Content note: WWI French satirical caricature of Kaiser Wilhelm II as a shopkeeper selling hostages and colonies. This object is shown as it was published. Why
Le Rire rouge, cover "Grand Bazar de la Paix - Wilhelm Directeur" (Paris, 2 November 1918)
Cover of Le Rire rouge no. 207, 2 November 1918, headed 'La Paix allemande, numéro spécial'. Abel Faivre draws Kaiser Wilhelm II as the manager of a department store, 'Grand Bazar de la Paix', among price tickets such as 'Rabais considérables', 'Vente d'otages' and 'Salons de société pour nations'. The shop-sign frame turns the German peace overtures into a sales pitch, and the labels select only the offences the cartoonist wants attached to them.
- Date
- November 2, 1918
- Period
- First World War
- Made by
- Le Rire rouge, war edition of the Paris humour weekly Le Rire (publisher F. Juven; cover drawing by Abel Faivre)
- Country
- France
- Medium
- Newspaper pages
- Issuer type
- Media
- Regime
- Clemenceau Government
- Leader
- Georges Clemenceau
- Audience
- Domestic public
- Purpose
- Demonize
- Event
- World War I
- Techniques
- Name-callingCard stacking
- Source
- Identified Openly sourced: the speaker is who they say they are
- Source
- Wikimedia Commons file page citing Gallica, Bibliothèque nationale de France (bpt6k63080272), retrieved October 2, 2026
- Rights
- Public domain (France 1918, pre-1931; Commons PD tag, Gallica bpt6k63080272)
Le Rire rouge no. 207, 2 November 1918, cover by Abel Faivre; via Gallica/BnF and Wikimedia Commons
Text on the object
LA PAIX ALLEMANDE — NUMÉRO SPÉCIAL N° 207. — 2 Novembre 1918. Le Rire ROUGE ÉDITION DE GUERRE DU JOURNAL "LE RIRE", PARAISSANT LE SAMEDI 40 Centimes — F. JUVEN, éditeur — 1, rue de Choiseul, 1 — PARIS Copyright 1918 by LE RIRE, Paris GRAND BAZAR DE LA PAIX WILHELM DIRECTEUR [shop tickets, partly covered by the figure] Rabais considérables — Magnifique occasion de terrain[s] — Vente d'otages et d'objets [partly illegible] — Salons de société pour nations — Vive la liberté russe — Un Monsieur serait acheteur de colonies au prix [partly illegible] — [Maximaliste, partly covered] — Prob[ably 'Probité', partly covered] — Confi[ance, partly covered] VOIR A L'INTÉRIEUR Dessin de Abel Faivre.
THE GERMAN PEACE — SPECIAL ISSUE No. 207. — 2 November 1918. Le Rire ROUGE WAR EDITION OF THE JOURNAL "LE RIRE", APPEARING ON SATURDAY 40 centimes — F. JUVEN, publisher — 1 rue de Choiseul, Paris Copyright 1918 by LE RIRE, Paris GREAT BAZAAR OF PEACE WILHELM, MANAGER [shop tickets] Considerable discounts — Magnificent opportunity: land — Sale of hostages and objects [partly illegible] — Society salons for nations — Long live Russian liberty — A gentleman would be a buyer of colonies at the price [partly illegible] — [Maximalist, partly covered] — Prob[...] — Confi[...] SEE INSIDE Drawing by Abel Faivre.
Read from the 1280 px cover image. Several shop tickets are partly hidden by the standing figure; fragments are given as they show and the rest is marked partly illegible. 'Prob' and 'Confi' are cut off by the figure and are not expanded in the original-text field beyond the visible letters.
