Content note: Shows a German soldier with swastika armband threatening U.S. railwaymen with a bayonet. This object is shown as it was published. Why
It must never happen here!
Union poster: in a locomotive cab, a German soldier in steel helmet with swastika armband and bayonet confronts a fireman holding a coal shovel, while an engineer looks on. Caption 'It must never happen here!'. A fear-appeal showing occupation reaching American workers, with the enemy drawn as a menacing figure.
Propaganda techniques used in this poster
- Date
- 1941
- Period
- Second World War
- Made by
- Brotherhood of Locomotive Firemen and Enginemen, Cleveland, Ohio
- Region
- North America
- Country
- United States
- Medium
- Poster
- Issuer type
- NGO
- Regime
- Roosevelt Administration
- Leader
- Franklin D. Roosevelt
- Audience
- Domestic public
- Purpose
- Demonize
- Themes
- War and the military, Labor, 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)
Brotherhood of Locomotive Firemen and Enginemen. National Archives and Records Administration, RG 44, 44-PA-1114 (NAID 514641).
Text on the object
IT MUST NEVER HAPPEN HERE ! BROTHERHOOD OF LOCOMOTIVE FIREMEN AND ENGINEMEN, CLEVELAND, OHIO ★ ORGANIZED 1873 [imprint: LITHO IN U.S.A.]
