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
- Made by
- Vichy French State, Secrétariat général de l'Information et de la Propagande (printed by Bedos & Cie, Paris)
- Region
- Western and Central Europe
- Country
- Vichy France
- Medium
- Poster
- Issuer type
- State
- Regime
- Vichy Regime
- Leader
- Philippe Petain
- Audience
- Domestic public
- Purpose
- Demonize
- Themes
- Security and surveillance, Elections and party politics
- Event
- World War II
- Techniques
- ScapegoatingFear appeal
- Source
- Identified Openly sourced: the speaker is who they say they are
- Source
- Wikimedia Commons (Gallica, Bibliothèque nationale de France, btv1b90139456), 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
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]
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.
