Background: These are photographs from a 1941 Nazi book titled Robber State England. It was one of a series of so-called “cigarette books.” One would paste pictures received as premiums with cigarettes in an album. For another example, see a book on Hitler. The book had 130 page and lots of picture, only a small number of which I include here. The copy I am working from brought the number in print to 180,000. The book traced the history of England, closing with this sentence:
Our determination to carry out the war England has forced upon us until final victory is clear from every word and act of the Führer, from every action of the German army, from the behavior of the whole German people. That victory will mean the fall of British plutocracy and the end of England’s exploitation of the world. It will result in the victory of the socialist idea and the establishment of a just order in Europe and the entire world (p. 129).
The source: Raubstaat England (Hamburg: Cigaretten-Bilderdienst Hamburg-Bahrenfeld, 1941).
Robber State England
Title: “Christianity in Practice”
Caption: “England achieved one of its most important goals in the Treaty of Utrecht in 1713: It gained a monopoly on the North American slave trade. While plutocracy’s coffers filled, millions of Negroes were kidnapped from their homeland in the most horrible way.” (p. 42)
Title: “Execution of rebellious Sepoys”
Caption: “To carry out mass death sentences on rebelious Indian soldiers, English officers found a new form of execution: The condemned were tied to canons and ‘blown into the air.’” A painting by the Russian painter Vasily Vereshchagin.”
Title: “German Colonial Possessions before the War”
Explanation: The map shows Germany’s pre-1918 colonies. A major element of Nazi propaganda included a demand for their return.
Title: “Evidence of British ‘Humanity’”
Caption: “This scene by the English artist Hodgskin appeared in the 12 February 1916 issue of the ‘Graphic.’ It shows how the English steamer ‘King David’ left the crew of the airship L 19 without assistance. The editors added: ‘One may assume that each of these “baby killers” received the fate he deserved.’ The torpedoing of the ‘Athenia,’ the pirate attack on the ‘Altmark,’ the bombing of open cities and countless other crimes prove that the English have not changed over the centuries.”
Title: “The German Cemetery in Waterberg”
Explanation: A cemetery in a former German colony in Africa, where those who had resisted the British are buried.
Title: “Built by Germany — Stolen by England”
Caption: “This was the seat of the German government in Windhoek (German Southwest Africa). What the natives of the former German colony think is clear from the countless letters and appeals that say: ‘Thousands and thousands are awaiting the day when the great Mother Germany will once again return to her children.’”
Title: “‘Pax Britannica’ in the Holy Land!”
Caption: “England has responded to the freedom movement by blowing up entire sections of cities — but still cannot defeat it.”