Speaking of Pictures... Russian War Posters Are Colorful and Forceful

A Life magazine page reproduces Soviet war posters with English captions: Nazi figures drawn as cows and pigs, and Hitler, Goering and Goebbels labelled 'blond', 'well built' and 'handsome' in a reversal. The tell in the reproduced posters is animal caricature of named enemies (name-calling); the magazine's own text describes this as Russian cartoon humour and explains the captions.

Propaganda techniques used in this print

Name-calling

Date

1942

Period

Second World War

Made by

Life magazine (Time Inc.), 24 August 1942 (handwritten on sheet); reproduces Soviet war posters

Region

North America

Country

United States

Medium

Print

Issuer type

Media

Regime

Roosevelt Administration

Leader

Franklin D. Roosevelt

Audience

Domestic public

Purpose

Warn or inform

Themes

War and the military, Media and information

Event

World War II

Regime

Roosevelt administration

Leader

Franklin D. Roosevelt

Source

Identified Openly sourced: the speaker is who they say they are

Source

U.S. National Archives and Records Administration, Record Group 44, World War II Foreign Posters, retrieved October 3, 2026

Rights

Held by NARA, Unrestricted; hosted by owner decision
Life magazine page of 24 August 1942 reproducing Soviet posters. National Archives and Records Administration, 44-PF-877a.

SPEAKING OF PICTURES ...
... RUSSIAN WAR POSTERS
ARE COLORFUL AND FORCEFUL

[Russian captions on the reproduced posters:] БЕЛОКУР / КАК ГИТЛЕР. / СТРОЕН / КАК ГЕРИНГ. / КРАСИВ / КАК ГЕББЕЛЬС. / БЕРЛИН / НА ВОСТОК
[Translation of the Russian: Blond / like Hitler. Well built / like Goering. Handsome / like Goebbels. Berlin. To the East.]

Cows are used by the Russians to symbolize the Nazis. They use "cow" as a term of opprobrium much as Americans use "louse." [caption continues]

The perfect Aryan type, according to the biting cartoon humor of the Russians, is blond like Hitler, has a perfect figure like Göring and is handsome like Goebbels.

Two-way traffic in Germany is the subject of this two-part poster. [caption continues]

[handwritten:] Life - Aug 24, 1942
44-PF-877A