti-Nazi art in Prague until Hitler’s army invaded Czechoslovakia in 1938. The Gestapo had orders to arrest approximately 800 people who had offended The Third Reich. Only a few of those people survived. The Gestapo hunted John Heartfield. The artist-activist was number-five on The Third Reich’s most-wanted list. But Heartfield managed once again to narrowly escape death.

New works for the AIZ will always be added.Please check Exhibition Networking Sites for updates.