Helft uns siegen! Zeichnet die Kriegsanleihe (Help Us Win! Subscribe to the War Loan)
A steel-helmeted German infantryman stares out of the frame beneath the imperative 'Help us win!' The soldier's exhausted resolve is transferred onto the war-bond ask, and 'winning' stands in as an undefined virtue word the buyer is not asked to weigh against cost or odds.
A war-bond poster for the Imperial German government, designed by Fritz Erler and printed in Munich, dated 1917 and aimed at the German public. A steel-helmeted infantryman stares out of the frame beneath the call "Help us win!" and the instruction to subscribe to the War Loan. Transfer is tagged because the soldier's exhausted resolve is put onto the bond request. Glittering generalities is tagged because "winning" is an undefined virtue word the buyer is not asked to weigh against cost or odds. The record also tags Fear appeal.
Propaganda techniques used in this poster
- Date
- 1917
- Period
- First World War
- Made by
- Imperial German government war-bond campaign; artist Fritz Erler
Full record
Region, Country, Medium, Issuer type, Regime, Leader, Audience, Purpose, Themes, Event, Source, Rights
- 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, War and the military
- Event
- World War I
- Leader
- Wilhelm II
- Source
- Identified Openly sourced: the speaker is who they say they are
- Source
- Library of Congress (via Wikimedia Commons), retrieved September 25, 2026
- Rights
- Public domain (published before 1923)
Fritz Erler, 1917. Library of Congress, LC-USZC4-12475.
Text on the object
Original (German) · read from the image, not independently checked
Helft uns siegen! zeichnet die Kriegsanleihe Entw: Fritz Erler, München. Druck: Fritz Maison, München.
Help us win! subscribe to the War Loan Design: Fritz Erler, Munich. Print: Fritz Maison, Munich.
The blackletter headline uses the historical long s (ſ), printed as 'Helft uns ſiegen!'; transcribed here as modern 'siegen'. 'Entw.' (Entwurf, design) and 'Druck' (print) credit lines run in small print along the bottom edge of the poster, separate from the artist's cursive 'Erler' signature inside the illustration itself.
