Hitler 1940: "This Ends the War in the West" (1942?)
Frames from a German newsreel show Hitler in June 1940 reacting to news of the armistice with France, set against a circular close portrait of a scowling Hitler captioned '1942?'. The tell is the juxtaposition of the gesture frames with the question, which invites the viewer to read the 1940 reaction as mockery of the Axis position, while the 'four-fifths of the human race' claim is stated without a source (card-stacking).
Propaganda techniques used in this poster
- Date
- 1942
- Period
- Second World War
- Made by
- Unattributed British wartime poster series 'The Battle of Britain, August-October 1940' (no imprint visible)
- Region
- Western and Central Europe
- Country
- United Kingdom
- Medium
- Poster
- Issuer type
- State
- Regime
- Churchill Government
- Leader
- Winston Churchill
- Audience
- Domestic public
- Purpose
- Persuade or win support
- Themes
- War and the military, 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
- Public domain (UK Crown copyright expired); NARA Unrestricted; hosted by owner decision
Unattributed British wartime poster series 'The Battle of Britain, August-October 1940' (no imprint visible). National Archives and Records Administration, 44-PF-434b.
Text on the object
HITLER 1940: "THIS ENDS THE WAR IN THE WEST" HERE IS A SEQUENCE reproduced from a German news reel. It is June, 1940, and Hitler has just received news of the Armistice with France. The news that meant, according to Hitler, that the War in the West was ended. What is he thinking in 1942, now that four-fifths of the human race are united against the Axis? 1942? [emblem:] THE BATTLE OF BRITAIN AUGUST-OCTOBER 1940 (1940 1942)
