---
title: Pourquoi mourir pour l'Angleterre? (German propaganda banners, western front)
url: https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/pourquoi-mourir-pour-langleterre-banners-1940/
description: A soldier in shirtsleeves paints a French-language banner on a wooden frame in a garden while a second banner beside it asks 'Pourquoi mourir pour…
section: Collection
---

[Collection](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/)

**Content note:** Photograph of a child in a Wehrmacht uniform being decorated in the last weeks of the war. This object is shown as it was published. [Why](https://propagandaarchive.org/about/#as-it-was)

[![Pourquoi mourir pour l'Angleterre? (German propaganda banners, western front)](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/images/pourquoi-mourir-pour-langleterre-banners-1940.jpg)](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/images/pourquoi-mourir-pour-langleterre-banners-1940.jpg)

# Pourquoi mourir pour l'Angleterre? (German propaganda banners, western front)

A soldier in shirtsleeves paints a French-language banner on a wooden frame in a garden while a second banner beside it asks 'Pourquoi mourir pour l'Angleterre ?'. The larger banner reads 'Angleterre ne pense qu'à elle-même'. The pair puts a question about dying and an answer blaming an ally for the danger, aimed at French readers.

## Text on the object

Original (French) · read from the image, not independently checked

```
POURQUOI MOURIR
POUR L'ANGLETERRE ?

[L']ANGLETERRE NE PENSE
QU'À ELLE-MÊ[ME]
```

English translation (machine translation by Claude, not verified by a fluent reader)

```
WHY DIE
FOR ENGLAND?

[THE] ENGLAND THINKS ONLY
OF ITSELF
```

The left banner is fully legible. On the right banner the opening article is hidden or missing and the final letters are covered by the painter's arm; bracketed letters are inferred from the visible stem.

[← På post för Sverige (On Post for Sweden): preparedness postcard with hymn stanza](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/pa-post-for-sverige-postcard-1940/) [Schonen Sie Ihren Organismus (Spare Your Organism) →](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/schonen-sie-ihren-organismus-1940/)

## Using the same techniques

- [Der Warner (broadsheet lampoon on the Jesuits after Breitenfeld and Rain)](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/der-warner-anti-jesuit-broadsheet-1632/) (Holy Roman Empire · 1632 · Scapegoating, Fear appeal)
- [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/) (Dutch Republic · 1672 · Scapegoating, Name-calling)
- [Proclamation by the Queen in Council, to the Princes, Chiefs, and People of India (printed sheet, Allahabad, 1 November 1858)](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/queens-proclamation-to-the-people-of-india-1858/) (British India · Nov 1, 1858 · Glittering generalities, Scapegoating)
- [De Vlamingen aan de Negers van den Congo (The Flemings to the Negroes of the Congo)](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/de-vlamingen-aan-de-negers-van-den-congo-1885/) (Belgium · 1885 · Scapegoating)
- [The Radical Programme, No. 4: Dismemberment of the Empire (Gladstone & Co. auction India), St Stephen's Review Presentation Cartoon](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/radical-programme-selling-india-st-stephens-review-1891/) (United Kingdom · Oct 31, 1891 · Fear appeal, Scapegoating)
- [宣戦ノ詔勅 (Imperial Rescript declaring war on China), Kanpō extra no. 3328, 2 August 1894](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/kanpo-declaration-of-war-on-china-1894/) (Empire of Japan · Aug 2, 1894 · Glittering generalities, Scapegoating). Content note: Official wartime declaration assigning blame for the war to the Qing government; no imagery.
- ["England and the War in South Africa" (Der wahre Jacob, 1899)](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/war-and-capitalism-der-wahre-jacob-1899/) (German Empire · Dec 5, 1899 · Card stacking, Scapegoating)
- ["Negro Rule" vampire cartoon with sworn affidavit](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/negro-rule-vampire-1900/) (United States · Jul 4, 1900 · Accusation in a mirror, Fear appeal, Scapegoating). Content note: Racist "Negro Rule" caricature.