Don't Keep a Diary - It Might Get into the Enemy's Hands
A diary marked with a Union Jack is held in two gloved hands in a dark field with a German eagle badge and an Iron Cross, with the text 'Don't keep a diary - it might get into the enemy's hands'. The tell is the enemy insignia placed around the book to stage the danger of capture, offering one remedy: do not write one.
Propaganda techniques used in this poster
- Date
- 1939
- Period
- Second World War
- Made by
- Issuer not stated; printed in England by H. Manly & Son Ltd, London
- Region
- Western and Central Europe
- Country
- United Kingdom
- Medium
- Poster
- Issuer type
- State
- Regime
- Churchill Government
- Leader
- Winston Churchill
- Audience
- Domestic public
- Purpose
- Warn or inform
- Themes
- Security and surveillance, Home front
- Event
- World War II
- Leader
- Winston Churchill
- Source
- Unidentified Source blurred: contractors, cutouts, buried disclosure
- 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; UK print 1939-45; hosted by owner decision
Issuer not stated; printed by H. Manly & Son Ltd, London. National Archives and Records Administration, 44-PF-153.
Text on the object
DON'T keep a diary it might get into the enemy's hands [imprint:] Printed in England by H. Manly & Son Ltd. London. N.22. 51-3394
