---
title: Das sind die Feinde der Demokratie! Hinweg damit! (These Are the Enemies of Democracy! Away with Them!)
url: https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/spd-feinde-der-demokratie-1930/
description: 'Three dark figures loom over the slogan: a man in a cap with a red star, a hooded man in a swastika cap raising a dagger, and a skull-faced man in a…'
section: Collection
---

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

[![Das sind die Feinde der Demokratie! Hinweg damit! (These Are the Enemies of Democracy! Away with Them!)](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/images/spd-feinde-der-demokratie-1930.jpg)](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/images/spd-feinde-der-demokratie-1930.jpg)

# Das sind die Feinde der Demokratie! Hinweg damit! (These Are the Enemies of Democracy! Away with Them!)

Three dark figures loom over the slogan: a man in a cap with a red star, a hooded man in a swastika cap raising a dagger, and a skull-faced man in a steel helmet. One label, 'enemies of democracy', is applied to communists, National Socialists and the Stahlhelm together, and the only stated remedy is a vote for List 1, the Social Democrats.

- **Date:** 1930
- **Period:** [Interwar](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/#era=interwar)
- **Made by:** Sozialdemokratische Partei Deutschlands (SPD), Reichstag election campaign; artist Karl Geiß
- **Region:** [Western and Central Europe](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/#region=western-central-europe)
- **Country:** [Weimar Germany](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/#country=weimar-germany)
- **Medium:** [Poster](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/#medium=poster)
- **Issuer type:** [Party](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/#actor=party)
- **Regime:** [Weimar Republic](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/#regime=weimar-republic)
- **Leader:** [Heinrich Bruning](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/#leader=heinrich-bruning)
- **Audience:** [Domestic public](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/#audience=domestic-public)
- **Purpose:** [Persuade or win support](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/#purpose=persuade-support)
- **Theme:** [Elections and party politics](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/#theme=elections-party-politics)
- **Event:** [Reichstag Election 1930](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/#event=reichstag-election-1930)
- **Techniques:** [Name-calling](https://propagandaarchive.org/techniques/name-calling/) [Fear appeal](https://propagandaarchive.org/techniques/fear-appeal/)
- **Source:** Identified Openly sourced: the speaker is who they say they are
- **Source:** [Wikimedia Commons (poster from the Bundesarchiv series Plak 002-037-029, via the Baden 1918-1945 portal)](https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Das_sind_die_Feinde_der_Demokratie!_Hinweg_damit!_Deshal_w%C3%A4hlt_Liste_1_Sozialdemokraten!_SPD_Wahlplakat_Reichstagswahl_1930-09-14_Plakat_SPD_RT-Wahl_1930_BA_Plak_002-037-029_01.jpg), retrieved September 29, 2026
- **Rights:** Public domain (published 1930, before 1931; Commons licence tag: Public domain, Copyrighted=false) Karl Geiß for the SPD, 1930. Wikimedia Commons; source page: Baden 1918 bis 1945 (Lernort Kislau).

## Text on the object

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

```
DAS SIND DIE FEINDE DER DEMOKRATIE!

HINWEG DAMIT!
DESHALB WÄHLT LISTE
1

SOZIALDEMOKRATEN!

[artist's signature at left edge, partly legible: K. Geiss]
```

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

```
THESE ARE THE ENEMIES OF DEMOCRACY!

AWAY WITH THEM!
THEREFORE VOTE LIST
1

SOCIAL DEMOCRATS!
```

[← 蛇鼠同巢之擴大会議 (Snakes and Rats in One Nest: The Enlarged Conference), cartoon from Xinsheng magazine no. 12](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/snake-rat-one-nest-enlarged-conference-1930/) [Os "gigolôs" da Velha República (The "Gigolos" of the Old Republic) →](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/gigolos-da-velha-republica-careta-1930/)

## 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)