Nicht Wahr? : Tomi Ungerer and Curzio Malaparte [ WWII , Nazi Propaganda ]

Description

First edition of the WWII themed artist’s book Nicht Wahr edited and designed by Tomi Ungerer using propaganda imagery with text from Curzio Malaparte’s Kaputt.

 

Ungerer, Tomi and Malaparte, Curzio. Nicht Wahr? Paragraphics Books, New York. 1966. First edition.

 

One of the early political projects from artist, designer and children’s author Tomi Ungerer Nicht Wahr? combines found photography used in Nazi propaganda with text with accounts of the war taken from Kaputt by Curzio Malaparte.

Born in Alsace in 1931, Ungerer explains in his preface that his continued fascination with the Nazi regime and World War II stems from his childhood experience of the French Occupation, which began when he was eight years old. Having seen the mechanisms of fascism first hand from a child’s perspective as his school curriculum was altered to include racial and anti-Semitic material, this project can be seen as a continued meditation on the Nazi rise to power. Juxtaposing the smiling propaganda pictures of Hitler and other Nazis with Malaparte’s brutal accounts of atrocities like slave labor, forced prostitution and mass murder, Ungerer adds another level to the text with his chosen title, “Nicht Wahr?”, the German for “Is it not?”, as he peels back the curated images of the Nazi period to reveal its dark realities.

Most famous for his work on children’s books like The Three Robbers and Flat Stanley, Ungerer’s signature illustration style can be seen in the text’s striking-yet-simple cover design.

 

4to, [66]pp, printed green paper wraps. Minor sunning to spine and edges. Some wear to top front fore corner. Black and white reproduction photographs throughout. Pages clean. Very good.

 

If you liked this book, you might also enjoy Obersalzberg, the history of the Alpine resort town that served as the vacation spot for Adolf Hitler and other prominent Nazis.