--- title: Kriegs-ABC (German children's war alphabet, letters A and B, 1915) url: https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/kriegs-abc-hachez-glaser-1915/ description: Inside page of a rhymed picture alphabet for children. For A, a German eagle on a crag is circled by carrion birds, in a verse that calls those circling… section: Collection --- [Collection](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/) [![Kriegs-ABC (German children's war alphabet, letters A and B, 1915)](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/images/kriegs-abc-hachez-glaser-1915.jpg)](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/images/kriegs-abc-hachez-glaser-1915.jpg) # Kriegs-ABC (German children's war alphabet, letters A and B, 1915) Inside page of a rhymed picture alphabet for children. For A, a German eagle on a crag is circled by carrion birds, in a verse that calls those circling it vultures greedy for plunder; for B, a caricatured Belgian soldier with an oversized ear starts back as a stout crowned woman beside a gun marked 42 knocks at the gate. Enemies are shown as scavenger birds and a comic figure, and the rhyme supplies the label. - **Date:** 1915 - **Period:** [First World War](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/#era=wwi) - **Made by:** Arthur Collignon Verlag, Berlin (text Otto Glaser, pictures Karl Hachez) - **Region:** [Western and Central Europe](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/#region=western-central-europe) - **Country:** [German Empire](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/#country=german-empire) - **Medium:** [Books and pamphlets](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/#medium=book-pamphlet) - **Issuer type:** [Media](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/#actor=media) - **Regime:** [German Empire](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/#regime=german-empire) - **Leader:** [Wilhelm II](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/#leader=wilhelm-ii) - **Audience:** [Domestic public](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/#audience=domestic-public) - **Purpose:** [Demonize](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/#purpose=demonize) - **Themes:** [War and the military](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/#theme=war-military), [Home front](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/#theme=home-front) - **Event:** [World War I](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/#event=world-war-i) - **Techniques:** [Name-calling](https://propagandaarchive.org/techniques/name-calling/) - **Regime:** [German Empire under Wilhelm II](https://propagandaarchive.org/regimes/german-empire/) - **Leader:** [Wilhelm II](https://propagandaarchive.org/regimes/german-empire/#wilhelm-ii) - **Source:** Identified Openly sourced: the speaker is who they say they are - **Source:** [Staatsbibliothek zu Berlin - Preußischer Kulturbesitz](https://resolver.staatsbibliothek-berlin.de/SBB0000B2A900000000), retrieved September 29, 2026 - **Rights:** Public Domain Mark 1.0 (Berlin State Library, via Europeana); published 1915 Staatsbibliothek zu Berlin, Kriegs-ABC (Berlin: Collignon, 1915), PPN732555892 (Public Domain Mark 1.0) ## Text on the object Original (German) · read from the image, not independently checked ``` A Aasgeier ziehn in grosser Schar Raubgierig um den deutschen Aar. B Der Belgier spitzt erschreckt sein Ohr, Die dicke Berta pocht an's Tor. [42 on the gun barrel] ``` English translation (machine translation by Claude, not verified by a fluent reader) ``` A Vultures circle in a great flock, greedy for plunder, around the German eagle. B The Belgian pricks up his ear in fright, Fat Bertha knocks at the gate. [42 on the gun barrel] ``` Rhymed captions in a hand-lettered serif face; "Aar" is the poetic word for eagle. [← Mr. John Dillon, M.P., on recruiting in Ireland. Join an Irish regiment to-day](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/john-dillon-on-recruiting-in-ireland-1915/) [A diadalmas magyar és bolgár seregek egyesülése Kladovónál (The Union of the Victorious Hungarian and Bulgarian Armies at Kladovo), bilingual postcard →](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/muhlbeck-kladovo-hungarian-bulgarian-postcard-1915/) ## Using the same techniques - [Passional Christi und Antichristi: the emperor kisses the pope's foot (leaf 'Antichristus')](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/passional-christi-antichristi-emperor-kisses-pope-1521/) (1521 · Name-calling, Card stacking) - [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) - [The Highlanders Medley, or The Duke Triumphant (A Loyal Song)](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/highlanders-medley-duke-triumphant-1746/) (1746 · Name-calling, Transfer) - [The Bloody Massacre perpetrated in King Street Boston on March 5th 1770 by a party of the 29th Regt.](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/revere-bloody-massacre-king-street-1770/) (Mar 1770 · Name-calling, Card stacking) - [Marche du Dom Quichotte moderne pour la deffence du Moulin des Abus (March of the Modern Don Quixote in Defence of the Mill of Abuses)](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/dom-quichotte-moulin-des-abus-1791/) (1791 · Name-calling, Transfer) - [Sans-Culottes, feeding Europe with the Bread of Liberty (James Gillray)](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/sans-culottes-bread-of-liberty-gillray-1793/) (Jan 12, 1793 · Fear appeal, Name-calling) - [Exit Liberté a la Francois! or Buonaparte closing the Farce of Egalité, at St. Cloud (James Gillray)](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/exit-liberte-buonaparte-gillray-1799/) (Nov 21, 1799 · Name-calling) - [Van Moscouw tot Elba moest ik wyken (From Moscow to Elba I had to give way), Napoleon caricature by Wijnand Esser](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/van-moscouw-tot-elba-napoleon-esser-1814/) (1814 · Name-calling)