Content note: Shows a dagger with a swastika handle driven through a bleeding hand holding bread. This object is shown as it was published. Why
For the Conquered - Steel! Not Bread
Poster in dark tones: a hand lies open on a green surface holding a piece of bread, while a dagger with a swastika on its handle is driven through the palm, a thread of blood running down. The headline says conquered peoples are offered steel, not bread, setting the enemy's rule as the threat to be resisted.
Propaganda techniques used in this poster
- Date
- 1941
- Period
- Second World War
- Made by
- No issuer printed (art signed E. McKnight Kauffer)
- Region
- North America
- Country
- United States
- Medium
- Poster
- Issuer type
- Mixed
- Regime
- Roosevelt Administration
- Leader
- Franklin D. Roosevelt
- Audience
- Domestic public
- Purpose
- Mobilize or secure compliance
- Themes
- War and the military, Home front
- Event
- World War II
- Regime
- Roosevelt administration
- Leader
- Franklin D. Roosevelt
- Source
- Identified Openly sourced: the speaker is who they say they are
- Source
- U.S. National Archives and Records Administration, Record Group 44, World War II Posters, retrieved October 4, 2026
- Rights
- Public domain (U.S. government work)
No issuer printed. National Archives and Records Administration, RG 44, 44-PA-98 (NAID 513551).
Text on the object
FOR THE CONQUERED - STEEL! NOT BREAD [signature: E. McKnight Kauffer '41]
