---
title: Alaska - Death-Trap for the Jap
url: https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/alaska-death-trap-for-the-jap-1942/
description: A grey rat in a red cap bearing the rising-sun emblem creeps toward a mousetrap labelled 'Army Navy Civilian' laid over a map of Alaska, under the line…
section: Collection
---

[Collection](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/)

**Content note:** Ethnic slur ('Jap') in the slogan; the Japanese enemy is drawn as a rat. This object is shown as it was published. [Why](https://propagandaarchive.org/about/#as-it-was)

[![Alaska - Death-Trap for the Jap](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/images/alaska-death-trap-for-the-jap-1942.jpg)](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/images/alaska-death-trap-for-the-jap-1942.jpg)

# Alaska - Death-Trap for the Jap

A grey rat in a red cap bearing the rising-sun emblem creeps toward a mousetrap labelled 'Army Navy Civilian' laid over a map of Alaska, under the line 'Alaska, Death-Trap for the Jap'. The enemy is drawn as vermin and named with the slur, so the label, not any evidence, tells the viewer what the 'trap' is for.

## Text on the object

Original (English) · read from the image, not independently checked

```
ALASKA
DEATH-TRAP
FOR THE JAP

ARMY
CIVILIAN
NAVY

THIRTEENTH NAVAL DISTRICT  •  UNITED STATES NAVY

WPA

26
```

'ARMY', 'CIVILIAN' and 'NAVY' are lettered on the mousetrap. 'WPA' appears faintly at lower left and the number '26' at lower right in the margin. The artist's signature at right ('Grigware') is in the illustration.

[← Frame from a Japanese newsreel of Wang Jingwei's New Year address, "Sekai no reimei" (Dawn of the Century)](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/wang-jingwei-new-year-address-nippon-news-1941/) [Ave Caesar! Morituri te salutant (British leaflet to Italy) →](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/ave-caesar-morituri-te-salutant-pwe-leaflet-1942/)

## Using the same techniques

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- [Anacoana fut pendue sans raison (engraving in Le miroir de la cruelle et horrible tyrannie espagnole)](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/anacoana-hanged-miroir-tyrannie-espagnole-1620/) (Dutch Republic · 1620 · Fear appeal, Name-calling). Content note: Engraving of a hanged, bare-breasted Taino woman, burning huts and people being killed by Spanish soldiers.
- [Ondersoeckt de Geesten, ofse van den Duyvel syn, of niet (the De Witt brothers as devils)](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/ondersoeckt-de-geesten-de-witt-devils-1672/) (Dutch Republic · 1672 · Scapegoating, Name-calling)
- [The Highlanders Medley, or The Duke Triumphant (A Loyal Song)](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/highlanders-medley-duke-triumphant-1746/) (Great Britain · 1746 · Name-calling, Transfer)
- [The North Briton, No. XLV, 23 April 1763 (John Wilkes), opening page](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/north-briton-no-45-wilkes-1763/) (Kingdom of Great Britain · Apr 23, 1763 · Name-calling)
- [The Bloody Massacre perpetrated in King Street Boston on March 5th 1770 by a party of the 29th Regt.](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/revere-bloody-massacre-king-street-1770/) (Province of Massachusetts Bay · Mar 1770 · Name-calling, Card stacking). Content note: Hand-coloured engraving of bloodied dead and wounded colonists after soldiers fired on a crowd.
- [Marche du Dom Quichotte moderne pour la deffence du Moulin des Abus (March of the Modern Don Quixote in Defence of the Mill of Abuses)](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/dom-quichotte-moulin-des-abus-1791/) (France · 1791 · Name-calling, Transfer)
- [Sans-Culottes, feeding Europe with the Bread of Liberty (James Gillray)](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/sans-culottes-bread-of-liberty-gillray-1793/) (Kingdom of Great Britain · Jan 12, 1793 · Fear appeal, Name-calling)