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
- Made by
- Arthur Collignon Verlag, Berlin (text Otto Glaser, pictures Karl Hachez)
- Region
- Western and Central Europe
- Country
- German Empire
- Medium
- Books and pamphlets
- Issuer type
- Media
- Regime
- German Empire
- Leader
- Wilhelm II
- Audience
- Domestic public
- Purpose
- Demonize
- Themes
- War and the military, Home front
- Event
- World War I
- Techniques
- Name-calling
- Source
- Identified Openly sourced: the speaker is who they say they are
- Source
- Staatsbibliothek zu Berlin - Preußischer Kulturbesitz, 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
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]
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.
