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Hulton Archive // Getty Images
‘Waffen-SS’
This German recruitment poster portrays a helmeted soldier in profile, staring into the distance, with the words “Waffen-SS” and “Eintritt Nach Vollendetem 17 Lebensjahr,” meaning recruits must be at least 17 years old. The Waffen-SS was the military arm of the feared SS elite security force in Nazi Germany and included Adolf Hitler’s bodyguards and battalions that ran concentration camps.
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Swim Ink 2, LLC/CORBIS/Corbis // Getty Images
‘Buy War Bonds’
Looking more like a watercolor painting than propaganda, the “Buy War Bonds” poster shows a flag-bearing Uncle Sam in the clouds, directing troops brandishing bayonets. The godly image conveys a sense of the divine virtue of the Allied effort against Axis forces.
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‘She’s a WOW’
American illustrator Adolph Treidler created several posters during World War II celebrating Women Ordnance Workers (WOWs), who made military materials such as weapons and munitions. The motivational poster shows a beautiful woman tackling a traditionally male job with the line, “She’s a WOW.”
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Hulton Archives // Getty Images
‘When You Ride Alone, You Ride with Hitler!’
The “When You Ride Alone, You Ride with Hitler!” poster calls upon Americans to carpool and conserve fuel for military use. It was created by American artist Weimer Pursell, who designed well-known advertising for Coca-Cola, American Airlines, Winchester Rifles, and the 1933 Chicago World’s Fair.
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‘He’s Watching You’
The menacing eyes of a helmeted enemy soldier dominate this U.S. government poster that reads, “He’s watching you,” cautioning Americans that spies could lurk anywhere. A survey of the public by the government’s Office of Facts and Figures in 1942 determined many viewers misinterpreted the poster, with some mistaking the German helmet for the Liberty Bell. The Office of War Information was created later that year to oversee poster production and control messaging.
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U.S. National Archives
‘Food Is a Weapon’
The U.S. Office of War Information’s “Food is a Weapon” poster was part of a campaign to trim food waste amid shortages and rationing. The admonition to “eat it all” also reminded Americans of the need to stay healthy and strong as the war raged.
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Swim Ink 2, LLC/CORBIS/Corbis // Getty Images
‘Plant a Victory Garden’
“Plant a Victory Garden” shows a soldier and a gardener chatting over a white picket fence with the words “I see we’re fighting the war together.” Americans grew their own vegetables and fruits in victory gardens as commercial crops and transportation were taken up by the war effort, and food rationing was imposed. The victory garden campaign was employed to remind Americans they could pitch in and show patriotism in their own yard. Former First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt planted a victory garden of her own on the lawn of the White House.
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‘Freedom Shall Prevail’
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