Gold gab ich zur Wehr, Eisen nahm ich zur Ehr (I Gave Gold for Defence, I Took Iron for Honour)
A kneeling woman in black silhouette, framed like a commemorative medal, holds out a gold chain under the rhyme 'I gave gold for defence, I took iron for honour' and the instruction 'Bring your gold jewellery to the gold-purchase offices!' The rhyme reworks the 1813 Prussian slogan 'Gold gab ich für Eisen', lending the prestige of the Wars of Liberation to a 1916 collection drive.
- Date
- 1916
- Period
- First World War
- Made by
- German gold-collection drive (Goldankaufsstellen); artist Julius Gipkens after a medal by Hermann Hosaeus
- Region
- Western and Central Europe
- Country
- German Empire
- Medium
- Poster
- Issuer type
- State
- Regime
- German Empire
- Leader
- Wilhelm II
- Audience
- Domestic public
- Purpose
- Fundraise
- Themes
- Economy and finance, Home front, War and the military
- Event
- World War I
- Techniques
- Transfer
- Source
- Identified Openly sourced: the speaker is who they say they are
- Source
- Library of Congress, retrieved September 27, 2026
- Rights
- Public domain in the U.S. (published before 1931)
Gipkens, Julius E. F., 1883-, artist; Rehse Archiv für Zeitgeschichte und Publizistik, DLC, former owner. 1916. Library of Congress, LC-USZC4-11609.
Text on the object
GOLD GAB ICH ZUR WEHR EISEN NAHM ICH ZUR EHR BRINGT EUREN GOLDSCHMUCK DEN GOLDANKAUFSSTELLEN! GIPKENS nach Hosaeus [illegible — small printer's imprint, bottom left, likely 'Hollerbaum & Schmidt, Berlin']
I GAVE GOLD FOR DEFENCE I TOOK IRON FOR HONOUR BRING YOUR GOLD JEWELLERY TO THE GOLD-PURCHASE OFFICES! GIPKENS after Hosaeus [illegible — small printer's imprint, likely 'Hollerbaum & Schmidt, Berlin']
'GIPKENS / nach Hosaeus' is the artist's credit printed bottom right, crediting the design to Hermann Hosaeus's medal. A purple round stamp/seal below the medallion (a library or archive mark) is not transcribed as it is not print text. Kodak color-bar/gray-scale calibration strips along the photograph's edges are archival scanning references, not part of the poster, and are omitted.
