Ich muss für Geschichte einen Cartoon analysieren und wüsste gerne Ihre Meinung zu meinem Text. Vielen dank im vorraus!
hier das bild http://imageshack.us/photo/my-images/194/img1281gh.jpg/
The Cartoon is from the Nationalzeitung Berlin (East) and was published on the 30.05 1948. This newspaper was linked to the foundation of the NDPD (National- demokratische Partei Deutschlands) in the soviet occupied zone, which became a bloc party (Blockpartei) in the DDR. The bloc party was mainly for nationally recruited people, as Wehrmachtsoffiziere.
The Headline of the Picture is: „Im Westen nichts Neues“. The artist is probably called „Krokodil“.
There are two Hens (feathers, beak) on the Picture who hetch an egg. They wear hats, glasses and smoke a cigar. On both hats it says : WALLSTREET, and their feathers are made out of money (dollars). Their hads look like the typical stock exchange speculators (Börsenspekulant) in the 1950ies. Actually, they remind of Winston Churchill / Harry S. Truman (Pictures below). The Shape of the Head, Hat, Cigar and the spotted bow tie are a typical image representation of capitalists like them. The wing of the first hen says Dawes Plan and on the second Marshall Plan is written. The glasses of the first hen look different than the second.
The first Hen is sitting on an egg where Hitler comes out with a cudgel in his right hand. The date 1924- 1939 is written on the egg. The second hen is sitting on an unbroken egg on which the date 1947- ?? is written and there are also swastikas.
The cartoon is underlined with the sentence: „Vielleicht geht’s beim zweiten Mal besser“.
„Im Westen nichts neues“ (All Quiet on the Western Front) is a novel by Erich Maria Remarque, a German veteran (Kriegsteilnehmer) of World War I. The book describes the German soldiers’ extreme physical and mental stress during the war, and the detachment from civilian life felt by many of these soldiers upon returning home from the front. It was published in 1930 and judged as anti- marshallplan- ish.
The Wallstreet is a financial center in New York City (NY Stock Exchange) where many Banks and Fincancial Businesses lay.
I think that the first Hen represents the American economy market. The USA redempted the reparations for germany after world war one. This was called the Dawes Plan. Germany took many credits and became more and more dependent on the united states. As the economic crisis in 1929 in the usa hit germany, too, it became a global economic crisis. The hen, which is representating this economic crisis, is hetching Hitler, who used this financially weak situation in germany to come to power.
The second hen is in nearly the same situation. The united states rebuilt Europe again, but after world war two. This is called the Marshallplan.
The last sentence “Vielleicht gehts beim zweiten Mal besser” probably hints at the fact that the western world didn’t learn anything from the events in 1924- 1939. The second cigar is not lighted yet, while the first one is already lighted, which can be interpretated that the catastrophy, Hitler, had already begun. but the second one is not lighted and so there is no known date for an end of the second catastrophy.
In this Cartoon, the Marshallpan with its consequences is equalized with the Dawes plan. The cartoon says that Fascism is a product of the United States. It also expresses that the same policy is being continued (‘Nichts neues’ ). The capitalist still is self- confident, fat (because of his wealth) and stupid (because he is representated as a hen). The result of the second plan, the Marshall plan will again be Fascism (Swastikas). The question is, how long it will last.