---
title: 'Die beste Sparkasse: Kriegsanleihe! (The Best Savings Bank: War Loan!)'
url: https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/beste-sparkasse-kriegsanleihe-1917/
description: 'A hand holds out an upturned steel helmet into which banknotes are falling, over the line ''The best savings bank: war loan!'' The superlative comes with…'
section: Collection
---

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

[![Die beste Sparkasse: Kriegsanleihe! (The Best Savings Bank: War Loan!)](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/images/beste-sparkasse-kriegsanleihe-1917.jpg)](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/images/beste-sparkasse-kriegsanleihe-1917.jpg)

# Die beste Sparkasse: Kriegsanleihe! (The Best Savings Bank: War Loan!)

A hand holds out an upturned steel helmet into which banknotes are falling, over the line 'The best savings bank: war loan!' The superlative comes with no rate, term or comparison, and nothing says that repayment depended on the state's finances after the war.

- **Date:** 1917
- **Period:** [First World War](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/#era=wwi)
- **Made by:** Imperial German war-loan campaign; artist Louis Oppenheim
- **Region:** [Western and Central Europe](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/#region=western-central-europe)
- **Country:** [German Empire](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/#country=german-empire)
- **Medium:** [Poster](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/#medium=poster)
- **Issuer type:** [State](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/#actor=state)
- **Regime:** [German Empire](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/#regime=german-empire)
- **Leader:** [Wilhelm II](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/#leader=wilhelm-ii)
- **Audience:** [Domestic public](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/#audience=domestic-public)
- **Purpose:** [Fundraise](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/#purpose=fundraise)
- **Themes:** [Economy and finance](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/#theme=economy-finance), [Home front](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/#theme=home-front)
- **Event:** [World War I](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/#event=world-war-i)
- **Techniques:** [Card stacking](https://propagandaarchive.org/techniques/card-stacking/)
- **Source:** Identified Openly sourced: the speaker is who they say they are
- **Source:** [Library of Congress](https://www.loc.gov/item/2004665976/), retrieved September 27, 2026
- **Rights:** Public domain in the U.S. (published before 1931) Oppenheim, Louis, 1879-1936, artist; Rehse Archiv für Zeitgeschichte und Publizistik, DLC, former owner. 1917. Library of Congress, LC-USZC4-11693.

## Text on the object

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

```
Die beste Sparkasse:
Kriegsanleihe!

Entwurf: Louis Oppenheim

Druck: Fritz Schneller & Co. Nürnberg
```

English translation (machine translation by Claude, not verified by a fluent reader)

```
The best savings bank:
War loan!

Design: Louis Oppenheim

Printed: Fritz Schneller & Co. Nuremberg
```

A small round stamp/seal on the helmet at lower left is too small and low-contrast in this scan to read and is not transcribed. The denominations on the falling banknotes (e.g. '1000', '100') are design elements of the illustrated currency, not the poster's own message, and are not transcribed as running text.

[← The Balance Sheet of British Rule in India (Hindustan-Gadar broadside)](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/balance-sheet-british-rule-india-1917/) ['Buy Your Victory Bonds' Canadian Victory Loan poster →](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/buy-your-victory-bonds-canada-1917/)

## Using the same techniques

- [Bayeux Tapestry, scene 23: UBI HAROLD SACRAMENTVM FECIT VVILLELMO DVCI](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/bayeux-tapestry-harold-oath-to-william-1070/) (1070 · Transfer, Card stacking)
- [Passional Christi und Antichristi: the emperor kisses the pope's foot (leaf 'Antichristus')](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/passional-christi-antichristi-emperor-kisses-pope-1521/) (1521 · Name-calling, Card stacking)
- [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/) (Mar 1770 · Name-calling, Card stacking)
- [La paz según el Perú – La paz según los chilenos (Peace According to Peru, Peace According to the Chileans)](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/la-paz-segun-el-peru-el-banquillo-1880/) (Jun 12, 1880 · Card stacking)
- [Remember the Maine! And Don't Forget the Starving Cubans! (Judge)](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/remember-the-maine-starving-cubans-judge-1898/) (May 7, 1898 · Card stacking)
- ["A Sacrifice to Aguinaldo's Ambition" (commercial stereograph, 1899)](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/sacrifice-to-aguinaldos-ambition-1899/) (1899 · Card stacking, Name-calling). Content note: Photograph of two dead Filipino soldiers.
- ["England and the War in South Africa" (Der wahre Jacob, 1899)](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/war-and-capitalism-der-wahre-jacob-1899/) (Dec 5, 1899 · Card stacking, Scapegoating)
- ["Kill Every One Over Ten" (New York Evening Journal, 1902)](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/kill-every-one-over-ten-1902/) (May 5, 1902 · Name-calling, Card stacking). Content note: Blindfolded Filipino children before a firing squad.