---
title: Ils assassinent ! Enveloppés dans les plis de notre drapeau (They murder! Wrapped in the folds of our flag)
url: https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/ils-assassinent-vichy-1941/
description: A gunman with caricatured features fires from inside the white and red folds of a tricolour, while a larger figure in a red-star cap looms behind him…
section: Collection
---

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

[![Ils assassinent ! Enveloppés dans les plis de notre drapeau (They murder! Wrapped in the folds of our flag)](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/images/ils-assassinent-vichy-1941.jpg)](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/images/ils-assassinent-vichy-1941.jpg)

# Ils assassinent ! Enveloppés dans les plis de notre drapeau (They murder! Wrapped in the folds of our flag)

A gunman with caricatured features fires from inside the white and red folds of a tricolour, while a larger figure in a red-star cap looms behind him, under the headline 'They murder!'. The tell: the accused are never named, but the red star assigns the shooting to a political enemy that is said to hide behind the national flag.

- **Date:** 1941
- **Period:** [Second World War](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/#era=wwii)
- **Made by:** Vichy French State, Secrétariat général de l'Information et de la Propagande (printed by Bedos & Cie, Paris)
- **Region:** [Western and Central Europe](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/#region=western-central-europe)
- **Country:** [Vichy France](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/#country=vichy-france)
- **Medium:** [Poster](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/#medium=poster)
- **Issuer type:** [State](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/#actor=state)
- **Regime:** [Vichy Regime](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/#regime=vichy-regime)
- **Leader:** [Philippe Petain](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/#leader=philippe-petain)
- **Audience:** [Domestic public](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/#audience=domestic-public)
- **Purpose:** [Demonize](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/#purpose=demonize)
- **Themes:** [Security and surveillance](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/#theme=security-surveillance), [Elections and party politics](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/#theme=elections-party-politics)
- **Event:** [World War II](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/#event=world-war-ii)
- **Techniques:** [Scapegoating](https://propagandaarchive.org/techniques/scapegoating/) [Fear appeal](https://propagandaarchive.org/techniques/fear-appeal/)
- **Source:** Identified Openly sourced: the speaker is who they say they are
- **Source:** [Wikimedia Commons (Gallica, Bibliothèque nationale de France, btv1b90139456)](https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Ils_assassinent!_envelopp%C3%A9s_dans_les_plis_de_notre_drapeau.jpg), retrieved September 29, 2026
- **Rights:** Public domain (unknown-author 1941 French work; Commons tag PD-anon-70-EU) Unknown author; Bibliothèque nationale de France (Gallica), via Wikimedia Commons.

## Text on the object

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

```
ILS ASSASSINENT !
ENVELOPPÉS DANS LES PLIS DE
NOTRE DRAPEAU

EXONÉRÉ DU DROIT DE TIMBRE
ÉDITION DU SECRÉTARIAT GÉNÉRAL DE L'INFORMATION ET DE LA PROPAGANDE
IMP. BEDOS & Cie PARIS
[circular emblem at lower right with a ring of text: illegible]
```

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

```
THEY MURDER!
WRAPPED IN THE FOLDS OF
OUR FLAG

EXEMPT FROM STAMP DUTY
PUBLISHED BY THE SECRETARIAT-GENERAL FOR INFORMATION AND PROPAGANDA
PRINTED BY BEDOS & CO, PARIS
```

A library shelf label at the lower left of the scan (W007681) is a catalogue mark, not part of the poster. Translation is FRAME's own literal rendering, machine-assisted and not verified by a fluent reader.

[← 'Allons-y... Canadiens!' (Canadian Department of National War Services)](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/allons-y-canadiens-1941/) [Românii basarabeni, Bucovinenii și minoritarii pașnici (leaflet for Bessarabia and Northern Bukovina, Romanian and Russian sides) →](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/romanian-german-leaflet-bessarabia-1941/)

## Using the same techniques

- [Der Warner (broadsheet lampoon on the Jesuits after Breitenfeld and Rain)](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/der-warner-anti-jesuit-broadsheet-1632/) (1632 · Scapegoating, Fear appeal)
- [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/) (1672 · Scapegoating, Name-calling)
- [Proclamation by the Queen in Council, to the Princes, Chiefs, and People of India (printed sheet, Allahabad, 1 November 1858)](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/queens-proclamation-to-the-people-of-india-1858/) (Nov 1, 1858 · Glittering generalities, Scapegoating)
- [The Radical Programme, No. 4: Dismemberment of the Empire (Gladstone & Co. auction India), St Stephen's Review Presentation Cartoon](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/radical-programme-selling-india-st-stephens-review-1891/) (Oct 31, 1891 · Fear appeal, Scapegoating)
- ["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)
- ["Negro Rule" vampire cartoon with sworn affidavit](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/negro-rule-vampire-1900/) (Jul 4, 1900 · Accusation in a mirror, Fear appeal, Scapegoating). Content note: Racist "Negro Rule" caricature.
- [Японский Император и его лукавые доброжелатели (The Japanese Emperor and His Cunning Well-Wishers): Russian Russo-Japanese War print](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/japanese-mikado-cunning-well-wishers-1904/) (1904 · Name-calling, Scapegoating)
- [The Menace front page, 12 April 1913 (Aurora, Missouri)](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/the-menace-front-page-1913/) (Apr 12, 1913 · Bandwagon, Scapegoating). Content note: Anti-Catholic newspaper front page with a skull-and-crossbones emblem labelled 'Temporal Power' and claims of a Roman Catholic conspiracy.